Tier 2 backlinks: what they are and how to index them

A tier 2 backlink is a link to one of your tier 1 backlinks, for example a link from another article to the guest post that mentions you. It gives Google an extra path to the tier 1 page and can strengthen it. Tier 2 links only matter if Google indexes both the tier 2 page and the tier 1 page it points to, so index from the top: tier 1 first, then tier 2.

What are backlink tiers?

The idea is that value flows down the chain. In practice, each step only matters if Google crawls and keeps the pages involved.

Why tier 2 links help indexing

The main practical benefit is discovery. A guest post buried in a host's archive may wait weeks for a crawl. A few links pointing to it from pages Google already visits give it a path, and a reason to be crawled sooner.

• More crawl paths to tier 1 pages that are otherwise orphaned.
• Some added authority to the tier 1 page, if the tier 2 links are decent.
• Insurance for valuable placements on sites you don't control.

When tier 2 links are a bad idea

Tiered link building has a reputation for a reason. Most tier 2 and tier 3 links in the wild are automated spam, and Google is good at ignoring them.

• Spam tiers can drag tier 1 down. Pointing hundreds of junk links at a guest post makes it look manipulated.
• The host may not like it. A site owner who sees spam pointing at their pages may remove your post.
• Thin tier 2 pages rarely get indexed, so you pay for links that never count.

A handful of real tier 2 links beats thousands of generated ones.

How to index tier 2 backlinks

1. Index tier 1 first. A tier 2 link pointing at an unindexed page has nothing to strengthen. Check that each tier 1 page is indexable and send it for indexing.
2. Check tier 2 pages the same way. 200 status, no noindex, not blocked in robots.txt, canonical to itself, your tier 1 link present in the HTML.
3. Drop what fails. Profile and comment platforms often noindex those pages. No indexing method gets around that.
4. Send the rest in one batch. With @IndexForgeBot you paste the list, the bot filters out the failures for free and sends the rest at $0.01 each.
5. Recheck after a week. If tier 2 pages are crawled but dropped, they're probably too thin to keep.

Which tier 2 sources are worth it?

How much to spend on tiers

Keep it proportional. If a tier 1 placement is worth protecting, a few good tier 2 links and a crawl request are cheap insurance. If you find yourself buying thousands of tier 2 links per month, the money is probably better spent on more tier 1 placements.

At $0.01 per link, indexing a hundred tier 2 links costs a dollar. The real cost is in creating them, and in the risk if they're low quality.

How tier 2 links pass value

Google evaluates pages partly by the links pointing to them. A tier 1 page with a few relevant links pointing to it looks more established than an identical page with none, and it's crawled more often. Some of that strength reaches your site through the tier 1 link. The effect is real but diluted at every step, which is why tier 2 quality matters more than quantity.

Building a small tier 2 layer, step by step

1. Pick tier 1 placements worth protecting: relevant sites, real articles, links to important pages.
2. Check that each one is indexable. No point strengthening a noindexed page.
3. Add 2–5 genuine links to each from your own articles, other placements, or relevant resource pages.
4. Check the tier 2 pages the same way, and drop the ones that fail.
5. Send tier 1 and then tier 2 for indexing, in that order.

How to tell whether tiers are helping

• Tier 1 pages that were stuck get crawled and indexed after tier 2 links appear.
• Tier 1 pages appear in your Search Console Links report sooner.
• Rankings for the target page move, measured over weeks, not days.

If none of this happens after a couple of months, the tier 2 links probably aren't being indexed or aren't worth much.

Tier 2 for press and news placements

News articles get crawled quickly when fresh and then sink into archives. A few links from related articles keep them reachable. Syndicated copies of the same story usually point their canonical to the original, so tier 2 links should point to the original, not to copies.

The cost math

Indexing is the cheap part. At $0.01 per link, checking and sending 200 tier 2 links costs at most $2. The real costs are creating good tier 2 links and the risk of creating bad ones. If a tier 2 link isn't something you'd show a client, it probably isn't worth indexing either.

Tier 2 or simply more tier 1?

For the same budget, one more real tier 1 placement on a relevant site is often worth more than dozens of tier 2 links. Tier 2 makes sense when a tier 1 link is valuable but stuck: not crawled, poorly linked inside the host site, or sitting in an archive. In that case a few supporting links are a cheap way to protect what you already paid for.

Signs a tier 2 network is spam

• Hundreds of near-identical articles across unrelated domains.
• Pages that exist only to hold links, with no readers.
• Profiles and comments created in bulk by software.
• Domains with no traffic and nothing indexed except link pages.

Links like these rarely get indexed and, when they do, rarely count.

Order and timing

Who tier 2 makes sense for

Using your own content as tier 2

The cleanest tier 2 source is your own site. If a guest post you wrote expands on a topic you also cover, link to it from your related article. Readers get a useful reference, Google gets a crawl path from a site it already visits, and you control the link. The same works for interviews, podcasts and case studies published elsewhere.

Indexing tier 1 directly instead

Tier 2 links were popular partly because there were few other ways to get a buried page crawled. Today, a page that passes indexability checks can be sent for crawling directly, which reaches the same goal without creating extra links. For most link builders that's the simpler first step: check the tier 1 page, send it if it passes, and only consider tier 2 links for the placements that still aren't indexed after a couple of weeks.

Questions to ask before building tier 2

• Is the tier 1 page indexable: 200, no noindex, not blocked, canonical to itself?
• Has it had at least two weeks to be crawled on its own?
• Would the tier 2 links be on pages that are themselves indexed?
• Would you be comfortable if someone looked at these links by hand?

If any answer is no, fix that first. Tier 2 links can't make a blocked page indexable.

Common questions

Do tier 2 backlinks still work in 2026?

Real ones do: links from relevant, indexed pages to your tier 1 placements help discovery and can add value. Automated tiers mostly get ignored, and the worst can backfire.

Should I index tier 3 links?

Rarely. Tier 3 sources are usually noindexed or too thin to be kept. Check them first; most will fail.

Can tier 2 links get my tier 1 page indexed?

They give Google a path to it, which helps. Combined with a crawl request for the tier 1 page itself, that's the most reliable approach.

Is tiered link building against Google's guidelines?

Google's spam policies target links made to manipulate rankings, whatever the tier. Natural, relevant links are fine; manufactured link schemes are the risk.