Keeping your site safe from Google

penalties: tips for safe link building

Calum Macleod

Big Surf Digital

Links and penalties

• Links are a major ranking factor in Google.

• Not all links are created equal.

• Google dishes out ranking penalties to sites with bad links.

• Penalties can mean plummeting rankings and traffic.

What does Google want from us?

• They want to deliver the best results, without spam getting in the way. • They want people to stop manipulating their search results. • They want less people buying SEO services and more people paying

them for PPC.

Google’s algorithms have made link building a necessary but perilous process.

Avoid penalties – the Google suggestion…

• Stop link building altogether.

• Google’s John Mueller recently said that webmasters should avoid link building as it can do more harm than good.

• If you’re either very lucky or a big brand, this strategy can work for you.

Bullet proof your link building

It is possible to build links and stay clear of penalties.

Act natural: Look like a brand

• Create or cultivate a natural looking link profile.

• Branded anchor text (start at 100% percent branded and/or naked urls). Once you’ve got enough go for some anchor text rich links.

• Get the kind of links your site would pick up naturally.

• Local directory sites (Yell, Thomson) These links won’t push the needle but they will help build a strong foundation.

• Get some nofollow links.

Steer clear of industrial link building

Google will spot it and it’s hard to recover from.

Including:

• Directory networks

• Article sites

• Guest blogging en masse

Many old school SEO activities do still work

• Directories

• Paid links

• Blog roll links

• The key is to keep everything in moderation and hand pick. Don’t overdo any one tactic.

Paying for links

• Paying for links is against Google’s guidelines.• As google sees it any link or advert where money has changed hands should

have nofollow attached to it. • That said, there are a ton of ads that pass pagerank that don’t result in

penalties for the linked site. • There are lots of sites that don’t invest in SEO ranking perfectly well with

links from paid sources.

Make it your business to know your links

• Whether you are a client or an agency.

• Keep an eye on the latest links in webmaster tools.

• If you have any doubts about a link just disavow the domain.

Takeaway:

• The more natural your link profile the more you will be able to get away with.

• Not all paid links are bad.

• Links can be disavowed