Last Updated on September 10, 2025 by Ian Naylor
In the ever-evolving world of search engine optimization (SEO), ranking #1 on Google remains the ultimate goal for businesses striving to drive organic traffic and outpace competitors. But how many backlinks do you actually need to claim that coveted top spot? While there’s no magical number, success lies in understanding your niche, evaluating your competition, and following a data-driven approach.
This article deciphers key insights from an in-depth video tutorial, presenting a step-by-step process for determining the optimal number and type of backlinks required to achieve top rankings. Along the way, we’ll cover backlink analysis, anchor text strategies, relevance prioritization, and cost considerations – all tailored to the challenges and opportunities of 2025.
Why Backlinks Are Still Critical in 2025
Despite ongoing advancements in Google’s algorithms and a broader emphasis on user experience, backlinks remain one of the most influential ranking factors. These tangible votes of credibility signal trust, authority, and relevance to search engines. However, not all backlinks are created equal. Factors such as domain relevance, authority, anchor text, and tiered link structures ultimately determine their effectiveness.
Backlink-building needs to be strategic, ethical, and focused on long-term sustainability in SEO. Randomly acquiring low-quality or irrelevant links can lead to wasted resources – or worse, penalties from search engines.
Step 1: Assess Your Current Backlink Profile
The first step to determining how many backlinks you need is understanding your starting point. By leveraging tools like Ahrefs or similar backlink analysis platforms, you can extract a list of all links pointing to your site. The goal is to categorize and evaluate these links based on three primary aspects:
- Trust: Does the linking domain have a credible reputation?
- Authority: How strong is the referring domain in terms of metrics like Domain Rating (DR)?
- Relevance: How closely aligned is the linking page and domain with your niche or topic?
To streamline this evaluation:
- Export your backlink data into a spreadsheet.
- Filter by "DoFollow" links only, as these pass link equity (or "link juice").
- Eliminate links from domains with no traffic – no traffic typically equals no trust.
- Segment your links into DR buckets (e.g., DR 30-40, DR 40-50, DR 50+).
By cleaning up and categorizing your existing links, you’ll gain a clearer picture of your current backlink equity and identify gaps.
Step 2: Benchmark Against Competitors
The next step involves performing the same analysis for your top competitors. Choose three competitors ranking for the same target keywords you’re pursuing. Examine their backlink profiles to identify:
- The volume and quality of their links.
- The anchor text distribution they’re using.
- The relevance of their linking domains.
Pay close attention to tier 2 links, which are backlinks pointing to the pages that link to your competitors. Strong tier 2 links can amplify the authority of primary (tier 1) backlinks, making them even more impactful. Mapping these out will help you understand whether your competitors are leveraging tiered link-building strategies.
Example: Comparing Domain Strength
Suppose your competitor has fewer backlinks overall, but their referring domains have an average DR of 90 compared to your DR of 60. This signals that you’ll need to focus on acquiring high-authority links to bridge the gap. Conversely, if your competitor has many low-DR links, you can focus on quality over quantity to outmaneuver them.
Step 3: Develop a Strategic Anchor Text Plan
Anchor text – the clickable text in a hyperlink – is another critical component that can influence rankings and protect against penalties. To craft an optimal anchor text strategy:
- Balance Anchor Text Types: Include branded, exact match, partial match, and generic anchors in your backlink profile.
- Analyze Competitors’ Ratios: Study how often competitors use exact match anchors versus branded or generic ones. For example, if a competitor has 400 branded links and 15 exact match links, their branded-to-exact match ratio is heavily skewed. Mimic these ratios to maintain a natural profile.
- Be Conservative with Exact Match: Excessive use of exact match anchor text (e.g., "best SEO agency") can trigger spam flags. Instead, prioritize branded or partial match anchors, gradually introducing exact match anchors once your profile is diversified.
Step 4: Calculate the Required Backlinks
Now comes the crucial step: estimating how many backlinks you’ll need. Use the data you’ve gathered to:
- Identify how your overall domain authority compares to competitors.
- Score your backlink profile versus theirs across DR ranges and relevance.
- Factor in the backlink requirements for individual URLs targeting specific keywords.
For example, if your competitor’s URL ranking for "link building agency" has 50 links with an average DR of 70, and your corresponding URL has only 20 links with lower DRs, you’ll need to acquire higher-quality links to close the gap.
A quick formula:
- Assign 2 points for highly relevant backlinks from authoritative domains.
- Assign 1 point for partially relevant backlinks.
- Calculate the total points needed to match or exceed competitors’ scores.
Step 5: Choose Efficient Link-Building Tactics
The method you choose for acquiring backlinks depends on your goals and resources. In 2025, the most effective approaches include:
- Guest Posts: Ideal for inner pages, guest post outreach allows you to control the content and anchor text placement. Focus on securing links from semi-relevant domains with highly relevant content.
- Digital PR: Perfect for homepages, digital PR campaigns (including HARO and story-driven PR) generate high-authority, branded links.
- Tiered Linking: Strengthen your tier 1 links by building tier 2 links to the referring pages. This amplifies their authority and benefits your site indirectly.
- Citations (for local businesses): Ensure consistency in name, address, and phone (NAP) data across directories to build trust with search engines.
Step 6: Budget for Backlink Acquisition
Backlink building comes with costs, whether you’re outsourcing to freelancers, hiring an agency, or building an in-house team. Typical costs per backlink range from $150 to $400+ depending on domain quality, placement fees, and content production.
Tips for Managing Costs:
- Prioritize High-Impact Links: Focus on acquiring fewer but more impactful links.
- Leverage Existing Relationships: Collaborate with industry peers to exchange guest posts or co-create content.
- Monitor ROI: Regularly assess which backlinks are driving measurable improvements in rankings and traffic.
Key Takeaways
- Backlinks remain a core ranking factor, but their effectiveness depends on trust, authority, and relevance.
- Start with a comprehensive backlink audit to assess your current position and identify areas for improvement.
- Benchmark against competitors to understand how many and what types of backlinks you need.
- Diversify your anchor text profile to maintain naturalness and avoid penalties.
- Invest in guest posts and digital PR, which remain the most effective link-building strategies in 2025.
- Use a data-driven approach to calculate the exact number of backlinks required for specific keywords or URLs.
- Factor in tier 2 links, which can significantly boost the strength of your tier 1 backlinks.
- Budget realistically for backlinks, balancing cost-efficiency with quality.
Conclusion
Ranking #1 on Google is an achievable goal if you approach link-building strategically. By auditing your current backlinks, analyzing competitors, crafting a balanced anchor text strategy, and focusing on quality over quantity, you can create a data-driven roadmap for success. Remember, patience and consistency are key – backlinks take time to show their full impact. With a holistic SEO approach that integrates link-building with other core pillars, you’ll be well-positioned to dominate search rankings in 2025 and beyond.
Source: "How Many Backlinks Do You Need To Rank #1? (Step-by-step guide)" – Alex Meyerhans, YouTube, Aug 18, 2025 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QiQla1Ux4k
Use: Embedded for reference. Brief quotes used for commentary/review.
