The issue that we are dealing with here is among the many, what are the most key metrics to check at the time of validating potential link partners? How does one decide those, which ultimately matter? This can be a tricky terrain for link builders, especially new or inexperienced ones. To simplify the task, we discuss some of the significant attributes or parameters.

In the previous post, we have already considered some of the important link building metrics like domain authority, # of linking root domains and Page authority. Now, here are a few more:

Link attributes: By this, we mean those like nofollowed versus followed. Ensure that each nofollowed link is highlighted in the browser that you are using. By doing so, it is possible to spot if all the links on that particular page are nofollowed.

While scrolling the page down, hover over the links and check the URL in the browser’s bottom left (click through wastes time to find out if the links are to any external websites, and if indeed so, if they are clean URLs, are redirected or they have parameters attached (something that appears like: affid=xxx&sid=campaign1). Ideally, clean links are preferable in order to draw the most out of that website’s passable link juice.

# of links on page: This is part of the Page Attributes. Often, you may do a quick check on the number of links on the webpage, either looking for blog rolls or even excessive lists of links on the sidebars. And the more of them, the greater any link juice on that webpage is going to get split among them all (regardless of their being followed or nofollowed). In other words, you would want clutter-free pages having less (irrelevant) links. However, too many of links is not necessarily taboo. It all will depend on the project’s end goals. What those links imply and exactly what they’re directing will also come into play.

These are some of the hardcore metrics you need to look at while qualifying or evaluating a potential link partner. Other useful aspects for consideration are comparing PageRank versus MozRank to see if the website has been penalized (also, if PR is lower than mR, it could be a problem area). You can compare MozRank versus MozTrust, to find out if the site chases PR (though PR isn’t always a great metric to qualify a site).

Broadly, one can conclude that you can rank the metrics, as and when needed, depending on your priorities, goals and the circumstances. The aspects you may look at are viewing the website code for potential iframes – which don’t pass value, when links reside in them, checking the specific pages’ HTTP status code, and utilizing OSE for deciphering its top pages or analyzing its backlinks.

However, don’t waste your precious time thoroughly evaluating a website at the outset, only to be spurned when you decide to reach out, or worse, realize you were looking to target the completely wrong niche area. Save that type of research only for high value prospects.