Recently, Google have announced that there will be some changes in their search engine algorithm in order to improve their search engine results page. According to the announcement of Google the change in algorithm seeks to penalise over optimised websites and those participating in different link building schemes. Link building is part of the search engine optimisation strategy of every SEO company or SEO consultant and there are two ways on how links are built, one is through a black hat way or those that utilise link building schemes and automation tools and the white hat way where links are built following the guidelines of all search engines and does not seek to manipulate the rankings of the search engine results page.
Why Should We Learn Link Building Schemes
As the adage goes “knowledge is power”, by knowing the different link building schemes you are able to avoid entering into such schemes either knowingly or unknowingly. Yes, we have to admit the fact that there are some link building schemes which may look great in increasing rankings however its purpose is to manipulate rankings which is something that Google doesn’t tolerate. An example of what might be a good link building scheme that was turned into virtually nothing by Google is the use of private blog networks, at first those who were engaged in this scheme were able to increase their site’s ranking however when Google updated their algorithm penalising such link schemes, private blog networks became useless and have closed their services.
What are the different link building schemes?
The following are considered by Google as link schemes:
- Page Rank Manipulation Link Schemes – this type of link scheme is created with the purpose of increasing the page rank of a the target website. This scheme is created when a person builds links from websites with a high page rank even if the site and its content are not relevant.
- Spam Links – links that are created from link farms or any websites that are within the so called bad neighbourhoods are considered to be link building schemes. It is easy to gain links from such sites however it is detrimental to your link building and SEO Campaign.
- Excessive link exchange – Google has now considered link exchange as link building schemes, this is the process of a site linking to another and such would reciprocate the linking to such site.
- Purchasing links for purposes of passing page rank – purchasing and selling links have been an acceptable strategy only if the purpose is to increase traffic however if its sole purpose is to pass page rank then this could be considered as a link scheme, in order to show that the website link is not for passing page rank is by incorporating a nofollow rel attribute value.
Conclusion on Link Building Schemes
Google has been transparent on what they consider as link building schemes. By knowing what Google considers as a link building scheme SEO companies and SEO consultants and even website owners will be able to map out an SEO campaign that could exclude such link building schemes.
