Link Farming
-
Are link farms still bad? I still am not sure about this question. I know that some people still do link farms. If they are bad, wouldn't a directory be considered a link farm? For instance I can get my site on a .EDU, but it will just be a list of links. Is that bad?
-
I believe there is a significant difference between a link farm and a directory. And although there are likely going to be differences in how everyone views the two, the basic differences to me are:
Link Farms:
-No editorial discretion in who is linked to
-No editorial discretion in how one is linked to
-Often generally require a return link or triangular link
-Free for all approach to posting a link
-Often no real review process in terms of quality
-Do not have clearly defined guidelines for the process
-Allow you to link in any way you want (link anchor)
-Do not have content and promotional guidelines for content
-Created specifically to manipulate SERPs via surgical text link manipulationQuality Directories (I believe there are about 15 total of these on the Internet myself)
-Editorial discretion in who is linked to
-Editorial discretion in how one is linked to
-do not require any link to be listed
-Review process in terms of quality
-Have clearly defined guidelines for the process
-Link to you as a business
-Have content and promotional guidelines for content
-Created to provide value to searchersI would stay away from link farms to be sure.
-
it's just a page on a .edu full of cool sites that the person likes.
-
For instance I can get my site on a .EDU, but it will just be a list of links. Is that bad?
I don't know what your definition of a link farm is but mine is a site that has at least a few SEO links stuffed into every page.
What you are describing to me could be a curated list of outstanding resources done by an .edu librarian or professor. Those can be some of the best links on this planet... but without more info we can only guess. It could be an untended forum page or a student site stuffed with naughty links.
-
Google's PR doesn't mean anything to SEO. Use Open Site Explorer to really evaluate the site. (They could have just purchased that domain with a high PR). I would also spend a bit of time and evaluate the other links you would be grouped with. Again, if they are quality sites in your industry, then that may be alright. But if they are just a bunch of spammy sites, then keep away.
-
Well it will have unique content on it. Perhaps I will put more on it than just links than
-
It's all about quality unique content. The reason a lot of .edu's do well is because they have a lot of domain authority and a lot of them have been around for a long time. The directories that pass good link juice have this going for them as well. If you create a link farm on an .edu domain, you won't be fooling the search engines. It'll be a brand new site with no links to it that has no unique content which links out to a bunch of sites which may also be spammy, aka a link farm.
I'm not sure what your goal is with this site. If your goal in creating the site is to give an SEO bonus to these site you're linking to, I doubt it do any good. If your goal is to create a site that is a directory that is useful to people, and people start using it, linking to it, sharing it, then it could work. If your goal is to put up a site that has some links for your own enjoyment, go for it! If Google thinks your site is a link farm, it's not like they're going to dispatch agents to your house in the middle of the night or anything.
-
But if it's a PR 5 isn't that a solid link? Who cares if there are other links on the page.
-
Yes, they are bad. Keep away and focus on good quality links.
If it is a reputable directory with good DA (Domain Authority) and PA (Page Authority) and relevant to your site, then go ahead. Google's latest updates are really focusing on quality links from quality sites.
In the long run it will do more damage then good.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Should I disavow these links?
Hi all, I have a ski website that I am currently performing a toxic backlink audit on. I have noted that a lot of the links being flagged as toxic/spammy by the tool I am using seem to be the same/similar sites with different URLs. The sites are vaguely related to skiing (relating to helicopter travel options for travelling to ski resorts) but it is concerning me that there are so many of them and they are being flagged as so toxic.
Link Building | | SolveWebMedia
Do you think it is worth disavowing these? Or contacting the owner to ask them to remove the link? I have included an example of some of the links below. https://www.cannes-helicopters.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5
https://nice-helicopter.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5
https://monaco-helicopter.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5 Slightly different site but same favicon icon:
https://monaco-helicopter.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5
https://www.whitetracks-holidays.com/Helicopter_Transfers_Villars_Switzerland.htm Thanks in advance for any advice / help!0 -
Gathering links
There are numerous "Ultimate Guides" to linkbuilding, outreach, etc., and they are all written to teach you the art of linkbuilding. The only thing these guides don't tell you is that following them takes a massive amount of time and doesn't guarantee to get good links at all. We're all in online marketing, and maybe we online marketeers are familiar with linking to other websites, posts that we like, etc. and maybe that's why we can write these guides but in other niches it really doesn't work that way 🙂 I'm wondering what techniques/tactics/strategies you guys are using in less straightforward niches to get quality links to your blogposts. To give you an idea, we launched an article a couple of weeks ago targeting a very competitive keyword. The article got shared over 100 times on LinkedIn/Twitter/etc. and already ranking pretty good, but REAL backlinks are still missing. How to get people to link to that article?
