Do links still work
Every now and then someone declares that “links are dead”. They are not: both Yandex and Google still take into account who links to you and how — it is a signal of authority. What has changed is different: the era of buying thousands of cheap links is over, and crude manipulation now gets punished with penalties. Quality and naturalness work, not quantity.
What matters in a link
- Donor authority. A link from a trusted, topical site is worth more than a hundred links from junk sites.
- Topical relevance. A link from a construction portal to a renovation site is natural; from a fishing site — suspicious.
- Natural anchors. If all links use the exact “buy windows cheap”, that is a red flag. A living profile is varied: brand, url, “here”, “this”.
- Surroundings. A link inside meaningful text is more valuable than one in a footer among a hundred others.
External links are part of broader technical and search SEO, not separate magic.
White-hat ways to grow
- Crowd marketing. Natural mentions and links on forums, review sites and in answers to questions — where your link is genuinely useful in the discussion. Slow, but safe and alive.
- Articles and guest posts. Expert material on a relevant platform (VC, Habr, industry media) with an on-topic link. It also brings traffic and reputation.
- Useful content that gets linked to on its own. Research, calculators, guides — they get cited without your effort. This is a continuation of content marketing.
- Directories and catalogs. Topical and regional ones — in moderation, without spamming a thousand directories.
- Maps and aggregators. Listings on Yandex Business and 2GIS, industry platforms.
- PR and partners. Mentions in the news, from partners, in client case studies.
What to avoid
- Mass buying of cheap links from marketplaces — a fast route to a penalty.
- Link farms and networks of sites created for the sake of links.
- Identical commercial anchors for everything.
- Sharp spikes: a hundred links in a week for a young site look unnatural.
Remember: crude link manipulation can earn you a demotion that then takes months to lift. Caution is cheaper.
First — your own site
Links strengthen a good site but will not save a bad one. If you have no semantics, weak content and low conversion, links will only bring traffic that leaves. The right order is: first a decent site and content, then link building as an amplifier.
How to measure
Look not at the “number of links” but at the dynamics: growth in referring domains (not links), their quality, positions for target queries and traffic. Track the profile in Yandex Webmaster, Google Search Console and specialized services. If the number of quality donors and your positions grow, link building is working.
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Conclusion
Links are alive, but the rules have changed: quality, topical relevance and naturalness win, not volume. White-hat methods — crowd marketing, articles, useful content, maps, PR — work slowly and safely. First put the site in order, then reinforce with links. We will build an off-page strategy with no risks — get in touch.
