Decision tree
Which posts to build links to first: a triage for tired bloggers
Hundreds of posts, one budget, an evening a week. The honest answer is that most posts should get nothing, and a handful should get a lot of attention.
BlogFuel editorial team ·
Start from what Search Console already knows
Google tells you which posts it considers promising. You only have to look. Open the Performance report in Search Console, set the range to the last three months, and sort pages by impressions.
Impressions without clicks mean the page appears, but too low to be chosen. That is the group to fuel. Posts with no impressions at all have a topic or quality problem that no link will repair.
Write down five URLs with their average position. You are about to cut the list to three, using the questions below. Ten minutes is enough. If a page has fewer than about 50 impressions in three months, treat it as unproven and skip it for this round.
A spreadsheet with four columns will do: URL, impressions, average position, purpose. No tool subscription is needed, since Search Console exports are free.
The triage, question by question
- 1
Is the average position between 8 and 25?
If yes, keep it. This is the nudge zone. If it is better than 5, it is doing fine alone. If it is worse than 30, skip it for now.
- 2
Does it match what you want to be known for?
A page that ranks for a side topic will not help the blog you actually want. Drop it, or accept that it is a hobby page.
- 3
Does it make or lead to money?
Affiliate roundups, product reviews and service pages come first. A viral listicle with no next step comes last.
- 4
Is it a hub for other posts?
If it is the pillar of a cluster and you already link to it from the smaller posts, fuel it before the leaves. The mistakes page explains why scattering fails.
- 5
Has it been refreshed this quarter?
If not, refresh first. Follow the six-week cycle and come back to this step.
Four post types and how we would treat them
| Post type | Typical sign | Link plan |
|---|---|---|
| Pillar or ultimate guide | Impressions across dozens of queries | Two or three placements, spaced across weeks |
| Single-question answer | Strong on one query, position 9 to 18 | One placement, same topic donor |
| Money page (review, roundup) | Clicks but low conversion | Fix the page, then one or two placements |
| Old news-style post | Spike once, nothing since | Leave it, or merge it into a guide |
Three things bloggers ask while choosing
These come up again and again, so here are plain answers.
Do I need categories first?
A tidy category structure helps readers and crawlers, but it is not a prerequisite for links. Fix the pillar first, tidy later.
What about posts on a new topic?
A post with no impressions yet has not earned fuel. Publish a few supporting pieces, wait for data, then triage again.
Should I link to the homepage?
Sometimes, for a brand-new blog. For a plateau, a specific post with proven interest is a better target than the front page.
Three posts per round, two placements each. That is six rows in the basket. If you need to browse more than that to feel safe, the question is probably not about links.