Now that Google is devaluing spammy links rather than penalizing sites, webmasters are rushing to build massive backlink profiles. That’s not a good SEO strategy as history will almost certainly repeat itself. If Google catches on to sites that are trying to manipulate its search algorithm by buying links, they’re going to be penalized. In the past, Google’s various Penguin updates identified spam and alerted the folks at Google about which sites were trying to manipulate the search engines. Meanwhile, all the other backlinks would help boost rank in the search engine results pages (SERPs). That’s just as true of SEOs as it is of political leaders. The good news is that you can hit Page 1 in the SERPs without breaking the rules. The Big G is always updating its software to find the most relevant, informative content that it can show its users in response to search queries. And when you do that, your content will rank well. Now, read the content from each of the links on the first page.
Since the last year’s Penguin update, there’s been a noticeable uptick in the number of webmasters use backlinks to boost rank. That’s a big change from the way things used to be.
Prior to Penguin 4.0, website owners avoided backlinks. They were worried that Google might slap them with a penalty for backlink spam.
Now that Google is devaluing spammy links rather than penalizing sites, webmasters are rushing to build massive backlink profiles.
I know, I run a USA-based digital marketing agency and I have prospects asking me for links every day!
That’s not a good SEO strategy as history will almost certainly repeat itself. If Google catches on to sites that are trying to manipulate its search algorithm by buying links, they’re going to be penalized.
Here’s why it’s still a bad idea to start chasing backlinks again for SEO purposes and what you should do instead.
Penguin 4.0
With the release of Penguin 4.0, Google introduced a new way of handling backlink spam.
In the past, Google’s various Penguin updates identified spam and alerted the folks at Google about which sites were trying to manipulate the search engines. Penguin earned a reputation as an enemy to both blackhat and whitehat SEOs everywhere.
But that changed with the latest update. Now, Google devalues bad backlinks rather than penalizing sites that use them.
Is that a big difference? Absolutely.
It used to be the case that Google would place offending sites under a manual review (or you would get an algorithm-based penalty). That means that they were removed from search results until their owners decided to play by the rules.
Now, though, Google devalues the bad backlinks so that they don’t pass any link juice. In other words, spammy backlinks are just like no links at all.
There Was Much Rejoicing
That Penguin update was welcome news to a lot of webmasters. They thought they could once again increase their rank by scattering backlinks all over cyberspace.
Why? Because even if a few of their backlinks are marked as spam, that means they just wouldn’t pass rank. Meanwhile, all the other backlinks would help boost rank in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
But all the cheering is a bit premature. Google always finds a way to stop spammers.
We’ve Been Here Before
It’s been said that those who…
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