How Many Backlinks Does a Custom Home Builder Need to Rank First in Search?

I was talking to a custom home builder over Zoom recently and we were talking about different SEO strategies for their website, and at one point he asked me point blank. How many backlinks does a custom home builder need to rank on the first page of search results. Well the answer is, it depends. That being said according to Ahref’s Keyword Difficulty Report to rank nationally you need a minimum of 38. But then you can also look around the United States and see that it is different for each state. For instance Connecticut requires 60, Maryland 29, Florida 47, Oklahoma 58, Wyoming 39,  and Colorado 118 backlinks. All that to be said that you need to do some research on your market and understand just how competitive it is. This article acts as a guide to help you further understand just how important backlinks are for your custom home building business, and more importantly how to incorporate them into a more holistic approach to search engine optimization. 

If you want to understand which SEO keywords for custom home builders you should be targeting before you start building backlinks, read that guide first. Backlinks amplify a keyword strategy. They cannot replace one.

TL;DR

• Colorado is the most competitive custom home builder market in this study, requiring approximately 118 referring domains to rank in the top 10
• Maryland is the most attainable state-level keyword in this study at just 29 referring domains to rank, despite solid traffic potential of 800 monthly visitors
• Wyoming and Oklahoma have deceptively high keyword difficulty scores despite low search volume, because the few builders who do rank there have strong backlink profiles
• Keyword difficulty scores alone do not tell the full story. The SERP data shows pages ranking with zero backlinks sitting next to pages with 1,100+
• Long-tail localized keywords dramatically cut your backlink requirements. Targeting a city-level keyword instead of a state-level one is almost always the smarter starting point
• Every state in this study still has pages ranking on page one with DR scores under 15, which means local builders with modest backlink profiles can absolutely compete

Table of Contents

1. What Keyword Difficulty Actually Means for Custom Home Builders
2. The State-by-State Backlink Requirement Breakdown
3. Colorado: The Most Competitive Market in This Study
4. Wyoming: High Difficulty, Low Reward
5. Oklahoma: Competitive Despite Low Search Volume
6. Florida: High Traffic Potential, High Competition
7. Maryland: The Most Attainable State-Level Market
8. Connecticut: Small Volume, Surprisingly Competitive
9. What the SERP Data Tells You That Keyword Difficulty Scores Do Not
10. Why Long-Tail Keywords Are the Smarter Play for Most Builders
11. How Many Backlinks Does Your Website Actually Have Right Now?

What Keyword Difficulty Actually Means for Custom Home Builders

Ahrefs calculates keyword difficulty on a scale of 0 to 100. The score is based primarily on the number of referring domains pointing to the pages currently ranking in the top 10 search results for that keyword. A higher score means the pages currently ranking there have stronger backlink profiles and will be harder to displace.

Here is how Ahrefs labels the difficulty ranges:

One important nuance: keyword difficulty reflects the average referring domain count across the top 10 results. The actual SERP data often reveals a much wider spread, with some pages ranking on zero backlinks and others with thousands. That spread is where the opportunity lives for a local builder who knows how to read the data.

The State-by-State Backlink Requirement Breakdown

The table below shows the Ahrefs keyword overview data for the state-level “custom home builder” keyword in each of the six markets we analyzed, plus the national term for comparison. All data was pulled in June 2026.

A few things jump out of that table immediately. First, Colorado’s referring domain requirement of 118 is more than double any other state in the study. Second, Maryland’s requirement of just 29 is one of the lowest in the group despite generating 800 monthly visitors in traffic potential. Third, and perhaps most surprising, Oklahoma requires 58 referring domains to rank for a keyword that only gets 10 monthly searches. That is not a typo. We will explain why below.

Colorado: The Most Competitive Market in This Study

Keyword: custom home builder colorado | KD: 58 | Search Volume: 150 | Traffic Potential: 2,400 | Referring Domains to Rank: ~118

Colorado is the standout market in this dataset for one clear reason: the builders and directories currently ranking on page one have accumulated enormous backlink profiles. The gap between a new entrant and the existing page one results is wider here than in any other state we looked at.

Here is what the current page one looks like for “custom home builder colorado”:

Here is what the current page one of search results looks like for the query “custom home builder colorado”

The numbers are striking. Jacob Custom Homes has 290 backlinks from 213 referring domains and generates over 5,000 monthly visitors. Haley Custom Homes has 232 backlinks from 174 domains. Even the result in position 10 from NoCO Custom Homes has 236 backlinks from 207 domains.

