Here’s a fact: links have the power to boost your website’s search engine rankings. But how can you determine which links bring results and which ones may, in fact, be hurting your rankings? By conducting SEO link analysis for your website. Here, we learn what goes into the process of link analysis, how to audit links related to your dispensary’s site, what makes link analysis so important, and which link analysis software you can deploy for the best results.
What Is a Link Analysis?
Link analysis refers to analyzing the hyperlinks that point to your marijuana dispensary website. These links form a vital part of boosting your SEO efforts and driving traffic to your website.
The results of a link analysis can uncover any content discrepancies that may be impacting your search engine rankings. There are several auditing tools – such as Google Webmaster and SEMRush – out there that can help you audit your hyperlinks with ease and efficiency. The different types of link analysis include:
- Inbound Link Analysis. This process involves auditing backlinks that lead to your website from other sites on the internet. Inbound link analysis helps you gauge the quality and quantity of links associated with your website, ultimately helping you spot areas that need more improvement.
- Outbound Link Analysis. This process involves auditing backlinks in your website that point to links on other sites on the internet. Outbound link analysis helps ensure the hyperlinks displayed on your website remain relevant (and valuable) for your audience.
- Internal Link Analysis. This process involves checking your website’s internal linking for SEO. Internal link analysis ensures your site maintains an effective structure as well as improves user experience.
Importance of Link Analysis in Dispensary SEO
Ever optimized all your site pages for SEO but still found it challenging to rank higher on Google? The problem may lie in your links!
The main goal of link analysis is to hunt for links that may bring down your search engine ranking. As your website grows, it becomes vital to audit your linking strategy every month or quarter. Why? Because when your traffic increases, more people end up clicking on your negative links. This, in turn, cripples your SEO.
Conducting link analysis is especially important when it comes to ensuring your links are associated only with reputable websites. If you get any hyperlinks from spammy sites, link analysis can erase those links before they start harming your site.
You can even conduct link analysis on your competitor’s website (SEO competitor link analysis). If your competitor ranks better than you, link analysis helps you determine which sources these websites are linked to – so you can have links from similar sources.
How to Do a Link Analysis
Here are a few steps to get started on your link analysis journey:
Make a List of Competitor Sites
Aside from studying your own website, make sure you consider analyzing what your competitors are doing. Start by making a list of competitor websites you want to analyze. Make sure you choose marijuana dispensary websites that:
- Offer products that are similar to yours
- Rank higher than you for target keywords you want to incorporate
Pick A Backlink Tool
Conducting link analysis can be a challenging process. Instead of doing it manually, make sure you deploy an auditing tool. There are several link analysis tools out there. When picking one for your dispensary, make sure it offers the capabilities you’re targeting. Once you pick your backlinking tool, it’s time to punch in the domain name. Here are three important metrics to focus on:
- Top linked pages. This metric refers to pages that get the most backlinks on any given dispensary website. Top linked pages point toward the type of content that works best for link building.
- The total number of backlinks. This metric refers to the total number of backlinks that point to a website. If the total number of backlinks is low, it may be the main reason a site isn’t ranking well on Google.
- Referring domains. This metric refers to the total number of backlinks that lead audiences to your website. Sort referral domains by their authority to determine which pages are valuable for your website’s ranking.
Study the Details
Aside from the metrics discussed above, your link auditing tool should help you detect linking issues like:
- Spam. Look at the anchor text linked to your referring domains. If this text uses crude language or looks like the spam section of your email, they are likely spam. If you find any spammy links, make sure you get them removed immediately.
- Negative SEO. This metric uncovers websites that might be a source of your negative SEO. Remove any traces of negative SEO to ensure your website doesn’t lose its ranking.
- Broken or lost links. These links can snatch away your website’s potential to rank higher from a backlink. If a link points to a broken page on your website, make sure you redirect it to a page that works. If the backlink itself is broken, request the referring domain to fix it.
Analyze What Your Competition is Doing
A great way to find out why your competitors outrank you would be to look at their referring domains by running an SEO competitor link analysis. This can help you determine which domains you can aim for to achieve better search results. It’s also important to determine your competitor’s backlink acquisition rates to understand at what pace their website may be growing compared to yours.
Identifying High-Quality Backlinks for Marijuana Dispensaries
While it’s important to acquire a growing number of backlinks for the best dispensary SEO results, it’s equally important to assess their quality before giving them a green signal. High-quality backlinks come with:
- Authority
- Relevance
- Context
- Diversity
In addition, the backlinks you choose must come from sources that are associated with a similar industry, audience, and topic. Make sure all your referral domains offer content that is meaningful and valuable for your audience.
Best Link Analysis Software to Use
Link analysis helps uncover weaknesses and build strength for your dispensary’s website. Throughout your link analysis journey, you’ll come across key insights like the quality of your links and the health of your website. Conducting link analysis, however, requires the right link analysis software to help you arrive at valuable data. Here are a few of the many tools you can deploy during the process:
- Google Search Console. Exclusive to only the Google search engine, this tool helps you determine which links point to your website.
- Ahref’s. This SEO tool helps you examine which pages on your competitors’ websites rank higher than yours, and how your competitors acquire links.
- SEMrush. This SEO tool helps you detect harmful, lost, or broken links with ease and efficiency. SEMrush also helps in detecting and erasing negative links.
From fixing broken links to outperforming your competition, link analysis offers countless benefits when it comes to growing your dispensary website. Now that you know SEO link analysis works, make sure you perform it regularly to ensure your pages continue to rank higher.
