Google Penalizes for bad backlinks??

[StevieJK]

Hi all,

This was mentioned in a previous thread of mine, but I thought it would make an interesting thread of it's own and get the debate going.

Lots of people suggest that you must use a varied backlink strategy with varied anchor text etc otherwise Google will penalize the site/page you are backlinking to and cause it to drop in ranking or not be ranked at all.

Personally, I find this nonsense as I have had several sites that have ranked very well (recently) with minimal variation in anchor text.

Also, if Google did penalize for an un-natural backlink stragey - then Google would just become an uncontrollable free-for-all battlefield of people blasting bad links at competitor sites to de-rank them.

What's everyone elses opinion/experience with this?

Cheers,
Steve.

[StevieJK]

I think I agree with 'sgsmorgan's reply in another thread:

"First of all it's not a penalty and lets nail this myth once and for all. You cannot get penalized through excessive links or anything that links to your site. If that were the case there would be no cause for SEO at all. All you would need to do is locate who your competition are and then load their sites with loads of spammy trashy links and sit back and watch Google trash their sites to oblivion whilst you sit back happily watching your sites rise through the ashes.

Not going to happen is it?

The worst that will happen is that Google will ignore your links or discount them."

[sledge]

Hi Steve,

I agree with you on this with the exception that it is not a good idea to throw a ton of links at a new site as this is seen as very unnatural and your site will end up disappearing out of the SERP's (I know I have the T-Shirt for this!).

You can get it back by providing a continuous stream of links to the site but it can take while (a few months). Hope this helps.

Graham

[Kurt]

Originally Posted by StevieJK

Hi all,

This was mentioned in a previous thread of mine, but I thought it would make an interesting thread of it's own and get the debate going.

Lots of people suggest that you must use a varied backlink strategy with varied anchor text etc otherwise Google will penalize the site/page you are backlinking to and cause it to drop in ranking or not be ranked at all.

Personally, I find this nonsense as I have had several sites that have ranked very well (recently) with minimal variation in anchor text.

Also, if Google did penalize for an un-natural backlink stragey - then Google would just become an uncontrollable free-for-all battlefield of people blasting bad links at competitor sites to de-rank them.

What's everyone elses opinion/experience with this?

Cheers,
Steve.

I think "penalty" is the wrong word. I'm more inclined to use the phrase "less than optimal".

If you simply blast links at other sites using identical anchor text, they probably already have variation on their backlink anchor text, so you'd just be adding to their link totals.

[VladWorks]

Its not so much a penalty as "de-value"

If you get a bunch of bad or lame spammy links to your site Google will just ignore them so they won't help you in the ranks.

Your competitors are probably getting good links all the time and keep moving ahead of you which makes it look like you are being penalized.

In reality your competitors are just moving ahead while Google ignores your bad links.

[xxxJamesxxx]

Since Panda I've actually notice Profile links are having a negative affect on my site's rankings.

So for that reason I've stopped using them.

James

[StevieJK]

Thanks all.

yeah, I think the concensus is that link building won't cause your site to drop in ranking or be penalized etc, but any links considered to be un-natural and artificial will be ingored/de-valued and do nothing for you...

[Jacob Cuculiza]

Originally Posted by StevieJK

Thanks all.

yeah, I think the concensus is that link building won't cause your site to drop in ranking or be penalized etc, but any links considered to be un-natural and artificial will be ingored/de-valued and do nothing for you...

Agree! So people should consider how they use their time best!

[StevieJK]

Thanks Jacob!

Yeah, I mean even if Google wanted to penalize sites/pages that show obvious artificial backlinks (which I am sure Google would love to do...), how would Google determine if the backlinks were created by the site owner for personal gain or by a competitor trying to damage the site's ranking in Google? This would be nearlu impossible I would have thought and so this is why I don't think you can get penalized for spammy or bad backlinks to your site.

That said - maybe, just maybe if your site is totally brand new and not ranking yet - and all of a sudden it shows thousands of spammy backlinks, then Google could probablty safely assume it was the site owner (as no-one would know of the site yet as it would not be in Google's index yet) and penalize it.

But for any site that already has some backlinks and is in Google's index, then I cannot see how Google to determine who was creating the backlinks........

[ASHLEY999]

Originally Posted by xxxJamesxxx

Since Panda I've actually notice Profile links are having a negative affect on my site's rankings.

So for that reason I've stopped using them.

James

This is interesting. I used a service on fiverr that got me 15 .edu profile links (pyramid style) and my site fell 5 places down the SERPs. I also stopped using these links.

[StevieJK]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us Ashley, it's always useful to hear different sides of the argument.

However, I guess you cannot be sure that it was the 15 edu links that caused your rankings to drop? what if it was just a natural re-jig in ranking that happened coincidentally around the time you posted those links?

Look at it this way - if those links did cause your site to drop 5 places in Google SERPs, then the same would have happened if you were my competitor and I posted those links to your site, surely Google wouldn't allow this sort of behaviour to happen?

This is why I cannot believe that external backlinks themselves can cause a site to be penalized and drop in rankings...?

Anyone esles views/experiences?

[ADHardwick]

I personally am aware of at least one instance where we sponsored some thing in order to gain a large number of backlinks. We got 10's of thousands of backlinks out of this. However, it didn't seem to do much good.

IMO. If your backlinks are identical and grow un-naturally large in a small amount of time... it's not going to do anything for you. I don't think it's a penalty, I think Google just doesn't count them.

