What counts as link spam
| Practice | Why it is spam |
|---|---|
| Buying or selling links | Money or free products change hands for a link |
| Excessive link exchanges | "Link to me and I'll link to you" deals made to rank |
| Automated link programs | Software or services that create links at scale |
| Paid guest posts with keyword links | Articles placed mainly to carry a link |
| Widget and footer links | Links hidden in themes, widgets or templates |
The difference between a good link and link spam is the reason it exists. A sponsorship link that thanks a sponsor is fine when it carries rel="sponsored". The same link presented as an editorial recommendation is not.
What happens when Google finds it
Most of the time, nothing visible. Google's systems detect much link spam automatically and ignore those links, so they pass no value. When a site runs a large scheme, a human reviewer can issue a manual action. It appears in the Manual actions report in Search Console. Affected pages can drop or disappear until you fix the issue and ask for review.
Red flags when you hire help
- A promise of a set number of links each month
- Links on sites unrelated to your trade or area
- Reports that hide which sites the links come from
- Prices per link, especially with keyword anchors
Bad example. A roofing company pays a vendor for 100 links a month. The links sit on foreign blogs with no readers, all using the same keyword anchor. Rankings bump briefly, then fall when Google discounts the links.
Cleaning up
Remove links you control or paid for. Google says most sites never need its disavow tool. It is meant for sites with many spammy links that caused, or are likely to cause, a manual action.
See what makes a backlink strong and SEO penalties. Our link building service never buys links.