Need safe backlinks? First time learn what not to do

Linking is the second most important process in SEO after site optimization, from my point of view. Some people argue that link building is the most important because it is the basis for positioning a site on Google.

Google continues to play with our fingers. As I thought we got rid of Panda, Google brought the penguins' great terror to their websites. Honestly, I don't think a webmaster or online store owner would face these penalties.

A real deal has broken out online, no longer knowing which tactics work and which tactics are pushing you into the apocalyptic divide. The problem was/is that many sites are breaking the rules and conditions set by Google webmasters, using black hat SEO tactics.

On the subject of today's topic, you have probably heard a lot of conflicting things about creating links.

And it is precisely this information that collects that makes you more confused. You do not know what types of links to create or if you still need to create links.

And Google's guide of backlinks diagrams lead you more deeply in confusion:

"Any link intended to manipulate the Page Rank or the position of the site in Google search results will be considered as part of a link system and a violation of the directives of the Google webmaster. These include any type of behaviour that manipulates links to and from your website. "

Does this seem too ambiguous to me? Why is there still the term link building, if not for the purpose of improving the position of sites in search engines?

Stick to these two essential ideas in the article:

• You must absolutely strengthen the links
• There are definitely types of links that negatively affect your website

Based on the premise that it is better to know why to stay away, today we will discuss the wrong tactics and link building strategies that you should not, in any form.

So how does your inappropriate link to the online store affect you? Two words: Google sanctions. There are two possibilities, either you are penalized manually, or by the Penguin 2.0 algorithm.

Manual sanctions occur when a member of the Google Webspam team examines the profile of backlinks and finds a violation of the directives. The review may be due to a competitive spam report, to the detection of issues that have drawn a personal review, to the fact that you are positioned in a competitive niche constantly monitored by Google or ... the old friend, The bad luck.

If you have been penalized manually, you will receive a notification from Google, in advance or even when the penalty is applied.

The penalty via Penguin 2.0 filters does not imply any examination by the spam team but is automatically applied by Google. The downside is that you will not receive any notification that you have been affected but don't worry, you will know if something has happened or not. The organic traffic data from Google Analytics suddenly collapses, the search engine rankings drop and you may even be removed from Google's indexing (the worst news possible).

Next, I will introduce you to the link building strategies that guarantee a Google penalty.

1. Spam comments

Spam in comments is a black hat-building practice that has been used online for a long time. Comments are published manually or automated via tools. Why is spam in bloom? Simply put, many websites allow comments to be posted without moderation, and spammers can post comments on the Internet as they see fit.

For them, I have bad news. Sharing comments and spam is a visible clue to Penguin. You do not gain anything by spam but on the contrary, you can kill your website.

Remember: authoritative and relevant comments on different niche sites with authority can bring you positive SEO results. The key is the measurement, don't overuse a strategy until you get the attention of the search engine. You can transfer additional value to a community or discussion group from a very viral blog or commented article. with the information you post, but it’s up to you

2. Spam on the forums

There are two ways to spam forums. Firstly, you create more profiles and insert your link in them or, secondly, place links in the messages on the forums, either in the signature or in the body of the text.

In case you don't want to be penalized (you certainly don't want that), your messages in the forums must be specific and original, not a simple channel for removing links left and right. In principle, you need an active forum on your niche and a relevant subject to actively respond to other members and only if the link placed has informative value, only then you can insert it into the conversation.

Remember what are the essential elements of successful response on the forums: opportunity, educational value, the spirit of contribution and clarity of the response.

3. Links from spam blogs and article rotation software

Rotating articles has long been a favourite tactic for those who practice bonding with a black hat. All you have to do is write an article, use rotation software to redo it in dozens or hundreds of variations (nonsense, you don't understand any of them) and publish them to spam directories and blogs, with a link to your site.

No, do not do that. You will be chosen only with a stinging penalty, which will reverse you from the winning position and affect the organic traffic of the store.

