Links to Avoid (Or at Least Think Twice About)
Reciprocal Link Resource Pages
These used to be really popular and, in some cases, might not get you penalized. But overall the reciprocal link pages are not worth your effort. So if you don’t already have one, don’t start now. Same goes for the “three-way” link exchanges.
Feel free to link back to strategic partners or industry resources, but do it in a natural way.
Links from Sites with Lots of Links to Pills, Porn or Casinos (“PPC”)
If your business doesn’t peddle Viagra, flesh or gambling debt, then avoid the “PPC” sites as well as other sites that link to them. Most sites who have a lot of “PPC” links are selling them – the “PPC” sites are willing to spend a lot of money buying links because the profit margins are so high. But most of the time the search engines can easily detect these sites and make sure their links don’t pass any value. Also, a lot of sites in or related to these industries tend to be heavily associated with SPAM and therefore more likely to be penalized by search engines.
Links from Sites that Sell/Rent Links
If a site is obviously selling links for the purpose of improving rankings, then chances are good that the search engines know about it and those links won’t pass much value to you. Watch out for a list of “Sponsors” or other easily recognized paid link sections of a site. If you want the link because it will send traffic, then go for it, but don’t expect that it will help much with rankings.
The Same Types of Links Over and Over Again
Want to build your SEO Empire solely on the backs of directory links? Don’t hold your breath.
You can’t rely on one link source too much. You need lots of links from lots of unique domains. And the more diverse types of links you can get, the better. Get some directory links. Get some forum links. Get links from other industry websites. Create link bait to encourage organic linking. Et alii, et cetera, et hoc genus omne – you get the idea. Diverse links from diverse sources for the win.
