Member Avatar for Brillig

Checking the SERP of my site against many of my target keywords and looking at the #1 position for each of them.

In each case but one, it's a really ugly page with sub par information and then looking in Yahoo Site Explorer, it has tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of back links, the vast majority of which are clearly paid placements as their stuck on to hidden pages or jammed in a long list of links on a page by itself.

So Google always claims you shouldn't do this or you'll get penalized but it sure doesn't seem to be the case.

I have a hundred and some backlinks in yahoo site explorer, gained by doing what you're supposed to be doing (submitting articles, posting on good blogs and forums, getting on quality directories and gaining natural backlink spread due to good content) and yet I'm on the second or third page of SERP for all of these.

I have to fight the temptation every day to hire one of these services to go out and buy thousands of links for me, while I wait for Google to really change things to do what they say.

Any words of encouragement?

  • 2 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 210 Views
  • 11 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Brillig

Dani AI

Generated

This is a familiar situation. ’s description of hidden link lists and pages built solely to pass links fits Google’s definition of link spam and hidden-link abuse, and Google says those practices are against its spam policies. That doesn’t mean every abused page will vanish overnight — large, spammy networks can still affect rankings until Google’s systems detect and neutralize them. See Google’s spam policies for details. (Spam policies for Google web search)

Why you see those pages ahead of yours: link signals are only one part of ranking and they interact with many other signals. Google has progressively improved systems (SpamBrain, link-spam updates, the Penguin family) to neutralize manipulative links, but those changes roll out over time and can remove artificial link “lift” rather than immediately penalize every offender. That explains why some bad pages persist and why gains from buying links are often temporary. (December 2022 link spam update)

Practical next steps, in order: 1) Check Search Console for manual actions and the “Links” export so you can see who links to you. 2) Prioritize asking webmasters to remove clearly paid/spammy links; if you’ve received a manual action or can’t get removals, prepare a careful disavow file (only for advanced cases). 3) Improve the page itself — aim for people-first content, clear authorship/experience signals, solid on-page structure and page experience (E‑E‑A‑T and related guidance). Google documents the disavow tool and the people-first content guidance if you need specifics. (A new tool to disavow links) (Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content)

Short answer to the temptation: don’t buy links. The short-term bump can be erased and may lead to long-term problems; instead, match or outwork the competitor on content quality, site UX, and natural outreach while cleaning up any clearly toxic links. ’s point about on-site signals is exactly where sustainable wins come from. (Google Search spam updates)

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for canadafred

Search engine rankings are determined by both off-site and on-site ranking influences with on-site ranking factors clearly having the advantage. A web page can have a zillion links pointing to it but if the content within the web pages doesn't compare in value then the off-site influences are usually negligible. What I'm saying is that your competitor may be ranking better for more than just incoming link triggers.

Member Avatar for Brillig

Yes, that's true and that's a good point.

But it still seems to point to the fact that google isn't really penalizing sites for spammy inbound links like they imply they will.

Member Avatar for canadafred

Lots of stuff gets by Google (or they let go by). You must try to remember that the search engines have accumulated hetherto unknown wealth on the back of the lowly hyperlink and is not in much of a position to discredit links from other sources. It's a fragile world they live in because if all they said they could do about garbage links was true then likely they'd have to penalize themselves.

Edited by canadafred because: clarification
Member Avatar for Brillig

Lots of stuff gets by Google (or they let go by). You must try to remember that the search engines have accumulated hetherto unknown wealth on the back of the lowly hyperlink and is not in much of a position to discredit links from other sources. It's a fragile world they live in because if all they said they could do about garbage links was true then likely they'd have to penalize themselves.

:icon_biggrin:

So, should I give in and buy a boatload of inbound links? Or work harder on my onsite optimization?

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.