Unnatural Links: 6 Tips to Identify and Avoid Google Penalties
Backlinks are fueled by confidence and authority from other websites. However, if those links are bought unnaturally by Google, they have the power to penalize your brand. Moreover, causes you to lose customers, sales, and reputation.
This blog breaks down how unnatural links can negatively impact your site, & how to avoid the dreaded Google penalty. We will cover tips to identify unnatural links, best practices to earn natural links and pitfalls to avoid.
Why Unnatural Links Harm Your Website?
Unnatural links are any backlinks that violate Google’s guidelines. It simply means buying, & trading links to artificially boost your ranking, and manipulating connections to artificially raise your rating. Google’s algorithms are designed to reward websites that earn links organically because of high-quality content or services, not because they paid for them.
When Google detects unnatural links pointing to your site, it can issue a penalty. Websites experience penalties that result in a significant loss of traffic, often up to 80% or more in certain situations. This penalty could result in a massive drop in your search rankings or de-indexing your site from Google.
That’s right, your brand could completely disappear from Google’s search results. Ouch. This damages not just the SEO of your website but also the reputation of your brand. Users may become suspicious of your brand as a result of your abrupt disappearance from their sight.
Why Does Google Care About Unnatural Links?
Giving its users the best and most relevant results is Google’s priority. It ranks the websites at the top of search results that deserve to be there as they offer value, instead of manipulating with unnatural links. This brings us to Google’s Penguin algorithm. It is specifically designed to detect and penalize sites that engage in manipulative link-building practices.
If you’re hit with a penalty, Google’s message is clear. You are not abiding by the rules, and they want you to change your tactics. Only use moral, white-hat link-building techniques that emphasize earning links organically through outstanding content and reputable partnerships with other websites.
What’s the Difference between Unnatural Links And Natural Links
The key differences between natural and unnatural links are:
| Natural Links VS Unnatural Links | |
| Links that you earned organically from another website valuing your content. | Artificial links are employed to manipulate the rank of a website. |
| Natural links are the reason someone finds your website through the excellent content you’ve written. | These unnatural links do not follow Google’s guidelines, and ultimately you will be penalized for it. |
| Natural links are earned when a site includes your product in a review because it truly is worthwhile. | These unnatural backlinks include paid link schemes and low-quality site links that go against guidelines. |
| It could be possible that a site linked to your blog article because it provided their readers with insights that would be useful. | Excessive exchanging links means swapping links with other websites in order to boost rank. |
| Earning natural links is the anticipated reward for all websites that optimize SEO, digital marketing, and blogging. | Earning unnatural links from irrelevant websites is marked as spamming. |
6 Tips To Spot Unnatural Links
Wondering if your site might already have some unnatural links lurking in the background? Here are a few red flags to look out for:
- Check the source quality: Earn organic links from other high-quality websites. Opting for irrelevant or low-authority websites is seen as an attempt to boost rankings artificially.
- Stay away from spam: Getting linked to a bunch of spammy sites, Google will notice & deteriorate your brand value.
- A sudden spike in backlinks: Getting several backlinks suddenly, from irrelevant sites, could be a sign of unnatural link-building.
- Analyze anchor text: Avoid overusing backlinks that use the exact same keyword in their anchor text.
- Examine the link placement: Links placed in low-content areas of a website, such as footers or sidebars, are relatively suspicious.
- Evaluate the website’s reputation: use tools that would help you check the authority and reputation of linking sites.
Best Practices To Earn Natural Links
Follow these best practices to earn natural links:
- Focus on creating high-quality content: crafting creative, high-quality content would help you to naturally attract organic links.
- Build relationships with reputable websites: Aim for links from sites that are relevant and reputable to your industry.
- Avoid shortcuts: If something feels too good to be true (like cheap link-building services) stay away from the traps.
8 Pitfalls To Avoid Unnatural Links
1. Prioritize High-Quality Relevant Backlinks-Build relationships with reputable sites in your industry, and produce captivating that naturally attracts links.
2. Avoid Buying or Trading Links–Paid links earn Google’s penalty if they’re not properly marked as sponsored (nofollow). Instead of purchasing links and degrading your brand authority, focus on organic link-building strategies.
3. Monitor Your Backlink Profile Regularly-Use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to audit your backlink profile. This will help you spot suspicious or harmful links early and take action before Google notices.
4. Use the Disavow Tool – If you discover harmful or spammy backlinks that you can’t remove, use Google’s Disavow Tool. This will help protect your site from penalties.
5. Stay Away from Link Farms and PBNs (Private Blog Networks)-Avoid services or strategies that involve link farms or PBNs. Google quickly identifies and penalizes low-quality websites designed to build links.
6. Avoid Negative SEO- Competitors build harmful links to your site to trigger a Google penalty & deteriorate your brand value. Keep an eye on your backlinks and disavow any suspicious ones to protect your brand’s reputation.
7. Choose a Professional Link-Building Agency: Avoid penalties by working with a professional link-building agency that follows white-hat SEO practices. They can help you earn high-quality backlinks while staying compliant with Google’s guidelines.
8. Negative SEO: There’s also the issue of negative SEO, where competitors might build unnatural links to harm your site’s ranking. To protect yourself, regularly monitor your backlink profile and disavow any harmful links.
Why Should You Choose Our Link-Building Services?
At OutreachMani, we specialize in building high-quality, natural backlinks that align with Google’s guidelines. Helping you avoid penalties and rank your brand in the search results. We master ethical, white-hat strategies, tailored link-building services & guest posting, ensuring you earn links that deliver real value. Let us handle your link-building, so you can focus on growing your business!
FAQ
Yes, Google penalizes paid links if they pass PageRank and are not marked with a “nofollow” or “sponsored” attribute.
A Google penalty for a website is a punishment for violating Google’s guidelines. That lowers search rankings or complete removal from search results. It commonly occurs due to black-hat SEO practices like paid links, keyword stuffing, or low-quality content.
Unnatural links are backlinks that manipulate search rankings, rather than earned naturally. These include paid links, links from low-quality or unrelated websites, link exchanges, and links from spammy or automated sources.
