We talk a lot about what Google doesn’t like, and you can find that advice spread across our blog. Recently, we’ve been getting some more requests for types of links that are (more or less) officially disliked by Google, so we have assembled this list for quick reference when you’re doing SEO link building.
Here’s the first half of the list:
- Excessive Link Exchanges
- Paid Links
- Article Links
- Automated Links
- Text Ads and Advertorial Links
Now, let’s go through it.
1. Excessive Link Exchanges
If you exchange links with a few other relevant websites in your industry, you’re alright. If you’re sending out mass emails to anyone who is even tangentially related, you’re gonna have a bad time.
2. Paid Links
If you’re exchanging links for money, Google will eventually catch on and you will be penalized. This includes sending out free samples in exchange for links or any other ticky-tacky workaround.
3. Article Links
You can syndicate your articles to relevant pages and places, but make sure yours is canonical and be sensible about it. Using low-quality article farms or guest-posting on unrelated blogs is one of Google’s oldest pet peeves.
4. Automated Links
The allure of automated links is obvious, but unless you’re project is very short term, it’s not worth it. Google’s algorithms can sniff out an automated link a mile away, and they are a bannable offense. Think about it this way, if you were able to find the automation software, so is Google, and they’ve trained their bots to recognize the scent.
5. Text Ads and Advertorial Links
Advertisements should never pass PageRank. This is just another distillation of a paid link. Any advertisement that links back to your site should be hit with the rel=”nofollow” tag as an act of good will.
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