[Black Hat Cat]

Originally Posted by StevieJK

I think I agree with 'sgsmorgan's reply in another thread:

"First of all it's not a penalty and lets nail this myth once and for all. You cannot get penalized through excessive links or anything that links to your site. If that were the case there would be no cause for SEO at all. All you would need to do is locate who your competition are and then load their sites with loads of spammy trashy links and sit back and watch Google trash their sites to oblivion whilst you sit back happily watching your sites rise through the ashes.

Not going to happen is it?

Let's see....in any given niche that I participate in, I have a million or so competitors. How long do you two think it would take me to sabotage all of them, and how much do you think it would cost?

Also, if Google did penalize for an un-natural backlink stragey - then Google would just become an uncontrollable free-for-all battlefield of people blasting bad links at competitor sites to de-rank them.

As opposed to the "uncontrollable free-for-all" battlefield of people blasting their own sites to rank them that we have today?

Something to keep in mind: Just because something doesn't make sense doesn't mean Google won't do it. They do a lot of things that don't make sense.

[StevieJK]

Originally Posted by Black Hat Cat

Let's see....in any given niche that I participate in, I have a million or so competitors. How long do you two think it would take me to sabotage all of them, and how much do you think it would cost?



As opposed to the "uncontrollable free-for-all" battlefield of people blasting their own sites to rank them that we have today?

Something to keep in mind: Just because something doesn't make sense doesn't mean Google won't do it. They do a lot of things that don't make sense.

Not necessarily:

Firstly, something like Xrumer can blast many thousands of spammy backlinks each and every month and doesn't cost the earth. heck, I can get a fiverr gig for $5 that blasts 10,000 links in one go! That would surely be enough to destroy some competition in a local niche etc.

Plus, I wouldn't need to nuke millions of competitiors, just the few on page 1 of Google that I am striving for.

Secondly, I agree that Google is already a battlefield of SEO'ers trying to get their sites to the top - but Google can simply discount any un-natural backlinks so that these spammy efforts are becoming less and less effective - which is the only way they can really deal with the problem as they don't know who is building external baclklinks to a site.

[andrew zirkin]

For a long time it's been considered that Web Rings or link farms are bad linking meaning you and a bunch of people all link to each other and create a ring etc or you create a whole bunch of sites just for linking and link them all together. Not sure of the current state but its a good idea to avoid these types of linking structures.

[StevieJK]

Originally Posted by Social Wealth Formula

For a long time it's been considered that Web Rings or link farms are bad linking meaning you and a bunch of people all link to each other and create a ring etc or you create a whole bunch of sites just for linking and link them all together. Not sure of the current state but its a good idea to avoid these types of linking structures.

Yeah, I agree - best to avoid this type of link building at all costs.

I can see that there could be a chance thet Google could punish all sites within the ring (as they are obviously knowingly all linking to each other for artificial benefit).

But if someone just decided to blast thousands of 'one-way' spammy backlinks at your site, then I cannot see how Google could penalize you and drop your rankings. I think it would just discount them and they would end up having no effect.

[morc3x]

Agreed. I say every link is beneficial to your website. In worst case scenario they get ignored. Focus on on-site seo. And visitor experience. It's getting more and more important.

[amylv]

thats for sure.

[xxxJamesxxx]

What gets me is people say you can't get penalized for any form of backlinking and I understand the theory behind it because everybody would be nuking each other with spammy backlinks to beat them in the serps etc.

But if we don't get penalized then what the hell is the Sandbox about? Isn't that basically your site getting penalized but under different name?

Just sayin

James

[StevieJK]

Hi James,

I hear ya. Yeah, the Google Sandbox is another greatly debated topic on it's own

Howevere there is also no evidence that such a Sandbox exists.....lots of threads offering valid evidence and reasons on both sides of the argument for this also.

So who knows...I guess we just gotta keep guessin.

[xxxJamesxxx]

Hi James,

I hear ya. Yeah, the Google Sandbox is another greatly debated topic on it's own

Howevere there is also no evidence that such a Sandbox exists.....lots of threads offering valid evidence and reasons on both sides of the argument for this also.

So who knows...I guess we just gotta keep guessin.

I know, it's just that you hear people saying "You can't get penalized for backlinks as backlinks are meant to be out of your control blah blah blah".

Then in next breath, you see them in the next thread saying "Oh mate - sounds like you've been Sandbox because you've send too many links to your site blah blah".

And I'm like WTF! ...Just totally contradicts each other.

James

[StevieJK]

Hi James,

I know what you mean - confusing isn't it!

[neerajswt]

Well i have experienced this myself. Google penelizes your site for bad or cheap links or too many links on the same page or domain.
An seo rss submitter plugin on my blog had a downfall in my google raknings. It took me some days to figure out that the tremendous rss submissions were the reason for it.

[simonbuzz]

I agree with you...if that were true then by now I could have blast other sites with spam links to de-index their site form Google

[amritrr]

I don't think Google will ever penalize you for any kind of back links, whether natural or unnatural. A lot of people have said that they made a lot of back links but it didn't do them any good. It must be understood that it takes time for Google to evaluate your site. It will not happen overnight or in a weeks time. It will happen gradually over time.

Another important thing to note is the quality of backlinks you get to your site. Getting a backlink from a 0 PR site and PR 5 are both very differnt. One PR5 backlink may be worth a hundred 0 PR backlinks.

[nicktyler]

What about paid backlinks? It says in the guidelines that paid links can have a negative effect on ranking and if you suspect then submit it to the spam report.

It must be almost impossible for the engine to decide if links are paid or not. Even on manual review?

[StoneWilson]

Link to those websites which have penalized by Google will influence your website, it's true. And I think there are people making spammy or bad links for their competitors now.

[summerfranken]

Google penalize those links which create spamming rest the links which are used in thorough way that can be penalized. However after Panda's update some of these are come to be penalized.