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Where do strange backlinks come from?

by Dave Earley
33 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I've been monitoring my google search console and have noticed more than a few strange backlinks in the external links section. I do my own link building and do not pay for links. I do not currently have any ads, or anything like that on my site. It simply contains articles, photos, and some videos I have made or taken personally. I comment on related blogs and share my content on some social media sites for the most part.

When I follow some of the links in my search console that I do not recognize I am taken to a parked domain, or one of those pages asking you to upgrade flash player (some garbage like that).

How is my site getting backlinks from these "websites", and is this a problem??

Furthermore, how does the search console actually track backlinks? I notice that some show up for some articles, but not for others. Additionally, it seems to take several months for some links to show up at all.
#backlinks #strange
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeffery
    The best place to hide strange backlinks is on page 2 of the Google search results


    Seriously, just disavow them. When you drop your links on social media sites you run the risk of strange backlinks.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave Earley
      How do I disavow? And is it problematic for my website? How does a parked domain even link to my website, it's so strange? I was wondering if someone was maybe trying to hijack my content, but those links don't ever seem to point to any content at all.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeffery
        Originally Posted by Dave Earley View Post

        How do I disavow? And is it problematic for my website? How does a parked domain even link to my website, it's so strange? I was wondering if someone was maybe trying to hijack my content, but those links don't ever seem to point to any content at all.

        Google this:
        "How do I use Google disavow tool?"
        or this
        https://www.google.com/webmasters/to...vow-links-main
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      • Profile picture of the author godfather25
        Originally Posted by Dave Earley View Post

        How do I disavow? And is it problematic for my website? How does a parked domain even link to my website, it's so strange? I was wondering if someone was maybe trying to hijack my content, but those links don't ever seem to point to any content at all.
        If you're set up on Google Webmasters, you can do so.

        If it's just a few, I really wouldn't even worry about it. Technically, anyone can send a backlink to your content.

        Your competition can take your content and put it on crappy/low content sites. trying to tarnish your ranking. Not suggesting that's the case.

        I really don't think backlinking is that big of a deal. It still matters, but not that much anymore.

        What matters really is bounce rate, time spent on your site, and obviously visitors. Those things factor into ranking a lot more than backlinks.

        Google wants to have the most popular and relevant stuff on the top of their search engine.

        Everyone, including Google, is well aware backlinking can be easily manipulated.
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        • Profile picture of the author Dave Earley
          Originally Posted by godfather25 View Post


          I really don't think backlinking is that big of a deal. It still matters, but not that much anymore.

          What matters really is bounce rate, time spent on your site, and obviously visitors. Those things factor into ranking a lot more than backlinks.
          According to backlinko, who created an ultimate guide on the subject using googles algorithm info, backlinks still play a role up to 50% or more regarding website ranking.

          What evidence is there that bounce rate matters? If someone clicks to another page on the same site it probably has little to do with what was on the original page. How is this relevant to the ranking of the original page visited?? Although it would explain how "news" sites rank so well with their catchy titles and Swiss cheese information.
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  • Profile picture of the author RuskinF
    Targeted backlink generation can be used by your competitors to tarnish your image.
    Like the case of the phrase similar to "Greatest failure" that took visitors to the Wikipedia page of Jr. Bush.
    Also when you share your posts indiscriminately on social media these links are bound to be generated.
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  • Profile picture of the author mattlaclear
    Having run an SEO agency for the last decade, I always disavow. It's more an OCD response than best practice kind of thing, though. Bugs me having them sitting in my profile. Most of the time it comes from content scrapers that hit your site and repost your content giving you the link as an attribute.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave Earley
      Originally Posted by mattlaclear View Post

      HMost of the time it comes from content scrapers that hit your site and repost your content giving you the link as an attribute.
      I've always wondered, is it possible to find content scrapers that do not link to your site, or reposts of photos on your site?
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  • Profile picture of the author praetserge
    Originally Posted by Dave Earley View Post

    I've been monitoring my google search console and have noticed more than a few strange backlinks in the external links section. I do my own link building and do not pay for links. I do not currently have any ads, or anything like that on my site. It simply contains articles, photos, and some videos I have made or taken personally. I comment on related blogs and share my content on some social media sites for the most part.

