35 Link Building Statistics to Pump Up Your SEO Strategies in 2023

Do you know how many backlinks you need to rank in the top 10? What types of content generate links passively? Or how many months to wait before seeing the results from link building?

We feel you! We also wanted to find answers backed up by real numbers. That’s why we’ve decided to dig down the web and put together the 35 link building studies you can act on in 2023.

Let’s get into it!

Is Link Building Important?

Getting straight to the point, link building is important. We believe at DigitalOlympus that search engine algorithms will keep evolving, and link quality will become even more critical as links are integral to ranking factors.

Now, we’re witnessing the effect of the Penguin algorithm, the E-A-T update, the Link Spam algorithm update (2021), and many others that are all about high content quality and relevance — for internal pages and referring pages alike.

So link building is affecting and will be affecting search engine rankings because backlinks, in their essence, factor into the quality and trustworthiness of a website/web page.

Plus, we see a direct correlation between the number of high-quality backlinks and site rankings in Google search results.

1. Google regards content pieces and backlinks as the primary factors for ranking for a target keyword. Next is RankBrain. (Search Engine Round Table)
2. Having lots of backlinks helps pages rank higher than pages that don’t have as many. On average, Google’s #1 result has 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10. (Backlinko)

3. Only 2.2% of published online content generates multiple backlinks. (Backlinko)

Pro Tip: If you spot some content pieces in your niche acquiring a decent number of links, study them thoroughly and understand why. Try to replicate this tactic to create linkable assets.

4. Link building is rated as the most difficult SEO practice by 41% of large companies (over 1,000 employees). (Conductor)

5. The majority of web pages (66.31%) don’t have any backlinks (Ahrefs)
6. Content that gets many social shares and goes viral doesn’t usually receive backlinks. It’s safe to say there’s no correlation between backlinks and social media shares as Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.078. (Backlinko)
7. 49% of marketers say it takes one to three months to see a difference in rankings and organic traffic from link building efforts. While 30% of marketers voted for three to six months to feel the impact of placing links. (Aira)
8. Link building is the most challenging part of SEO, according to 65% of digital marketers. (SEO Tribunal)
9. 40% of marketers named getting links from outreach targets (e.g., bloggers outreach, guest posting) as the most challenging part of the link building process. (Aira)
10. The more domains link to a page, the higher chances for it to rank higher in Google. (Backlinko)

Link Building Effectiveness Statistics

Now, let’s learn what marketers and SEO specialists say about the impact of link building on SEO results. Sure, everybody believes and sees the positive effect on rankings, but let’s look at what the numbers tell us.

11. When SEO experts were asked whether links positively influence rankings, 48% categorically responded that they do. 34% of respondents also said yes, with one caveat: the website has no major SEO issues. (Aira)

12. 92% of marketers believe that links will still be considered ranking factors in Google algorithms in five years. (Aira)
13. According to 13% of search experts from enterprise companies, building high-quality links is the most important SEO tactic. (Conductor)
14. 52% of digital marketers noticed the direct impact of link building and brand mentions on organic search rankings. (Aira)
15. About 58% of businesses believe link building affects their ranking in the SERPs. (uSERP)
16. The quality and quantity of links influence rankings, according to 56% of businesses. (uSERP)

17. 85% of marketers think that link building helps build brand awareness. (uSERP)

Link Building Strategies and Tactics Statistics

Do most companies hire external link building services to handle link building? What % of cold emails result in placing a backlink? What is a new popular tactic to earn links for SaaS?

Let’s find the answers below!

Warning: This chapter may affect your strategic decisions on link building.

18. A third of businesses (36%) hire freelancers or experts/agencies to build links. (Aira)

Hiring a link building agency allows companies to acquire backlinks super fast and at scale with low risk. These are the main reasons why businesses prefer outsourcing backlinks. In fact, we at Digital Olympus can deliver up to 50 links from high-quality, relevant domains during the first months of collaboration. We also advocate transparency, so our clients know the outlets we’ll target for placing links.

19. Over 40% of marketers believe content marketing (aka linkable assets) is the best way to generate passive links. (uSERP)
20. The most popular link building tactic in 2021 was linkable asset creation. (Aira)
21. Only 8.5% of cold emails get results when it comes to link building. (Backlinko)