Link Building | | jorisbrabants0 -
Internal Links - First Link Rule Confusion
Hello All - I would like to create a guide for my team of rules for internal links and I could use some help. My understanding is that Google only counts the first link to a page, so any crafted keyword text links within the content do not count if the page in question is linked to from the main navigation. Is this correct? For example, if the menu or drop down menu in main site nav (which exists on all pages of the site) includes a link to a particular section that will be the only one that ever counts since the menu is on every page? Example: let's say a website selling cat toys includes a drop down menu on the homepage with links to "holiday cat toys". Does this mean that no other text links in content on the site will support that page from an SEO perspective since the link is in the main nav and will always be the first one counted? In the past we have added text links in the content on the homepage to important pages on the site. It seems to work, though now I'm questing these tactics based on the first link rule. I would appreciate some advice, clarification, thoughts, etc. Thanks!
Link Building | | JBMediaGroup0 -
About Link Earning?
I own an e-commerce store and I am get started with my SEO strategy. I know content is extremely important when it comes to link building, however for an e-commerce store what can I do as far as content. So far my only idea is blog posts. It's a furniture store so videos are really hard to do. The blog posts relate to home decor and interior design. My question is if people are going to be linking to my blog, will this help my website rank for product terms? The blog is part of the website, websitename.com/blog.
Link Building | | The_Kiwi_Man0 -
Does This Link Have Value?
Hi Mozzers, A client paid to publish a white paper, thinking that the link to the web site is beneficial. The link does redirect back to the web site, but is in a format that I've never seen: http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001YdyyLrzOQJxM87SJZkJYVbQKSdCmFpwqg1fuX3yqVqpGboUjdSaHv9IdW5HsQpgmvwOrg5N4T3DNHYV8e1UVe_YCua_XQCFykoSJvu1HzDyb-3x-aFcPU-ER-vwWxq4- Does this link have any value?
Link Building | | waynekolenchuk0 -
Google Link Disavow and sites with extremely heavy but poor link metrics
Need help/opinions from the SEO's out there. I am working with a site that in the past hired an SEO company out of India. Over the course of their time together, this company submitted the clients url to tens of thousands of link exchanges and directories. Around the time of Penguin, the owners told me their inquiries dried up. Literally that same week they had a new website launched (designed by a local competitor) that really butchered the site. They were convinced the reduction in traffic/inquiries was due to the new site but I am convinced otherwise (suspect Penguin). Not only does the site need to be re-structured but their link portfolio needs to be diversified. Now on the plus side, the company caters and sponsors a number of events that earns them organic, relevant links. These are overshadowed by the tons of poor, irrelevant ones though. I read a few posts recently on the Google Link Disavow tool and to proceed slowly due to the unknown nature surrounding it. I have a good idea of what links are problematic and which ones are well served. However, the number of problematic links in my estimation is quite high (thousands). I am very hesitant to dive into Google Disavow and submit such a large number of requests. What are your thoughts? How would you proceed?
Link Building | | mattylac1 -
Do No follow links from social media platforms transfer authority or value when they link to third party websites?
With social media playing a bigger role in SEO (since the Panda, Penguin updates etc) and how search engines rank sites now, does anybody know why Twitter for instance has 'no follow' when I check my client's websites under 'inbound links' on Open Site Explorer?
Link Building | | caroline19770 -
Contests For Link Building?
I have been seeing a trend that a lot of people are hosting contests with prices in the high end XXX $ or low end XXXX $ as the first price. Usually it's arranged via a number of sponsors and you'd have to link to all the sponsors using the keywords given. Some people provide a text file with everything pre formatted to make it easy. I have seen several sites paying 50$ to be part of a contest so that they can get some link juice from participating sites. Since the prize money is huge, many people will participate and will get lot of links. There was a person who built an entire business out of this (Not naming him. He's still doing the same thing but with a small twist). What's your take on such strategies? Don't you think it's high time Google caught these sort of "link schemes"?
Link Building | | ConversionChamp0