Practices to Avoid in Link Building

Link building is a sensitive field of SEO. However, it’s not hard to tell which tactics are OK and which ones will be considered spam by Google, even if we go with our instincts.

If a website builds thousands of links overnight through link directories, it’s clearly inviting trouble from Google. Instead of rising up in search results, the website is likely to be removed from SERPs altogether.

There are certain practices in link building that are considered link spam. Google’s response to different kinds of link spam varies, but they’re all considered risky. A smart SEO expert should be familiar with the popular link spam so their link building strategy does not fall into any of the danger zones.

What to avoid when building links

Here are some practices that can raise the red flag for Google:

Acquiring links unnaturally fast

Link building, when done the right way, is a gradual process. As already discussed, acquiring thousands of links overnight is suspicious and may invite trouble.

Though John Mueller says Google doesn’t count links like that, acquiring too many links too fast may sound unnatural and against the guidelines [48]. Links should be acquired naturally and gradually over time instead of created in bulk within a small time interval.

Buying links

Buying and selling links is considered a ‘link scheme’ by Google and a violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines [49]. Search engine algorithms are smart enough to detect purchased links and can respond by pulling our site off search results. Sometimes webmasters may get away with it, but it’s not worth the risk.

Spending thousands of dollars in purchasing links in bulk from companies promising to rank us overnight may or may not work—or it could end up tarnishing our site’s ranking. Instead, spend the same money on building quality content (for example, blogs, infographics, and videos) and paid ads to bring more traffic our way.

Link exchanging

Link exchanging, link bartering, link trading or link swapping all mean the same thing, which is “I’ll link to you if you link to me.” Excessive link exchanges is also considered a link scheme by Google and penalized.