Bad Link Strategies: What’s Spam and How to Avoid It

Google loves links. It uses them to crawl the web and rank webpages, making backlinks (links pointing to your website) essential for your site’s SEO success. However, not all backlinks are created equal. Some strategies won't impress Google, while others can seriously harm your rankings.

In this article, we’ll explore what Google considers link spam and outline 16 link-building strategies to avoid, ensuring your rankings continue to rise.

What Does Google Consider Spam in Link Building?

Google's stance on link spam is clear: "Any links that are intended to manipulate rankings in Google Search results may be considered link spam. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site."

Google's goal is for links to occur naturally, without deliberate link-building strategies. While it understands that everyone builds backlinks to improve rankings, it targets only those that are low-quality, irrelevant, or manipulative.

16 Link Building Strategies to Avoid

1. Fiverr and Other Cheap Link Building Services

Fiverr and similar platforms offer thousands of backlinks for a few dollars. These links are typically low-quality and can trigger a manual action from Google, costing you more to fix than you saved.

2. Scholarship Link Building

Creating a scholarship and getting educational institutions to link to your scholarship page used to work well. Now, these links are often irrelevant to your site’s primary focus, reducing their effectiveness.

3. Charitable Link Building

Sponsoring events or donating to charities in exchange for backlinks is similar to the scholarship tactic. While it may yield authoritative local links, the relevance is often lacking, diminishing their SEO value.

4. Low-Quality Directory Links

Paid directory listings can provide backlinks, but many directories are low-quality and irrelevant. Focus only on reputable, industry-specific directories.

5. Blog Commenting for Links

Commenting on blogs with links to your site is an outdated tactic. Most blog comments are tagged with “nofollow,” meaning they don’t pass SEO value.

6. Press Releases for Links

Syndicating press releases used to generate numerous backlinks. However, these links are often from low-quality sites with duplicate content, reducing their SEO impact.

7. Private Blog Networks (PBNs)

PBNs involve creating a network of sites to link back to your main site. While they can work short-term, Google eventually identifies and penalizes PBNs, risking severe penalties.

8. Viral Link Campaigns

Creating a campaign to generate viral links might get short-lived attention. However, these links are often from irrelevant sites and do not contribute meaningfully to your SEO.

9. Forum Spam Links

Spamming forums with links to your site can get your posts deleted or your account banned. Most forum links are “nofollow” and add little SEO value.

10. Automatic Link Building Programs

Automated programs generate low-quality links quickly. Google can detect non-human link-building patterns, making these links ineffective and potentially harmful.

11. Links from Online Badges and Widgets

Distributing badges or widgets with embedded links was a creative tactic but is now ineffective. Google devalues these non-editorial links.

12. Redirecting Websites to Yours

Acquiring a site with many backlinks and redirecting it to your site dilutes link power. Google recognizes that the links were earned by a different site, reducing their effectiveness.

13. Contests for Links

Hosting contests that require participants to link to your site may generate backlinks, but they’re often irrelevant and provide little SEO value.

14. Footer and Sidebar Links

Links in footers or sidebars, like “Powered by [company name],” are often ignored by Google due to their repetitive nature and lack of relevance.

15. Thousands of Random Nofollow Links

Building a complex web of nofollow links to trick Google is futile. Google can untangle these webs and devalue the links, making this strategy ineffective.

16. Social Bookmark Links

Using social bookmarking sites to build links can backfire. These links are often from low-quality sites and may lead to algorithmic downgrades.

What You Should Do Instead

Quality matters more than quantity. Focus on building backlinks from relevant, authoritative sites that receive organic traffic. This approach requires effort but yields better long-term results.

In conclusion, avoid the outdated and manipulative link-building strategies outlined above. Instead, invest in building high-quality, relevant backlinks that will genuinely enhance your site's SEO and help it rank higher in search results.