Toxic Backlinks – How to Identify & Avoid Them?

Introduction:

Meaning of backlinks

First of all let’s understand the meaning of backlinks. Backlinks are the links on websites other than your own that lead to a page on your website. They are also known as inbound links as they direct the traffic from other websites to your website. A link building company can usually help you with creating a source to directly bring your target audience to your website. The more backlinks your page has, the more it is likely for you to appear at the top of google search results.

As you keep your website updated with the latest features, it is also essential for your backlink to be of the best quality. You can use certain content formats that are built to generate links or even try different strategies and techniques such as The Moving Man Method.

Different strategies and techniques to built Back links

The moving man method is a simple three-step process that helps you direct a huge amount of organic audience. It includes identifying sites, finding redundant links and replacing them with backlinks to your website.

When a backlink is created through unconventional methods or spam links are used to generate traffic in an inorganic way, it is called a toxic backlink. These links not only harm the quality of your website but also lead to penalties from Google and other search engines. Moreover, backlinks are a dangerous and uncertain way of generating leads. If you own a website with high-quality content and user-friendly information but gain an audience through backlinks, it will damage your reputation and harm your SEO rank in the long run.

Sometimes, your hired agency will try to use spammy links as a quick and easy method to create backlinks for your page. They use these cost-friendly techniques to generate instant leads for your page and give you the results you want. But this non-conventional method can easily be identified as an illegal and unnatural way of gaining an audience by Google and get penalized. The removal of this penalty is a highly difficult and laborious process and can even permanently shut down your website.

Methods to  identify any toxic backlinks

By now, you must have known how harmful toxic backlinks are to your website but the real question is how do you find them? How do you know if your website has toxic backlinks? Here are some methods you can use to easily identify any toxic backlinks to your website:

1. Look for spam websites

SEO agencies usually use websites that are made just for backlinks. These specially designed websites are only created for backlinks and to bring your SEO rank to a higher position.

2. Check if the website is illegal or contains inappropriate content

Backlinks usually create a chain from different websites to your website and sometimes they may use quick methods such as using irrelevant websites in the middle which may cause you penalties or generate the wrong target audience.

3. Check if the linked website is authorized by Google

The best way to check for illegal websites is to see if it is authorized by Google. A site called transparency report is an official support application by google that helps you in determining if a website is unsafe or illegal.

4. Check for your backlink in comments under blogs

Although commenting under blogs is considered useless for link building, it is also an unethical way of gaining traffic for your own website. Blog commenting sure is a great way to target your audience but it should be used as a public relation tool rather than for SEO purposes.

5. Look for backlinks that appear as sponsored

Search engine companies like Google usually do not appreciate the use of buying and selling tags or links. It easily traces illegal sponsored ads and causes you to deal with chargeable penalties. You should always use the sponsored tags for SEO ranking and not to direct the audience.

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Techniques to avoid getting toxic backlinks

Having known about how to identify toxic backlinks to your page, now let us talk about how to avoid getting into trouble because of them. If you have hired a SEO agency to generate leads and have seen results instantly, then they might have used the wrong methods such as toxic backlinks.

A wrongly connected backlink can target the wrong audience to your page and even damage the reputation of your website. It also puts you at the risk of permanently shutting down by search engine penalties. To avoid these situations in the near future, here are some techniques you can use to avoid getting toxic backlinks to your page:

1. Third party links

You should always avoid buying links from third party domains. Google’s strict SEO rules forbid the use of money in generating backlinks. A link building agency can help you create a more organic link that brings your target audience, referral traffic and even help you earn a higher SEO rank.

2. Anchor text links

Anchor texts are basically creating a link with related or unrelated keywords. Using a lot of keywords can get your website flagged or make your website look unnatural and irrelevant. Always keep your links simple and engaging to target the right audience.

3. Spam links from spun articles, blogs or forums.

Article spinning is the method of re-writing content to avoid getting copyright issues for the same content. Link building services often use variations of the same content to get more shares, visits, clicks and traffic. Spinning content multiple times can lower the accuracy and authenticity of your content and even end up in the spam/trash bin.

4. Embedded widgets

You can easily link your websites to small website widgets and even customize them by changing the names and titles. But, be careful because you might be going against the guidelines of Google Webmaster. It is important that you build an embedded widget that is SEO friendly or avoid them completely.

Conclusion:

Sometimes, all you need is regular audits of your website. Check for simple corrections here and there to keep your website updated and safe from penalties. Keep learning new techniques and methods of organically directing your targeted audience and to bring your SEO rank to a higher position. Always remember, good content will automatically generate traffic without the use of unethical methods to gain an audience.

Author Bio:

Kathryn Martin is a Digital Marketing Manager at SEO Company Experts. She is passionate about her job and always love to share content on SEO Content Marketing, PPC Services, Digital Marketing, and Branding & Online Marketing for All kind of Industry.

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