What makes Colorado particularly interesting is that the top-ranking result, murphyscustomhomes.com, is showing a 403 error. It is a broken page. And it is still ranking at position two with 310 backlinks and 211 referring domains behind it. That is how strong the backlink profile is relative to the rest of the competition. Even a dead page holds its position because nothing else has caught up.

The practical takeaway for a Colorado builder: do not target the state-level keyword as your starting point. Target city-level keywords like “custom home builder Denver” or “custom home builder Colorado Springs” where the referring domain bar is meaningfully lower. Build your authority there first, then move up.

Wyoming: High Difficulty, Low Reward

Keyword: custom home builder in wyoming | KD: 39 | Search Volume: 60 | Traffic Potential: 30 | Referring Domains to Rank: ~53

Wyoming is the most instructive case study in this entire dataset because it illustrates a trap that catches a lot of builders and SEO vendors: a hard keyword difficulty score attached to very low search volume and near-zero traffic potential.

Here is what the current page one looks like for “custom home builder wyoming”

The reason the difficulty score is relatively high despite low volume is that Teton Heritage Builders, the top-ranking result, has 1,028 backlinks from 275 referring domains. Their DR of 42 pulls the average difficulty for this keyword up dramatically, even though most of the other results on page one have very modest backlink profiles. CROWCREEK Homes ranks at position two with 247 backlinks, but several other results have under 80.

The lesson: in low-population states like Wyoming, your SEO focus should be almost entirely on Google Business Profile optimization and city-level keywords like “custom home builder Cheyenne” or “custom home builder Jackson Hole.” The state-level keyword is not worth the backlink investment given the traffic it returns.

Oklahoma: Competitive Despite Low Search Volume

Keyword: custom home builder oklahoma | KD: 41 | Search Volume: 10 | Traffic Potential: 1,300 | Referring Domains to Rank: ~58

Oklahoma presents a version of the same paradox as Wyoming but with an important difference: while the search volume for the exact keyword is only 10 monthly searches, the traffic potential is 1,300 monthly visitors. That gap exists because the pages ranking for this keyword also rank for dozens of related terms, and the collective traffic from all of those terms is what the 1,300 figure captures.

Here is the current Oklahoma SERP:

Here is what the current page one looks like for “custom home builder oklahoma”

Ideal Homes stands out as the authority anchor in this SERP. Their DR of 32, UR of 10, and 892 backlinks from 315 referring domains make them the strongest result on the page by a significant margin. Their traffic of 895 monthly visitors and 49 ranking keywords reflect the payoff of a sustained SEO investment.

The more interesting result is Richardson Homes at position three. They have 417 backlinks from 331 referring domains and a DR of just 5. A very low domain authority, but a significant volume of backlinks. That tells you the market here rewards quantity and consistency of link building even without high-authority domains behind it.

Florida: High Traffic Potential, High Competition

Keyword: custom home builder florida | KD: 36 | Search Volume: 150 | Traffic Potential: 2,100 | Referring Domains to Rank: ~47

Florida has the second-highest traffic potential in this study at 2,100 monthly visitors and one of the more attainable keyword difficulty scores relative to that opportunity. The challenge is that the top two results are established regional builders with very strong backlink profiles that have been accumulating for years.

Here is the current Florida SERP:

Here is what the current page one looks like for “custom home builder florida”:

ICI Homes and AR Homes by Arthur Rutenberg are the two results that define this SERP. AR Homes has 4,299 backlinks from 507 referring domains and generates nearly 10,000 monthly visitors and over $10,000 in estimated traffic value. These are not local builders doing basic SEO. They are regional powerhouses with decade-long authority.

But look further down the page. Lauren Homes ranks at position seven with just 267 backlinks from 225 referring domains and a DR of 10. STOCK Custom Homes ranks at position six with only 120 backlinks from 57 domains. The page one floor in Florida is lower than the top results suggest.

Florida is a state where city-level targeting is particularly smart. “Custom home builder Naples,” “custom home builder Sarasota,” or “custom home builder Tampa” each represent meaningful local markets where the referring domain bar is significantly lower than the state-level keyword.

Maryland: The Most Attainable State-Level Market

Keyword: custom home builder maryland | KD: 25 | Search Volume: 150 | Traffic Potential: 800 | Referring Domains to Rank: ~29

Maryland is the most attainable state-level market in this study. A keyword difficulty of 25 means Ahrefs classifies it as Medium, and the referring domain estimate of 29 is a realistic target for a builder that commits to a consistent link-building strategy over 12 to 18 months.

