Link building is one of the most important aspects of SEO. If you want to improve your website’s ranking, you need to build links from high-quality websites. However, there are a lot of free link building techniques that can hurt your website instead of helping it. In this blog post, we will discuss six bad free link building techniques that you should avoid at all costs!
#1: Spamming Blog Comments
One of the worst things you can do for your link building efforts is to spam blog comments. This technique involves leaving comments on blogs with a link back to your website. These comments are usually irrelevant and add no value to the conversation. Not only will this irritate the blog owner and other readers, but it can also get your website penalized by Google.
If you’re going to leave comments on blogs, make sure they’re thoughtful and add to the conversation. Otherwise, you’re better off not commenting at all. Besides, many blogs are set up to require approval before comments are published, so your spammy comment is likely to get caught anyway.
#2: Creating Link Farms
Another bad link building technique to avoid is creating link farms. A link farm is a group of websites that all link to each other. These links are usually low-quality and provide no value to the user. Google knows when a website is part of a link farm, based on many factors, according to Ahrefs, and it will penalize all of the websites involved.
If you’re thinking about creating a link farm, don’t do it! Not only will it hurt your website’s ranking, but it could also get you banned from Google. Stick to building links the right way, and you’ll be much better off in the long run.
#3: Irrelevant Backlinks
Although it may be tempting to take any free backlink you can get, it’s important to make sure the links are relevant to your website. Otherwise, they could do more harm than good.
For example, let’s say you have a website about dog breeds. If you were to get a backlink from a website about ice cream, it wouldn’t do much for your website. In fact, it could actually hurt your ranking because it would be an irrelevant backlink.
On the other hand, a backlink from a website about pets would be much more relevant and beneficial to your website. So, when you’re building links (paid or free), make sure they’re coming from websites that are relevant to your own.
#4: Excessive Anchor Text
When you’re building links, it’s important to use anchor text that is relevant to the page you’re linking to. Otherwise, your link could be considered spammy.
Anchor text is the text that appears when you hover over a hyperlink. It’s usually underlined and/or a different color than the rest of the text on the page.
For example, let’s say you have a website about dog breeds. If you were to link to your website using the anchor text “click here,” it wouldn’t be very helpful. However, if you used the anchor text “dog breeds,” it would be much more relevant and beneficial.
#5: Getting Lots of Backlinks From One Site
Sometimes, you may stumble upon a website offering to give you dozens or even hundreds of backlinks. Although it may be tempting to take them up on their offer, resist the urge!
Getting a bunch of backlinks from one website can actually hurt your website’s ranking. Google sees this as artificial link building, and it will penalize your website for it. So, if you’re offered a bunch of links, it’s best to steer clear since search engines prefer to see a variety of referring domains as this shows a more natural link profile.
#6: Automated Link Building
There are a lot of software programs and services out there that claim to automate the link-building process. Although these may save you some time, they’re not worth it in the long run.
The links that these programs and services create are usually low-quality and spammy. As a result, your website will likely get penalized if you use them. Moreover, you have significantly less control over the links that are created, so it’s best to avoid these programs and services altogether.
Final Thoughts
Link building can be a time-consuming and difficult process. However, it’s important to do it the right way if you want your website to rank well in search engines. By avoiding these six bad free link-building techniques, you’ll be on your way to building high-quality links that will benefit your website in the long run.
Need help building high-quality backlinks? Contact us at ArticleHub to see how our years of experience can help your website succeed. Our team of link-building experts will work with you to create a customized link-building campaign that meets your unique needs and objectives. So, don’t wait any longer – contact us today to get started!