    When I follow some of the links in my search console that I do not recognize I am taken to a parked domain, or one of those pages asking you to upgrade flash player (some garbage like that).

    How is my site getting backlinks from these "websites", and is this a problem??

    Furthermore, how does the search console actually track backlinks? I notice that some show up for some articles, but not for others. Additionally, it seems to take several months for some links to show up at all.

    links in gsc are so irrelevant... it shows so many old spammy links.
    if I send a few thousands spam links to your websites, you'll see them for years there... but if I send you 10 good links... you'll never see them.
    It's my opinion about gsc, when it comes to links and what backlinks they have to your website... gsc shows nonsense.
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  • Profile picture of the author june08
    Can you share some tips about how did you earn backlinks successfully without paying it?
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  • Profile picture of the author cmsminds
    It doesn't matter how many crappy backlinks your website has as it can be done by anybody. Now, Google has become smarter and it can judge that you intentionally created that backlink or your competitor or any spammer do that to harm your website reputation. So, just disavow them and ask Google to not consider those backlinks in your backlink portfolio.
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  • Profile picture of the author aarticod
    Banned
    You can't block them may be they are thinking your site is linkable so they did or if site is spammy then may be your competitor did it for you. Because spammy link harm page.
    You can simply disavow them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike3001
    Definately disavow if they are not trustworthy...
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  • Profile picture of the author Marc_L
    I've seen this before. The webpage linking back to your site could be employing a "relevancy hack" and posting links to the top x serp results for their desired keyword in the hopes that they get to rank for a quick minute. The reason the sites redirect when you click on them is that these hack sites change quickly.

    These are almost certainly harmless to your ranking but it doesn't hurt to disavow them.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Originally Posted by godfather25 View Post

    I really don't think backlinking is that big of a deal. It still matters, but not that much anymore.

    What matters really is bounce rate, time spent on your site, and obviously visitors. Those things factor into ranking a lot more than backlinks.

    Google wants to have the most popular and relevant stuff on the top of their search engine.

    Everyone, including Google, is well aware backlinking can be easily manipulated.
    Ignore this. It's utter nonsense. Links are still the #1 ranking factor by a large margin.

    Bounce rate is absolutely not a ranking factor.

    I would argue that time on a page is not a factor either largely because most pages on the internet are not using Google Analytics, so Google has no way to measure it if they wanted to. If they were going to look at the time on a page, it would be way more complicated than that.

    If I'm looking for a plumber because my sink is overflowing, I'm not going to spend a long time on any of their pages or their site. I'm going to find their phone number and call. I might spend 10 seconds actually browsing the page.

    If I want to read something to learn about the Battle of Waterloo, I might spend 20-30 minutes on a page reading that.

    Whether it is 10 seconds or 30 minutes, in both cases I found what I was looking for.

    The same could be said about bounce rate. In the case of searching for a plumber, I'm not going to browse their site. I'm going to look for the phone number and call. Why should the site be punished because I didn't go to another page? I found exactly what I was looking for.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave Earley
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      Ignore this. It's utter nonsense. Links are still the #1 ranking factor by a large margin.

      Bounce rate is absolutely not a ranking factor.

      I would argue that time on a page is not a factor either largely because most pages on the internet are not using Google Analytics, so Google has no way to measure it if they wanted to. If they were going to look at the time on a page, it would be way more complicated than that.

      If I'm looking for a plumber because my sink is overflowing, I'm not going to spend a long time on any of their pages or their site. I'm going to find their phone number and call. I might spend 10 seconds actually browsing the page.

      If I want to read something to learn about the Battle of Waterloo, I might spend 20-30 minutes on a page reading that.

      Whether it is 10 seconds or 30 minutes, in both cases I found what I was looking for.

