Don't be fooled by Google's smoke and mirror game

When it comes to backlinks, Google is giving advice that confuses a lot of people. In addition, Google's Penguin updates have created the impression that Google doesn't like backlinks. Actually, Google only dislikes artificial backlinks.

The problem is that many people do not understand the difference between link scheming and link building. Link scheming leads to penalties. Link building can greatly improve the rankings of your website.

The difference between link building and link scheming

Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Google penalizes websites that have link scheming links.

The following link types are a red flag for Google and it's likely that your website will be penalized if you use these links:

• Paid links that do not use the rel=nofollow attribute, including advertorials, paid blog posts and paid footer links.
• Links from article sites or press releases with over-optimized anchor texts.
• Backlinks that have been created by tools that create backlinks in bulk.
• Links from low-quality directory or bookmark sites that only exist to create links.
• Keyword-rich or hidden links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites.
• Links from forum comments with optimized anchor texts in the post or signature.

How to decide where to get links

So which type of backlink is okay with Google? Just ask yourself: would that link make sense if there were no search engines? If the answer is yes, then the link is a good link that will have a positive influence on the rankings of your website on search engines.

You do not need special metrics to judge the quality of a web page. When you find a web page that could link to your site, ask yourself the following questions:

• Does the linking page look good to the average web surfer?
• Does the page have interesting content?
• Is the content somewhat related to my website?
• Does it make sense if the web page links to your site?

If you can answer all questions with "yes," then you should try to get a backlink from that page. It doesn't matter if that page has a low PageRank.

Google tries to imitate common sense with its algorithm. If you use common sense to build your links and follow the tips above, you make sure that the backlinks to your website will count in all future updates of Google's algorithm.

SEOprofiler offers many powerful tools such as the Link Profiler, the Link Manager or the Hub Finder tool that help you to get good backlinks that will have a positive influence on the rankings of your website. If you haven't done it yet, try SEOprofiler now.

Article by Axandra
SEO software