4. Web Directories

From my point of view, they have long been included in the DO NOT list. If you follow my articles, you remember when I said that promotion, by default SEO is mainly for your customers. Well, what changes or reasons do they have for a web directory? Yes, the search engine engines are beyond that, but if you read the above ... here you put a 100% link just to try to manipulate the results of the search positions, so you might get a penalty.

Because yes, it is the simplest, cheapest and most used link building method, it simply does NOT work! Do you think anything else? You are on your budget!

5. Obviously paid links which go beyond the authority of the site

First of all, not all paid links are bad and, in principle, Google has nothing against their use. The rule is to buy links with the attribute rel = "nofollow", in order to follow the directives of Google and not to disturb you, in a negative way.

Speaking of which, it is quite difficult for Google to identify all paid links but there are a few things you should avoid:

• Dofollow links on the anchor text of the site (when linking on all pages of the site)
• Dofollow links from irrelevant sites or content
• Dofollow links from pages with sponsored articles
• By using the nofollow attribute on specific words, you protect both the store and the site from which you purchased the link.

6. Links from overseas websites

If your shop or website is from sone country, Google expects to see links to your shop or website from other websites from that country or most of them. Too high a percentage of links from sites abroad (in particular .cn or .ru) is a fingerprint after which Penguinl immediately finds you and penalizes you.

Links from quality sites from abroad probably do not harm your site, but my advice is not to continue building a backlink profile at all costs if the links are not relevant to the site.

7. Using the guest display to scale

Publishing guest posts remains an effective practice for creating links, when used correctly and wherever possible. In this way, you present your site to a new audience and create a qualitative and authoritative backlink profile.

I repeat, when used correctly. The technique used by black hatters is called guest-level posting and refers to the inclusion of more than 2 links in a post or advertisement and is even riskier as the article contains fewer words.

Therefore, if you have guest posts on irrelevant sites with fixed anchors and you track the quantity, not the quality of the links, you are most likely to be penalized. Conversely, if you have guest posts on niche pages, with authority, with flexible anchors that include the brand name, you are safe.

8. Links from sites not approved by Google

Unless you have a site/store in the industry, you are entitled to links from adult sites. Otherwise, these links are not approved by Google. Other problematic sites are link farms (it's clear what they are using), gambling sites, quick win methods, etc.

Another category of problems concerns pirated sites, such as links on the SAPE platform, a real Russian market, which deals with the sale of links. Now, honestly, what is your link to a Russian website, or what has absolutely nothing to do with your online store? Maybe a Google penalty.

9. Excessive links or niches unrelated to the creation of reciprocal links

Link building is a natural phenomenon on the web. It is normal for you to talk about other sites and they will mention you in their turn in order to attract the attention of other players in the industry who will be doing you a service by relying on the authority of your site.

But, and this is a great gift, the phenomenon takes a negative turn if you choose to contact hundreds of sites (especially if they are positioned in another niche). Remember that you are creating links to provide access channels to specific users, interested in your store's offer, and not for search engine bots.

10. Private Blogging Networks (PBN) - interconnected blogs

Google has started to devalue PBN by applying filters to examine external links on sites that have few general articles, the report of external links - publications are close to 1, have a low social media presence, they have no comments on articles, etc.

After all of the above, you've probably started coming up with ideas. But no, you don't have to be afraid to create links, to have backlinks as long as they are relevant and you don't have to define the nofollow attribute for all external links.

An essential part of the new SEO is the active monitoring of the backlink profile and the examination of poor quality links. Do not think that if you do not create links, there is no possibility that a competitor is paying a dubious company to organize an SEO attack on your website. I know, it's not too cute, but it does happen.

To monitor the backlink profile and SEO activity of your store, I recommend tools like CognitiveSEO, Majestic or Ahrefs. These help you to follow the evolution of the profile of site backlinks and the impact of white referencing techniques, in order to be protected from Google sanctions.

I made this article because it is essential to know which tactics not to use when creating links.