      The same could be said about bounce rate. In the case of searching for a plumber, I'm not going to browse their site. I'm going to look for the phone number and call. Why should the site be punished because I didn't go to another page? I found exactly what I was looking for.
      Thank you. I kinda figured as much. Dropping misinformation should be a crime. That's the problem with asking a lot of questions I guess - you then have to decide whether or not what you heard was accurate.
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      • Profile picture of the author expmrb
        Originally Posted by Dave Earley View Post

        Thank you. I kinda figured as much. Dropping misinformation should be a crime. That's the problem with asking a lot of questions I guess - you then have to decide whether or not what you heard was accurate.

        Just disavow any link or links if you think they can hurt your site. If you don't know how to do it then just google it. There are probably thousands of tutorials out there. And don't think too much how you got those links or where did they came from. When we submit our urls through social media or our posts become popular or our entire sites gets good exposure & becomes popular, these things are bound to happen. You cannot stop it. But what you can do is monitor those links closely and disavow the ones which can probably hurt your site. And if you have links from low quality sites or pages that are relevant but they have just linked to you out of necessity like say you are present in a list or so. Then don't bother them. Those low quality links will be ignored by Google anyway.
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        • Profile picture of the author Dave Earley
          Originally Posted by expmrb View Post

          You cannot stop it. But what you can do is monitor those links closely and disavow the ones which can probably hurt your site.
          How do you know which ones are harmful? Do they need to be followed directly, or is there a tool which will inform me?
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          • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
            Originally Posted by Dave Earley View Post

            How do you know which ones are harmful? Do they need to be followed directly, or is there a tool which will inform me?
            Look at the pages the links are on. Do they look like shit?

            No tool will accurately identify bad links.
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            • Profile picture of the author Dave Earley
              Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

              Look at the pages the links are on. Do they look like shit?

              No tool will accurately identify bad links.
              I found a pretty decent process review by Neil Patel, who claims SEMrush is a tool which can audit the links. Of course, the program or company charges a monthly fee. Meanwhile, I'll try using the search console myself...
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeffery
    Dave,


    Curious, you posted this 23 January, have you disavowed the links?


    Jeffery
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave Earley
      Originally Posted by Jeffery View Post

      Dave,


      Curious, you posted this 23 January, have you disavowed the links?


      Jeffery
      None yet. However, I recently noticed two additional strange domains which are now providing more than 20 backlinks, one of which ends in .xyz - which obviously goes nowhere. Working on disavow now...
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  • Profile picture of the author Jessicad0505
    Strange backlinks comes from Low Quality and Spammy websites.
    Please be aware of Websites before submitting your link.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Originally Posted by Dave Earley View Post

    I found a pretty decent process review by Neil Patel, who claims SEMrush is a tool which can audit the links. Of course, the program or company charges a monthly fee. Meanwhile, I'll try using the search console myself...
    Neil Patel is full of shit and not someone I would follow if you want to learn how to actually rank pages.

    He is a terrible SEO.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave Earley
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      Neil Patel is full of shit and not someone I would follow if you want to learn how to actually rank pages.

      He is a terrible SEO.
      LOL, tell us how you really feel. I'm just saying, he has a high ranking page that clearly explains how to disavow links within the search console. His site is clearly designed to build a massive list, but thus is the internet marketing world.

      Do you have better advice for disavowing these backlinks which end in .xyz and such?

      I can't seem to do it his way in the least...
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  • Profile picture of the author devguru
    Sources for bad links:
    1) Competitors spam your website
    2) Just randomly someone put link to you
    many many other ways.

    The best option for you is:
    1) Connect to site owners linking to u and ask who/when/why put link. Ask them to remove it
    2) Go to SC and put link to disallow.

    Good luck. Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author Myles Harris
    [DELETED]
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  • Profile picture of the author TANYA TYAGI
    It is not good having strange backlinks on your website. May be it is because you have purchased expired domain name. Also, it comes from Low quality or Spammy Websites.
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  • Profile picture of the author seowebup
    Search console only shows a sample of all your backlinks in Google's index.
    On the outset these links don't seem like a problem. Do any of these sites appear to be spammy? There are various sites out there that just keep track of different domains and create a link back with additional domain info. They don't really harm your site and there isn't any benefit of such links as well.
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