4 signs your SEO backlinks are spammy
UPDATE: Video transcript available for ‘4 signs your SEO backlinks are spammy’.
After the show last week on the Google realtime Penguin, I had a lot of questions about how do you know if a backlink is spammy or not. So here’s how I do it. After getting your backlink list from either the Google search console or Majestic you can then work through the list and identify the spammy ones.
1. All The Anchor Text Is SEO Keywords
This is not as bad as it used to be as SEOs typically don’t do this anymore as it is one of the major signals Google looks for when identifying spammy backlinks. It’s unnatural for people to all use the same anchor text when linking to your site and Google knows that. It’s the easiest way to find unnatural links
2. The Domain Owner Is Anonymous
No I don’t mean the hactivist group. Typically if someone is running a site purely to sell backlinks. they will hide the ownership registration of the domain name. This is so that the site cannot be tied back to other activities. For instance an SEO company may setup a blog network purely to create backlinks for clients. To avoid a backlash from Google, they hide who owns these domains by registering them anonymously
3. The Content Is Rubbish
Typically the content on these sites reads like someone took a product instruction manual and then slapped a coat of Jane Austen paint on it. Boring as all get out basically. If your getting a backlink from a page you are not proud of it’s probably spammy.
4. Your SEO Created Them
One of the oldest cheapest ways to get ranked high was to get low paid workers in the third world to create thousands of backlinks. If you have bought cheap SEO this is the modus operandi. Fortunately it’s not as prevalent anymore but as I have shown previously some of Australia’s biggest agencies and Google Partners is still doing this.
Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.
