Link Building Issue

[Janki99]

Hi,

While prospecting  for backlinks target  do you guys filter links less than a specific DA or PA? for instance - if PA<5 then remove
My VA accidentally selected a PA 3 link where the site owner eventually gave us a backlink. 
Due to that link the traffic jumped 14X!!!
Had it been my filtering process would never got the backlink and traffic. What do you guys suggest?

[brooksmanley]

That's awesome! You're right, if you were utilizing a strict filtering criteria, you would have missed out!

I do typically filter backlink opportunities, but put a little more weight on domain authority than page authority. So for my agency personally, I'm usually looking for DA > 30, and usually don't place too much emphasis on PA. For instance, if I have an opportunity with a site that has a DA of 50, but the page I'm looking at only has a PA of 5, I would still very much be interested.

Having said that, I'm no link building expert, and I do know page authority is a factor. But at the end of the day, I think you have to consider what your link profile currently looks like, and what the link profiles of your competitors look like.

Hope that's helpful! And would love others' input on the importance of page authority.

[Janki99]

Great insights Brooks!

1. Would it be a good strategy to chase "all" backlinks for the top 5 competitors for a keyword
2. For Skyscraper technique, how far in search results (Page 3, 4) should one select domains for link prospect

[brooksmanley]

I don't know if it's a good idea to go after all backlinks for your top competitors. I would recommend establishing for yourself some criteria (unless you have tons of time on your hands) – like I mentioned, maybe something along the lines of DA > 30. And then I would go after the lowest hanging fruit first. Having said that, it usually seems the be the case that the hardest links to earn are the most valuable ones.

As for the skyscraper technique, I don't know that current ranking for a given keyword should matter as much as other factors. Here is a really good Whiteboard Friday from Rand where he discusses why your link prospects don't always necessarily have to rank great: https://moz.com/blog/links-from-low-ranking-domains

[Paddy_Moogan]

Hi there,

Thanks for the question.

I wouldn't worry as much about DA/PA as I would the relevance and "human" quality of a link. DA can be a great indicator of the authority of a domain, but remember that it's just one metric. If you are working through large lists of links, then filtering from highest DA to lowest can help you prioritise, but I wouldn't necessarily rule out links below a certain number.

Hope that helps!

Paddy