Backlink is a very important factor considered by Google while ranking pages in search results. It is also a top-considered factor that determines your blog’s page rank.Today, I selected 50 bloggers and asked about their opinion on which is important : quality of backlinks or quantity of backlinks, below is a graphical representation of the result:
Though I sent this question to many fellow bloggers but only got 50 replies. OK, lets talk about the results:
- 80% (40 votes) of bloggers thinks that quality is important than quantity
- 4% (2 votes) bloggers thinks that quantity is important than quality.
- 16% (8 votes) of bloggers thinks that both quality and quantity have the same importance.
My view on quality of backlinks and quantity of backlinks
I also think that both quantity and quality holds the same importance. To need high page rank and to get top search results you not only requires quality backlinks but also requires as many quality backlinks as possible(quantity).
As you know, a single quality backlinks passes authority and Google trust to the linked site, more the number of backlinks more will be Google trust and the higher your article will appear on Google SERPs.
What are quality backlinks
I’ll define quality backlinks as, the backlinks that your website gets from other authority and trusted websites/blogs, that has a high page rank are termed as quality backlinks. There are few rules that a backlink must follow in order to be called as a quality backlinks:
- The backlink must be from relevant blogs
- The link must be in the post content area
- The backlink must be from a trusted site with high page rank
Lets talk about these points in detail:
The backlink must be from relevant blogs : Suppose your blog is about food and cooking recipes and you are getting a backlink from a high page rank site which is a tech blog. Such a backlink is not a quality backlink because it is not from a relevant site. Though the backlink will hold some importance but will not be called as a quality backlink. So, a quality backlink is always from a site that is on the same topic as yours.
The link must be in the post content area : Google treats all the links on a page in a different manner. Links in footer hold very less or negligible value and links in sidebar have more importance than the links in footer. Google gives special attention to the links in the post content area i.e the area where we write our articles/posts, so if you are getting a backlink it must be from the post content area in order to be called as a quality backlink.
The backlink must be from a trusted site with high page rank : To rank higher there is a term called Google Trust, Google keeps those sites on top in which it has more trust. Google thinks that trusted sites always provide correct information to the users. So, a quality backlink is always from a trusted relevant site. Well, I do not know how Google build this trust factor, its still a mystery for me. 
Quality backlink does not come from:
- Blogroll
- Directory submission
- .gov or .edu site (until and unless you’ve an education site)
- Social bookmarking sites
- Non niche related sites