Inbound Links from Spam Sites

If you want to be popular, there are two basic ways to it. The first is to do something very good—and the second is to do something very bad.

However, if it's your site on stake, doing very bad is not only going to make you unpopular. It can also harm your rankings.

In November 2005, Google released the Jagger update. It was announced to webmasters several weeks before its application. It included the update of the PageRank of all spidered pages, as well as the number of backlinks. Most of all, however, the Jagger update changed the way Google ranked web sites for any search query.

Algorithm updates conducted by Google, MSN, Yahoo!, or any other search engine leads to abrupt changes on the search results pages for any search query. Thus, each update has a serious effect on the existing ranking of a company. In effect, companies are pressured to change the way they use search engine optimization.

Google, after the Jagger update is now, more than ever, emphasizing link relevance and link quality. The link's relevance is quite simple to grasp, but what about the quality?

Not all links are of the same importance. Links to popular sites are of greater value than those of sites practically unheard of. When webmasters learned that Google primarily operates by ranking websites based on links from other sites, they tried to outwit Google's system.

Some sites try to "inflate" their importance using unnatural inbound link development. These links, which are deceptively used to fool Google's algorithms, are the "bad links".

To optimize a site for a higher search engine ranking, most webmasters and search engine optimizers require inbound links from third party sites. But when the majority of your inbound links are from sites whose own PageRank is also based on link exchanges, you've got a problem.

Google is getting smarter in recognizing these "spam masses", or "bad links". Google's system can now differentiate good links (links from real domains) and bad links (from spam domains). If your site's PageRank is due mostly to links from spam sites, Google will accordingly devaluate your PageRank. The worst case scenario is when your domain gets labeled as spam domain too! Hence, spam links equals lower rankings.

As a negative factor in Google’s ranking algorithm, most of the leaders in organic search engine optimization consider inbound links from spam sites of moderate importance. They support the idea that inbound links from spam sites do more injury than good. Most of them recommend that you stick to good links if your site is a new addition to the World Wide Web. If your site is already quite known, then bad links are not such a big deal.

It appears impossible to have zero spam links, especially if you have tough competitors. Most experts in search engine optimization put on the ratio a great importance. They stress that links from trusted sites should outnumber—or at least, be greater than—links from spam sites.