Here is what the current page one of search results looks like for the search query “custom home builder maryland”

The result currently ranking at position two is a Reddit thread. A Reddit post titled “Custom home builder recommendations in MD?” from r/maryland is outranking every actual custom home builder in Maryland for this keyword. It has a DR of 95, no backlinks of its own, and it is generating over 1,100 monthly visitors.

That is a significant signal. It tells you that Google has decided the best answer for this search is a community discussion rather than a builder’s website, which means there is a content gap in this market. A Maryland builder who publishes genuinely helpful, authoritative content about the custom home building process in Maryland could compete for that traffic with far fewer backlinks than a purely commercial services page would require.

The other notable result is Timberlake Homes at position five. Their “Build On Your Lot Maryland” page ranks with only 8 backlinks from 4 referring domains. That is the power of precise keyword targeting. They own a specific corner of the search landscape with almost no backlink investment because the page so clearly matches the search intent for that specific query.

Connecticut: Small Volume, Surprisingly Competitive

Keyword: custom home builder connecticut | KD: 42 | Search Volume: 60 | Traffic Potential: 200 | Referring Domains to Rank: ~60

Connecticut requires the second-highest referring domain count in this study at approximately 60, but returns the lowest traffic potential at just 200 monthly visitors. That combination makes the state-level keyword a poor investment for most builders.

Here is what the current page one of search results looks like for the search query “custom home builder connecticut”

The reason for the high difficulty despite low volume is Connecticut Valley Homes, who sits at position five with 1,110 backlinks from 262 referring domains and a DR of 40. That single result pulls the average difficulty score for the entire keyword up significantly.

But look at what else is on this page. Two results with zero backlinks and zero referring domains are ranking at positions eight and nine. A page from bycarrier.com with 0 backlinks is generating 226 monthly visitors. A blog post from craftdesignandbuild.com with 0 backlinks ranks at position nine. And Uccello Fine Homes, despite having a 403 error page, still holds position ten with 157 referring domains propping it up.

Connecticut is a state where on-page SEO and content quality can still punch above their weight. The backlink floor to get onto page one is lower than the difficulty score suggests, as long as you are not trying to compete directly with Connecticut Valley Homes for that top position.

What the SERP Data Tells You That Keyword Difficulty Scores Do Not

The single most important insight from looking at six state-level SERPs in detail is this: the keyword difficulty score tells you the average. The SERP data tells you the floor.

In every single state we analyzed, there were results on page one with referring domain counts far below the Ahrefs estimate. That is not a bug in the data. It reflects the fact that Google does not rank pages based on backlinks alone. It ranks pages based on the combination of relevance, authority, and how well the page answers the search intent.

A page that perfectly matches what the homeowner is looking for can and will rank above a page with twice as many backlinks but a weaker content match. This is especially true in custom home building, where Google is increasingly rewarding pages that demonstrate genuine expertise, real project examples, and local specificity.

What the SERP data is actually showing you when you look at those low-backlink results on page one is the content quality gap in your market. If a page with zero backlinks is ranking on page one, it means no one with a stronger backlink profile has bothered to publish a better page for that keyword. That is your opening.

Why Long-Tail Keywords Are the Smarter Play for Most Builders

Every keyword in this study is a state-level term. The referring domain requirements range from 29 in Maryland to 118 in Colorado. But what happens when you move from the state level to the city level?

The keyword difficulty drops. The referring domain requirement drops. The competition in the SERP narrows to local builders rather than statewide brands. And the searcher is more qualified because they have already specified where they want to build.

This is the core argument of our guide to SEO keywords for custom home builders: the Service + Sub-service + Location formula produces keywords that are more attainable, more specific, and more likely to convert than the broad state-level terms that attract the most SEO attention.

A builder in Denver who ranks on page one for “custom home builder Denver” will generate more qualified leads than a builder who spent three times as much trying to rank for “custom home builder Colorado” and ended up on page two.

How Many Backlinks Does Your Website Actually Have Right Now?

Before you can map out how many backlinks you need to reach page one, you need to know where you are starting from. Most custom home builders we work with are surprised to find out that their website has either far fewer backlinks than they assumed or that the backlinks they do have are coming from low-quality sources that provide very little ranking signal.

Our free SEO evaluation gives you a clear picture of your current backlink profile, your keyword rankings, your Google Business Profile performance, and how your website compares to the top three competitors in your market. It takes a few minutes to request and gives you the data you need to make informed decisions about where to invest your SEO budget.

Visit our small business SEO services page to learn how MarketKeep builds authority for custom home builders, or request your free SEO evaluation to find out exactly where your website stands today.