Google Gives Exact Reason Why Negative SEO Doesn’t Work via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Google’s Gary Illyes answered a question astir antagonistic SEO provides utile insights into the method details of however Google prevents debased prime spam links from affecting mean websites.

The reply astir antagonistic SEO was fixed successful an interrogation successful May and has gone unnoticed until now.

Negative SEO

Negative SEO is the signifier of sabotaging a rival with an avalanche of debased prime links. The thought is that Google volition presume that the rival is spamming and sound them retired of the hunt motor results pages (SERPs).

The signifier of antagonistic SEO originated successful the online gambling abstraction wherever the rewards for apical ranking are precocious and the contention is fierce. I archetypal heard of it astir the mid-2000s (probably earlier 2010) erstwhile idiosyncratic progressive successful the gambling abstraction told maine astir it.

Virtually each websites that fertile for meaningful hunt queries pull debased prime links and determination is thing antithetic about, it’s ever been this way. The conception of antagonistic SEO became much salient aft the Penguin nexus spam update caused tract owners to go much alert of the authorities of their inbound links.

Does Negative SEO Cause Harm?

The idiosyncratic interviewing Gary Illyes was taking questions from the audience.

She asked:

“Does antagonistic SEO via spammy nexus building, a rival throwing tens of thousands of links astatine different competitor, does that benignant of happening inactive harm radical oregon has Google benignant of pushed that disconnected to the side?

Google’s Gary Illyes answered the question by archetypal asking the interviewer if she remembered the Penguin update to which she answered yes.

He past explained his acquisition reviewing examples of antagonistic SEO that tract owners and SEOs had sent him. He said that retired of hundreds of cases helium reviewed determination was lone 1 lawsuit that mightiness person really been antagonistic SEO but that the web spam squad wasn’t 100% sure.

Gary explained:

“Around the clip we released Penguin, determination was tons and tons of tons of complaints astir antagonistic SEO, specifically nexus based antagonistic SEO and past precise un-smartly, I requested examples similar amusement maine examples, similar amusement maine however it works and amusement maine that it worked.

And past I got hundreds, virtually hundreds of examples of alleged antagonistic SEO and each of them were not antagonistic SEO. It was ever thing that was truthful acold distant from antagonistic SEO that I didn’t adjacent fuss looking further, but 1 that I sent to the web spam squad for treble checking and that we haven’t made up our caput astir it, but it could person been antagonistic SEO.

With this, I privation to accidental that the fearfulness astir antagonistic SEO is overmuch bigger than oregon overmuch larger than it needs to be, we disable insane numbers of links…”

The supra is Gary’s acquisition of antagonistic SEO. Next helium explains the nonstop crushed wherefore “negative SEO links” person nary effect.

Links From Irrelevant Topics Are Not Counted

At astir the 30 infinitesimal people of the interview, Gary confirmed thing absorbing astir however links evaluated that is important to understand. Google has, for a precise agelong time, examined the discourse of the tract that’s linking retired to lucifer it to the tract that’s being linked to, and if they don’t lucifer up past Google wouldn’t walk the PageRank signal.

Gary continued his answer:

“If you spot links from wholly irrelevant sites, beryllium that p–n sites oregon or axenic spam sites oregon whatever, you tin safely presume that we disabled the links from those sites because, 1 of the things is that we effort to lucifer the the taxable of the people leafage positive whoever is linking out, and if they don’t lucifer past wherefore connected Earth would we usage those links?

Like for illustration if idiosyncratic is linking to your angiosperm leafage from a Canadian casino that sells Viagra without prescription, past wherefore would we spot that link?

I would accidental that I would not interest astir it. Like, find thing other to interest about.”

Google Matches Topics From Page To Page

There was a time, successful the aboriginal days of SEO, erstwhile thousands of links from non-matching topics could boost a tract to the apical of Google’s hunt results.  Some nexus builders utilized to connection “free” postulation antagonistic widgets to universities that erstwhile placed successful the footer would incorporate a nexus backmost to their lawsuit sites and they utilized to work. But Google tightened up connected those kinds of links.

What Gary said astir links having to beryllium applicable matches up with what nexus builders person known for astatine slightest 20 years. The conception of disconnected taxable links not being counted by Google was understood mode successful the days erstwhile radical did reciprocal links.

Although I can’t retrieve everything each Googler has ever said astir antagonistic SEO, this seems to beryllium 1 of the uncommon occasions that a Googler offered a elaborate crushed wherefore antagonistic SEO doesn’t work.

Watch Gary Illyes reply the question astatine the 26 infinitesimal mark:

Featured Image by Shutterstock/MDV Edwards