Can bad backlinks harm your website?
-
Hi,
This has been discussed to death over the web on many forums, some discussions are even very heated arguing both sides.
So... from what I have read on seomoz the answer to this question is... YES.
And if one was so inclined to build bad backlinks to a competitor it would have a negative effect.
Agree?
-
Lots of people (philosophers) have an idea about how they think google "should" behave. Then you have people who know what they are talking about and philosophers who are unwilling to believe that they are wrong.
Finally, just because we see something happen doesn't mean we know what caused it.
-
Thanks for the replies,
I would never go down this route, as both of you have said the time/money spent would be better spent on white hat for my own site, plus I just don't agree with it.
But the question had to be asked for my own knowledge as a lot of people state it doesn't have an impact. A lot say the only way to be hit is by linking out to bad websites, which is obv not true.
-
Of course below is just my opinion... But it seems highly plausible...
Everything we do leaves a footprint, that footprint is analyzed by the algorithm - The algorithm has flags both ways with unnatural links. Either done by you - or against you...
I think this has always been one of Google's biggest challenges,not always necessarily how to penalize site owners and SEO's who are actually using Black hat - but how do you filter that against having black hat done against them algorithmically ?
The reason some claim it work, is I am sure there ARE ways to do it... But as ipositions **excellently ** points out.. This money could be much better spent employing strategies that not only help your search positioning, but your overall brand perception and marketing in general. Opposed to just hurting someone else to make yourself look better (sounds like politics!)
Shane
-
"And if one was so inclined to build bad backlinks to a competitor it would have a negative effect"
There is a whole branch called Negative SEO specialised in destroying your competitor' SERPS and though you will find loads of sites promoting that they do this in a "Completeley legal" I urge you not to succumb to the temptation of trying it.
The time and money you would spend trying to negatively impact others would be better spent on optimizing your own site, and think about it: If suddenly anyone above you starts dropping in rankings and your site is the only one that ascends don't you think someone is going to wonder why?
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
-
How to effectively backlink
My website about anime: kissanime. This is a new website. Please help me how to go backlink effectively. Thanks!
Link Building | | yenu2 -
What to do about unethical website company?
I am working on SEO for a dental client, and I was looking at the external links for the main competitor. I noticed that a very large number of links were coming from other dental websites. When I looked more closely, I found that all of these websites had been created by one particular company specializing in dental websites. This company had hidden a directory on each client website with links to all their other client's websites. Is this something that can be reported? Is there anything I can do about it? Now I understand why I can't reach the number of external links that some of these other sites have! There are also many links coming from an online bookmark manager. I'm guessing these are accounts set up just to generate external links. How can anyone compete with that?
Link Building | | Karen_110rpm0 -
Natural or Unnatural backlinks
Somebody embedded a link to one of my websites on the sidebar of her blog. It ends up hundreds of links from this blog. Will this type of links be considered unnatural links by Google? Here is the url of the blog. http://chordsandmore.blogspot.com/ To find the link to my site, please search "yoke wong". Thanks.
Link Building | | pianomother0 -
How to get BackLinks?
What is the best site to get backlinks ? Not for free, i mean a paid premium services . I think i need backlinks for the authority of my sites. My sites are indexed, but when i search for different keywords on google, i find them on page 5-7 . I need to see them on page 1-2 . But my site's authority is : 1 .
Link Building | | vende123450 -
Can competitors pay to have spammy sites link to your website?
Is there anything stopping competitors from doing a negative text-linking campaign against your site to purposefully harm your business?
Link Building | | mbelsito0 -
Wikipedia Backlinks
Does wikipedia nofollow backinks help your site to rank higher in google? I got a niche related backlink from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_(film) The page has pr 5... does this backlink count? (My backlink is in the bottom of the page anchored "Movies 2012")
Link Building | | prunarevic0 -
What are "naked backlinks"?
Hello SEOmozers! I have a question for you all. What are "naked backlinks"? Can you also give an example? Thank you! woo aka STPseo
Link Building | | STPseo0 -
Can too many high PR links can hurt SEO
I recently accuired about 10 PR 4- 5 for my website after getting mostly PR 1-2 for the past 6 months. After a couple of day my rankings not only didn't go up, but actually went down really drasticly for many keyphrases that i used to rank at the top 3. Should i keep building those high PR links in the same fast pace, should i slow down? Or maybe i should even those out with some low PR link?
Link Building | | atohad0