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Master Tier 2 Backlinks with SEOButler: A Comprehensive Guide
If your website is humming in that DR 20-50 zone, I can all but guarantee you need some high-quality tier 2 backlinks to hit that next level.
Well, that’s that sorted, then. Thanks for the hot link-building tip, we can all go home for the day and work on our tier 2 link-building skills.
Of course, you do want to get to the next level. And, of course, I can help you with that. This guide to tier 2 backlinks will explain:
Why these links are so critical for a mid-sized website’s backlink profile
When tiered link-building becomes risky – and why it’s not when you think
How to use tier 2 links to consistently drive your website’s performance, authority, and traffic.
What Are Tier 2 Backlinks and Why Do They Matter?
Tier 2 backlinks come from sites with reasonable domain authority. Analytical tools like Semrush and Ahrefs use DA (domain authority) or DR (domain rating) to aggregate how strongly search engines trust a website.
Disclaimer: always remember that Google does not use DA or DR as a metric. It’s a very useful approximation of trust, which is why you’ll hear SEOs talking about it. But officially, there’s no such thing.
The general DA range for tier 2 links is 20-50. Coincidentally, this also tends to be the rough DA of the websites that benefit most from second-tier links.
Understanding Tier 2 Backlinks in SEO
Link-builders use tier 2 links for SEO in two different ways:
As part of a tiered link-building strategy, wherein the second-tier links point to tier 1 websites that then point onwards to the main website
To point directly to the main website as an affordable complement to the high-authority tier 1 links the site is chasing (but can be costly to acquire)
Second-tier links are sometimes regarded with suspicion by website owners, as ideally, you want the highest-quality sites to point to yours. However, you’ll acquire second-tier links naturally as part of 100% organic backlink – there’s nothing that inherently makes second-tier websites a negative influence.
The problem, as usual, is the way they’ve been used historically by black hat SEOs. But we’ll get to that later.
How Tier 2 Links Differ from Tier 1 and Tier 3 Links
Backlinks are typically divided into 3 tiers.
Tier 1 links are from very high-quality websites (DR of 50+). These are the ultimate goal of most link schemes and organic outreach strategies. However, they also tend to be the most expensive and hardest to acquire.
Tier 2 links are mid-range websites that may perform relatively well on search engines but haven’t made it into the big leagues yet.
Tier 3 links are websites that are either somewhat new or otherwise not fully trusted by Google (DR below 20). This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re spam websites or untrustworthy – often it just means they’re not well-established.
First-tier links pass on a substantial amount of link equity, or link juice. This boosts the performance of target web pages in turn.
A second tier link will pass on some link equity, but not so much. As you move further down the tier list, there’s also a higher chance that a website is untrustworthy or spammy, so you may not want a huge volume of tier 3 links pointing directly to your website.
Repeat after me: all three link tiers have a valuable role in link-building strategies.
You just have to know how not to use them.
Debunking Common Myths About Tier 2 Link Building
Myth
Tier 2 links are spammy and unreliable.
Reality
A tier 2 link may be penalized for spam if the host website is identified as using black-hat SEO techniques. This penalty can be passed onto other websites it links to.
However, this is a problem with the individual website, not the tier. A tier 1 site can equally be penalized if it’s found to be breaking the rules.
Myth
Tier-2 link building is a black hat technique.
Reality
Unnatural, unhelpful links are the ones that get penalized by Google. Think about it. Is your website DR 20-50? Would you consider outbound links from your website to be spammy links and obviously part of a black hat strategy?
Of course not.
Myth
Tier 2 links aren’t worth it.
Reality
You will never get to the big leagues without a solid backlink profile that includes plenty of tier 2 links.
Other link-building methods should be used in conjunction with second-tier link-building, but they’re an essential part of any website’s backlink ecosystem.
The Benefits of Using Tier 2 Backlinks
So how exactly do second-tier links push your website up the search engine rankings? The answer is by creating a stable, natural link profile that search engines identify as the kind of architecture a successful website should have.
Here’s the breakdown.
Boosting the Value of Your Tier 1 Links
A tiered link-building strategy directs link equity upwards through the tiers, until it finally reaches the ultimate goal: your website.
Tier 1 links are your primary backlinks – but you can’t take them for granted. They need support and sustenance just like your main site.
First-tier links will always be more effective when they’re supported by a network of contributing smaller links. Tier 2 link-building is an essential part of this process.
