With Q-Flux we've solved how to measure the value of the backlinks earned by your digital PR campaigns.
There are no set rules in our sector for measuring the value of the backlinks acquired.
Link builders often use varying metrics without any solid justification; one provider will use Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) and Moz Domain Authority.
These variations confuse pricing and ROI calculations, but that’s not the most significant danger. The standard metrics are only focusing on one ranking factor – backlinks.
Google has been explicit that backlinks are a major factor, but these metrics ignore other crucial ranking factors.
We have changed that and inline with the Google leaks of May 2024 we are right to have done so.
What does Google use
to assess pages?
Google wants to provide the best content to its users. To do this, there are some obvious requirements for a page to rank high on a search results page, many have which may have been further verified by the Google API leaks.
Number one is relevance. Pages must be relevant to the users’ search terms. Once relevance is established, the emphasis then goes on the quality of the content. Does the page cover the topic it is covering with accuracy and in detail? Does the page include expertise and first hand experience?
Next, backlinks still play a big part in the ranking equation so we don’t advise ignoring well-established metrics such as Moz DA and Ahrefs DR – but they shouldn’t be used in isolation (this is core to our thinking).
How can we confidently measure backlink value?
Fortunately, Google has given plenty of hints to what we should be focusing on, so deciding on the metrics to use is reasonably easy. The challenge is to find a way to get a balanced score that favours ranking factors in a logical way. A score that only uses backlinks or traffic alone is not going to do that so we’ve done something unique.
These are the factors we have focused on.
1. Backlinks to the linking site (authority)
The Goole API leask of May 2024 virtually confirmed that quality backlinks continue to be a significant ranking factor, so it’s still important to measure the quality and number linking to pages you are assessing.
2. Content quality factors (contextual relevance)
Assessing content is tricky, but some elements can indicate how Google might rate a page. Relevance is crucial, so evaluating the placement of keywords throughout the document is vital. How backlinks are placed within content has an impact on their value too.
3. Visibility in search results (keywords and traffic)
We can all agree that Google shows web pages it trusts more than those it doesn’t. In that case, traffic and keyword visibility for a website act as a proxy for this trust.
Introducing
the Q-Flux formula
Once we decided on which aspects of the algorithm we needed to measure it was quite easy to come up with a formula. Unlike some SEOs, we avoided second-guessing too many potential ranking factors.
For example, accurately measuring the reputation of an author or the specific quality of an article is an unrealistic goal. Sticking to the core metrics that we know Google favours so that Q-Flux is easy to understand and gives a fair score was our game plan.
1. Why should you measure the links earned in a digital PR campaign?
Digital PR focuses on getting coverage from high-quality publications. Often, it’s easy to see the best websites so using metrics isn’t necessary. A link from the BBC or the Guardian is an excellent outcome for a digital PR campaign but what about the rest?
Times have changed, and millions of independent websites play a significant role by sharing content using links. In the past, a quick look at the Moz DA or Ahrefs DR has sufficed. But that doesn’t give an accurate reflection of how valuable a site could be to your campaign.
Instead of using just one metric, we decided to use an up to date set of metrics that more closely mirrors what Google measures. This approach gives our clients a better understanding of the value of the links acquired and their ROI.
2. The tools and metrics we use in Q-Flux
Traffic: SEMRush - Estimated organic traffic and keyword visibility
Sites that get traffic are ranking for keywords, which means they are being crawled and rank well, reflecting some degree of trust with Google.
Backlink quality: Moz.com - Domain Authority (DA), Ahrefs Domain Rating (DR) and Majestic TrustFlow
Moz works hard to filter spam and scores sites mainly based on link quality and is possibly the best we have for this job. We support this with a back up check using Ahrefs DR, another popular metric with SEO professionals. For identifying sites connected to good ‘neighbourhoods’ Majestic TrustFlow is an excellent and underused metric.
User experience and content: Relevance signals
Relevance is still super important, but most link builders don’t bother measuring it. Our method checks relevance from the top-down, giving higher scores to pages where your target keywords are placed in more prominent places. An example of where a high relevance score is achieved would if the domain, article and link placement are all relevant to your target keywords.
How Q-Flux helps measure
the ROI of your digital PR
Having a reliable metric that covers all bases is convenient for measuring the value of the backlinks you acquire.
Standard methods such as Moz DA or Ahrefs DR used in isolation give less than half the picture because they focus almost exclusively on backlinks.
Marketers using these metrics alone often wonder why they might have many high DA links but still don’t rank well. Does that sound familiar?
Q-Flux uses backlinks and on-page metrics combined to give you a score that more closely mirrors what Google values. Is it time to check those expensive high DA links you secured again?
Is using multiple SEO metrics
really the answer?
Yes, in our opinion, a mixed metric approach is the way forward – but done the right way.
The best link builders use a flexible mix of SEO (DA, DR etc.) and qualitative metrics combined with common sense and experience to choose sites for linking. We’ve just expanded on that concept to create a digital PR metric: Q-Flux.
Our sister company, UK Linkology uses M-Flux, a backlink quality focused weighted formula. It mixes some quality signals like organic traffic with backlink metrics like Moz DA and has brought great success to their clients.
Q-Flux was developed to meet the needs of the modern digital PR professional by focusing more on quality signals like relevance and Core Web Vitals as well as some backlink signals. It offers an up to date method of measuring backlinks using factors that are believed to matter to Google, whilst also considering the value of a link in terms of reaching a specific audience.