Link inversion means that backlinks aggregate to the canonical source of duplicate content across the whole internet, not just within your own website.
This process favors the original source by publication date, which makes sense. However, it gets complicated when you syndicate content across multiple sites, especially in a similar timeframe and with high authorities involved.
It’s among the rare concerns in SEO, yet sometimes very important.
If you enter “Independent SEO Consultant” on Google, you’ll notice my personal LinkedIn page ranks here. This is likely because it overlaps almost exactly with the content produced on my own site, RDLDIGITAL. My LI profile became the canonical source of my homepage.
Link inversion can increase the number of spokes, or links, that lead back to a single hub or page. It can also let a popular site outrank you for your own content when not pursued carefully. Finally, you could promote a site with more clout than your own for ultimately better results.
If you publish the same content widely across the web, consider the consequences of link inversion to maximize its SEO value.
Extra tip: Be wary of publishing content that’s syndicated from a parent company on your own site… this only helps them and may even harm your own. This is a common practice on financial planner websites, for instance.