Enhancing Link Juice Distribution and Flow
Picture small streams combining to form larger rivers and eventually delivering water to the ocean. High numbers of tier 3 links pass on a tiny amount of value each to a wide array of tier 2 links, which pass on link juice in turn to just a few powerful first-tier links.
This is why numbers matter in tiered link-building strategies. Second-tier backlinks should be numerous and diverse, meaning you get link juice from a wider variety of sources, all ultimately leading back to your website.
Reducing Direct Risks While Improving SEO Outcomes
I absolutely acknowledge that there’s an increased risk of incurring penalties from poor-quality links as you move into the lower tiers. Anyone who says there’s zero risk in link-building has never built a link.
Tiered link-building mitigates this risk by having second-tier links primarily pointing to first-tier websites. This means that on the off-chance they do incur a penalty (which they shouldn’t, if your link-builder is smart and careful), your website won’t take the hit: it’s protected by separation.
It’s also highly unlikely that a site associated with one bad apple will be fully blacklisted by Google. So you’ll still enjoy the benefits of the tier 1 site passing on authority, so you get to keep enjoying those positive SEO outcomes.
Driving Additional Traffic and Expanding Your Reach
Tier 2 websites massively expand the diversity of your backlink profile. This means you can attract referral traffic from a much larger range of sources.
Remember that trickle effect – just a few visitors from hundreds of sites in different niches adds up to thousands of visitors. You’ll also unlock new markets that you may not have expected by putting your website in the sights of a more diverse pool of customers.
Strategies for Building Effective Tier 2 Backlinks
We’ve covered the why – now let’s talk about the how.
Here’s how skilled link-builders propel mid-tier sites to the top of SERPs using second-tier backlinks.
Identifying the Best Tier 1 Content for Support
Your tier 1 content should present a great linking opportunity for a wealth of tier 2 sites. This will minimize your content creation and guest posting costs and ensure you’re getting great value from every tier 1 web page that links back to your main website.
You can also funnel secondary links towards existing content that points to your website and use niche edits to pass that link juice along to your main site.
Check out our blog on niche edits vs guest posting to learn more about these techniques.
How to Choose the Right Platforms for Tier 2 Links
Your choice of tier 2 platform is largely what determines whether you’re at risk of penalties or not. So how do you vet a website with distinctly average domain authority?
The best choice here is to work with a reputable link-builder. I could (and probably will!) write an entire blog post on the criteria used to judge whether a mid-DA platform is a trustworthy host for guest posts or link-building.
The point is that it’s not easy, and it’s well worth enlisting professional help for a guest posting campaign.
Proven Tier 2 Techniques
Tier 2 links can come from many sources – not just guest posts or your secondary sites. Here are a few classics.
Blog Comments – be sure to provide value in the comment along with a link to the tier 1 site of your choice.
Forum Engagement – linking to a tier 1 site from a forum post doesn’t need to look fishy as long as it’s relevant to the discussion at hand.
Social Media Mentions and Shares – social media links may not pass link juice, as it’s rare that they’re indexed as dofollow links. However, shares and popular posts can certainly help direct referral traffic towards your target sites.
Content Syndication – be careful with this. Posting the same piece of content in multiple places is a great way to obtain diverse tier 2 links, but you need to choose natural venues and avoid spamming.
Press Release Distribution – this is a fantastic, organic way to get a link published in multiple places, including some potentially high-authority sites.
Best Practices for Maximizing Your Tier 2 Link Strategy
Now you’re getting the picture. Here’s a quick list of best practices to help you get the most out of second-tier link building.
Maintaining Relevance and Context
The golden rule of backlinks, whether you’re creating tiered links or guest posting for SEO, is that they must be relevant and contextual. Without following these principles, link-building cannot exist in harmony with Google.
Wherever your links point, wherever they’re posted, it needs to make sense in the eyes of a crawling search engine.
Using Natural, Non-Spammy Tactics
If you’re using content syndication or publishing the same link in multiple places, ensure there’s a good reason for cross-posting. In general, the more unique and contextually relevant you can make each link, the better.
How to Diversify Anchor Texts and Link Sources
Don’t use the same anchor text for every link to the same page! Vary the anchor text depending on the context of where the link is being published.
A combination up branded anchors with keyword anchors depending on the link’s source means that you can get maximum link equity without looking suspicious or spammy.
