What is a natural link profile?
In SEO, your link profile is the collection of all backlinks (links from external websites) pointing to your site. A natural link profile means those backlinks appear organic and earned – rather than artificially built or spammy.
In other words, the links to your site come from relevant, trustworthy sources and with varied patterns, as they would if people genuinely found your content valuable and linked to it on their own. If your backlink portfolio looks manipulated (e.g. hundreds of links with identical anchor text, or many links from unrelated or low-quality sites), it’s considered unnatural and can be a red flag to search engines.
Characteristics of a natural link profile
A natural backlink profile has:
1. Relevant sources
A natural link proflle consists of links from websites related to your niche or industry. For instance, a health blog might naturally get links from medical news sites or fitness forums – not from a random casino or fashion site. When links come from wholly unrelated domains, it looks suspicious.
Natural links tend to fit contextually; people link to you because your content or tool adds value to a topic they’re discussing that’s in the same realm.
2. Authoritative, diverse sites
There’s a mix of different websites linking to you, ideally many of them reputable. It’s more natural to have 100 backlinks from 100 different websites than 100 backlinks all from one domain. If all your backlinks are from a small group of sites (or a single blog network), it suggests coordination.
Also, quality matters: a few links from high-authority sites (like established news outlets or respected blogs in your field) carry more weight than dozens from obscure or spammy sites. Natural profiles often include some “big hitters” (earned due to truly good content) along with smaller niche sites and even some social mentions.
3. Varied anchor text
Anchor text is the clickable text of a link (for example, <a href="..." >**Best running shoes**</a>). In a natural scenario, people will link to your pages with all sorts of anchor texts – sometimes your brand name, sometimes a generic phrase (“click here”), sometimes a descriptive phrase related to the content.
They usually won’t all use the exact same keywords. If 90% of your backlinks have the anchor “best running shoes,” it looks like deliberate SEO targeting.
Natural link profiles have a healthy anchor text diversity:
- a mix of branded anchors (your company name or URL),
- keyword anchors (some variation of your keywords),
- and generic anchors.
This happens because different people naturally reference your content in different ways.
4. Balanced “follow” vs “nofollow”
Some links will be “dofollow” (passing SEO equity) and some “nofollow” (instructing search engines not to count it as a vote). Natural profiles contain both.
For example, links from Wikipedia are nofollow, many blog comment or forum links are nofollow, whereas an editorial link in an online newspaper is usually dofollow.
If every backlink you have is dofollow, it might indicate unnatural link building (since typically a site accumulates a few nofollow links here and there).
A natural profile might have, say, 70% follow and 30% nofollow links (exact ratios aren’t strict, but a mix is expected).
5. Steady growth
Natural backlinks accumulate over time as your content gets discovered.
If a brand new site suddenly gets 5,000 backlinks in one week then nothing later, it looks fishy – likely the result of a link scheme or viral spam. A more organic pattern is a slower, steady growth in referring domains.
That said, sometimes a piece of content can naturally go viral and spike backlinks; search engines will look at the context (was it genuine virality or orchestrated). Overall, consistent link growth is a safer signal than sharp bursts with long silences.
6. Organic placement
Natural links tend to be surrounded by relevant text and not hidden. For example, a natural link might be in a blog article referencing your research, as opposed to being stuffed in the footer of hundreds of sites with no context. Also, natural links aren’t all concentrated in one type of site. If all your backlinks are, say, blog comments or all from directory listings, that’s not a healthy sign. A natural profile may include links from articles, news pieces, community discussions, resource pages, etc.
Why does a natural link profile matter?
The reason is simple. It’s because search engines like Google use backlink patterns to gauge legitimacy. Historically, when Google’s algorithm (PageRank) was introduced, sites with more links ranked higher.
This led to a lot of abuse – people bought links or created networks of fake sites to boost rankings. In response, Google got smarter with updates like Penguin, which specifically target unnatural link building tactics and penalize sites that engage in them.
In April 2012, Google’s Penguin algorithm launched and impacted ~3% of search queries, demoting sites with manipulative link profiles. The message was clear: quality over quantity. A few organic, high-quality links beat hundreds of spammy ones. Sites with “too perfect” or aggressively optimized link profiles (e.g., 500 backlinks all with the anchor “buy cheap widgets”) were hit with penalties.
Unnatural vs natural link
Best practices for building (and maintaining) a natural profile
1. Focus on link earning
The best approach is earning links with high-quality content and outreach rather than trying to trick the system. This means creating resources people want to link to – guides, infographics, tools, insightful blog posts – and promoting them to relevant audiences.
If your content is genuinely useful, over time you’ll accumulate genuine endorsements (backlinks).
2. Don’t set it and forget it
It’s also wise to audit your link profile periodically. SEO tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush can list all your backlinks and provide metrics. Look out for any spammy links – sometimes you attract junk links without trying (scraper sites, etc.). Google is pretty good at ignoring those, but if you have an obvious cluster of bad links, you can disavow them as a last resort to tell Google you don’t endorse those connections.
3. Diversify how you get links
Maybe some come through PR (press mentions), some through partnerships or testimonials, some through guest posting (where allowed, ensuring it’s high quality and not just for link drops). When doing intentional link building, avoid using the same anchor text over and over – keep it natural and relevant to the context.
4. Quality content + time = natural links.
Many SEO experts emphasize that a “natural link profile” is often a byproduct of doing many other things right: serving your audience, networking in your industry, and being patient. Google’s algorithms (with semantic AI these days) are getting ever better at distinguishing a site with organically-earned reputation from one trying to artificially inflate its popularity.
Aim for the former by focusing on real value. Not only will you avoid penalties, but you’ll build a stronger brand presence online. After all, backlinks are essentially votes of confidence – and you want real votes, not fake ones.
Frequently asked questions
How can you tell if a backlink is unnatural?
Unnatural backlinks often come from low-quality or irrelevant sites, use the exact same anchor text repeatedly, and show up in bulk all at once. If a site linking to you has no real content, no traffic, and only exists to drop links, that’s a red flag. Google looks for patterns like these and may penalize your site if it thinks you’re trying to game the system.
What does a natural backlink profile look like?
A natural backlink profile grows slowly over time and includes links from relevant, trustworthy sites. The anchor text is varied—sometimes it’s your brand name, sometimes the article title, and sometimes just a plain URL. Most importantly, the links come because people genuinely found your content useful and chose to reference it, not because you paid or manipulated them to.
Can unnatural links hurt your site’s rankings?
Yes, they can. If Google detects a pattern of manipulative link-building—like too many links from spammy domains or repetitive anchor text—it can either ignore those links or hit your site with a manual action. That means a noticeable drop in rankings. Cleaning up a bad backlink profile takes time, so it’s better to avoid sketchy link tactics from the start.
What should you do if you’ve already built unnatural links?
Start by auditing your backlink profile using tools like Ahrefs or Google Search Console. Flag links that look spammy, irrelevant, or suspicious. If you think they’re doing more harm than good, submit a disavow file through Google’s Disavow Tool. It tells Google to ignore those links when evaluating your site. Also, stop using shady link-building services that caused the issue in the first place.
How can SaaS companies earn natural backlinks?
Focus on creating genuinely useful content—like original research, data reports, case studies, or tools. For example, a cybersecurity SaaS could publish a report that gets cited by news outlets, tech blogs, or even universities. Engaging with your community, guest posting on relevant sites, and getting listed in trusted directories also help. If your content is valuable and you share it in the right circles, natural links will follow.
