SEO TIPS: Understanding Back-Links

There are a few methods aimed at adding backlinks to your site that are not only extremely dangerous, but may very well kill your entire site. tactics that might actually hurt your rankings with the major search engines are generally referred to as being ‘black hat’. These need to be avoided despite their propensity to achieve quick results. There is no denying these tactics work quickly, but they also fade quickly and may get you de-listed to boot.

Now that we have established there is such a thing as bad links, what are they, where do they come from, why are they considered ‘bad’ and how they can negatively impact your site? Let’s take a look at each question.

Many webmasters operate under the impression that quantity is the key, to success. They  start contacting all their friends, family members and co-workers asking for links as well as any other websites in the same field. More than likely, it will draw in some links, but most of these folks are going to expect you to return the favor. Reciprocation is how it works.

This means they are expecting to see a link back to them from your own site. It’s a  nice gesture, but it actually devalues the link that they gave you.  Search engines are fully aware of ‘friends’ networks, and will sharply discount the value of these ‘reciprocal links’ when assigning value to your site. being kind comes at cost, but it is in place to stop abuse.

Another problem is that the quality of these sites you are now in a link exchange with might not be up the best. This can reflect on you as well because search engines do judge you bet the company

that you keep. If people assume that your site is only as good as the sites that link to you, then being associated with a low ranking page is not a god thing! You need to fix that.

A trick you may be tempted to try in order to obtain links for your site is listing yourself in an automated link management system. They are fast and they are easy. They will get you plenty of links, but basically consist of pages of web addresses all hyperlinked to each other. in essence, you have less than worthless links for the time it took to register.

Most of the time the sites you’re linked to don’t have any relevance to your field. The whole scheme, which is what it is,  is viewed by search engines with distrust. At best, the search engines will just discount these links as they really are just more reciprocal links, or at worst will label you a ‘link spammer‘ and penalize you. that is the most likely scenario with Penguin in full force now.

Too many outbound links from your website to a friend’s may not be a good idea if the other site is completely unrelated to yours. Similarly, paid links are very dangerous. In many cases, these are scams –  they either don’t deliver or they could use banned practices that will bounce back on you. Also, scammers may offer to pay you to write reviews or testimonials for their products; never endorse the product before researching it! if nothing else, take that bit of info with you after reading this.

A reputable SEO can oversee your linking practices for you. It is a great idea if you are feeling worried about your site’s links. They should tell you exactly what they plan to do, and how they plan to do it. If the answers shady, try another SEO! You only want to use the right linking tactics to build trust in your site and your product. This is your site and you have the final say in how it is operated and promoted.