Regularly Monitoring and Evaluating Your Tier 2 Links
Constant, patient monitoring and adjusting is the difference between an SEO strategy and a waste of time and money.
Which links are working together? Which parts of your structure aren’t delivering referral traffic or link juice? Why is this?
Learn from what’s working, but more importantly, learn from what isn’t.
Structuring Tiered Links: Tier 2 Link-Building Example
A tier 1 website should be obtaining link equity from a number of second-tier sites. To make the most of this, you need to have your tier 1 site publishing content that structured groups of second-tier sites can provide relevant links to.
Here’s a quick tier 2 link-building example to illustrate what I mean.
Your main website sells hemp pillows. So let’s say you have two first-tier websites linking to it. The first one is an organic hemp website, and the second is a sleep health website.
Here’s an overview of their potential second-tier websites:
Hemp: cannabis, organic textiles, alternative materials, renewables, healthy living
Sleep health: work-from home, anxiety, insomnia, meditation, healthy living
You see how both websites have “healthy living” listed? This is because it’s a niche overlap. You should ideally choose just one of these tier 1 websites to obtain links from tier 2 websites in that niche.
This is because your link-building tiers need to get wider as they get lower. This creates a stable platform. You don’t want the same tier 2 sites linking to all your tier 1 sites, or Google will identify a suspicious pattern and penalize you.
Avoiding Pitfalls and Challenges in Tier 2 Link Building
Remember: a huge proportion of SEO success is not doing things wrong.
A lot of people do, and a lot of people lose money. I don’t want that to happen to you, so listen up.
1. Understanding and Avoiding Over-Optimization
If you’re lucky enough to be a website owner with a significant marketing budget, take my advice and hang onto it.
There’s always someone ready to sell you as many links as you want. You’ll get a huge list of over-optimized, long-tail keyword anchors and a massive database of websites.
And you’ll get the same results from tens of thousands of dollars spent that a good SEO could get you with a handful of good links and a fraction of that budget.
2. Ensuring Tier 2 Links Aren’t Triggering Spam Filters
Spam is unnecessary repetition that doesn’t add value.
There’s plenty of this online. The dangerous type is the type that Google can identify and trace back to a source. If you’re that source and you’ve been spamming links, you’ll be in trouble.
3. Managing Risk While Scaling Your Efforts
There is always an element of risk with link-building. The more links you publish, the greater this risk is.
Consistent, structured, tiered link-building is the best way to achieve scalable results while mitigating the risk to your website.
Measuring the Impact of Your Tier 2 Link Building Efforts
Here’s a quick guide to tracking the performance of a tiered link-building campaign.
Key Performance Metrics to Track for Tier 2 Success
The essential KPIs for a second-tier link building campaign are:
The diversity of your backlink profile
Total backlink volume
Your site’s domain authority
Your anchor text portfolio
Referral traffic
Your site’s conversion rate (where appropriate)
Tools for Monitoring and Analyzing Your Backlink Profile
Ahrefs and Semrush are both nifty analytical tools (I personally prefer Ahrefs, but it’s your call).
To be honest, though, you can’t human insight and experience. I’d take a good SEO with an Excel spreadsheet over an automated review of my backlink profile any day.
When to Adjust or Scale Your Strategy
The answer to this is: slowly, and when you have very good evidence that scaling will produce strong results.
Start small. Your money is better spent on expertise than volume in the early days. Once you have a consistent strategy, you can start to scale.
Wrapping Up
Key Takeaways on Implementing a Successful Tier 2 Strategy
Don’t be scared of tier 2 link-building! It’s an essential part of the huge majority of good link-building strategies.
Expertise is worth paying for, because it has lasting value – while bad links will cost you money and time without getting you results.
Spread your links out, but don’t spam.
You want a wide base funnelling up to your website – categorize your second-tier links to avoid crossover.
Why Every Business Should Consider Tier 2 Link Building
Simply? Because no website becomes authoritative without tier 2 links.
The support of a few elite websites is incredibly meaningful. But you want your website to be referenced by relevant websites all the way down the tiers.
Intelligent link-building means optimizing this natural structure to funnel maximum link juice to your site.
Final Thoughts on How to Use Tier 2 Links to Complement Your SEO
Second-tier links are integral to a great SEO strategy – but they’re exactly that. Part of a wider, holistic strategy.
You want tier 2 links? You can find them anywhere.
You want the expert advice that will make them work for you? You’ll find that at SEOButler.