You’re working to build backlinks to your real estate website…
But after a few successes, you’re still not seeing an impact. You’re starting to wonder, “How many backlinks does it take to rank my real estate website in Google?”
After all, you’re busy building a business and you don’t have loads of time to guest blog for backlinks. You have better, more important things to do.
Still, it would be nice to outrank your competition on page 1 with some well-placed backlinks.
That’d mean passive traffic, high-quality leads, and less work/money to generate results.
Problem is, the way you’re building backlinks isn’t all that efficient and you’re not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel – which makes you wonder, “Will this ever work?”
That’s why I’m going to give you a general idea for how many backlinks you’ll need to start outranking your competition and then I’ll show you some quick, easy ways to build backlinks.
Let’s get started.
How Many Backlinks do you Need to Outrank your Competition?
While I’d love to answer that question with a specific number of backlinks… I can’t.
The answer depends on how many backlinks your competitors are building, your existing domain authority, your competitor’s domain authority, your overall SEO strategy, the quality of the backlinks you build, and a whole slew of other factors.
Having said that, though, there are a few things you should know about SEO in general when trying to increase your rankings with backlinks.
First off, the higher your current domain authority, the more difficult it is to increase your SEO power.
The same goes for where you’re currently ranking for your target keyword phrase.
This just means that the more SEO authority you have, the harder it is to increase that authority with backlinks.
In the beginning, one or two high-quality backlinks might increase your domain authority and rankings significantly. As your website becomes more established, though, the competition gets increasingly fierce.
Of course, that also depends on how competitive your market is.
A friend and I put up a Carrot real estate investor website in Klamath Falls, Oregon – a low-competition market – and in just a week, the website was ranking 6th on the first page without us doing anything.
Since you’re reading this, I’m going to assume that didn’t happen in your market.
Which means you’ll need to put some energy into building quality backlinks. But here’s the thing…
Not All Backlinks are Created Equal
Some backlinks are more powerful than others. And these are the factors that determine how impactful any given backlink is on your rankings.
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the hyperlinked words that a backlink sits upon.
Why is that important?
Because Google factors in anchor text when determining what the linked-to page is about and in determining how relevant your page is to the phrase you’re trying to rank for.
For instance, a backlink with anchor text that says, “Sell your home fast” would have a more positive impact on your rankings than anchor text that says “the market is healthy right now” or something else vague and irrelevant to your target keyword phrase.
When building backlinks, try to get anchor text that is relevant to the keyword phrase you’re trying to rank for.
Domain Authority
The domain authority and page authority of the page where you receive a backlink from helps determine how impactful that backlink is on your own domain authority.
The higher the domain authority of the website you received a backlink from, the bigger impact it’ll have your website.
What is domain authority?
It’s the general score (1-100) of how much authority a domain or page has in Google’s search engine. You can check the domain or page authority of any website here: https://www.seoreviewtools.com/website-authority-checker/
This is a good way to gauge how much impact each backlink is having. After you receive a new backlink, check to see how much impact that backlink had on your domain authority. Just make sure that Google has re-indexed your website, otherwise, the impact won’t show up when you check.
To request priority indexing from Google, go here.
Relevance
It’s not just anchor text and domain authority that determine the quality of a backlink, it’s also the relevance.
If you get a backlink from a website that talks about how to conquer the emotional struggle of divorce, that backlink wouldn’t have as much positive effect on your target keyword rankings as one from a real estate website.
Ideally, the backlinks you build will be from websites relevant to real estate.
I’m not saying you should reject a backlink opportunity from an irrelevant website – those could still drive traffic and help diversify your backlink portfolio.
But I am saying that you should actively work for relevant backlinks instead of irrelevant ones. That will provide a higher impact on the links you build.
How to Build More High-quality Backlinks in Less Time…
You do need to build backlinks. But the number that you need to build greatly depends on how competitive your market is online.
So don’t ask, “How many backlinks do I need until I outrank the competition?”
You need backlinks to help your SEO and the more high-quality links you build, the better.
Ask, “How can I build good backlinks quickly and with less effort?”
Here’s how.
1. HARO
HARO (which stands for Help A Reporter Out) is a great way to build backlinks and market authority all at the same time. Journalists sign up for HARO to get quotes and expert contributions from market experts. And you can sign up for HARO (for free) to become a source of expertise for those journalists.
Often times, if they choose to quote you, they’ll also give you a backlink.
Heck, you could even outsource this to a VA if you want.
How to Use HARO to Get Backlinks
2. #JournoRequest
The hashtag #JournoRequest is another direct line to journalists who’re writing online articles, seeking expert contributions.
By searching the hashtag on Twitter, your page will populate with lots of different online writers who’re looking for specific types of contributions. Most of the time, they’ll have no problem providing a backlink in return.
Again, this is so simple that you could pay a VA to scour Twitter for you and look for backlink building contribution opportunities. You’ll just have to provide them with expert quotes when they find one.
3. Podcast Pitching
An oft-forgotten and easy way to build relevant backlinks is by being a guest on real estate podcasts. Many podcast hosts today record their episodes digitally over a video call, so you don’t need to worry about traveling.
And the easiest way to find these podcasts is by Googling something like “real estate investing podcasts” or “small-business entrepreneurship podcast.”
Remember, the smaller the podcast, the easier it will be get accepted as a guest. The more prestigious the podcast, the more difficult it’ll be.
Then, find an email on their website or a “Contact Us” form and use this template to pitch your idea (or have a VA do it for you).
Subject: Quick idea…
Hey [name of person or business]!
My name is [name] and I’m a real estate [investor/agent] in [location]. My business has [build credibility with revenue numbers, media mentions, or a testimonial from a past customer]. And I’d LOVE to be a guest on your podcast to discuss [pitch a relevant topic you’d be comfortable discussing].
What do you think? Is that something we could set up?
Let me know! I’d be happy to get it on the calendar. :-)
Cheers,
[Name]
4. Testimonial Offers
One final way to build your backlink portfolio in very little time (but with a big impact) is to offer testimonials for online businesses where you’re a customer.
All online businesses are looking for testimonials from their customers. And most of them won’t bat an eyelid at your request for a backlink in return.
Just make a list of all the online tools you use and love. Then send those businesses an email with your testimonial, asking for a backlink in return. Here’s your swipe-able template for that.
Subject: I LOVE your company…
Hey [name of business or person you’re pitching]!
My name is [name] and I’m a real estate [investor/agent] in [location]. I’ve been using your service for [length of time] and it’s completely changed the way that I do business. I love it so much that I wanted to send over a testimonial that you can use if you feel so inclined. :-)
“[Testimonial].”
I hope you can use that testimonial to encourage others to use your [service/tool/product]. It’s been absolutely amazing.
Thanks for building something so genuinely helpful.
And if you do decide to use the testimonial, it would be awesome if you’d include a link to [your website] when quoting me.
Either way, keep up the good work. :-)
Cheers,
[name]
Conclusion
So, how many backlinks does it take to start ranking your real estate website on Google?
The honest but terrible answer is…
It depends.
Fortunately, building backlinks do help your rankings. The trick is to build as many high-quality backlinks as you can and watch how those links improve your rankings. And with the time-saving (even outsource-able) strategies above, you can increase your domain authority without guest blogging.
So go get started. And don’t stop until you’ve beaten the competition.