Google's Penguin update about Spam

A new study shows that Google's tolerance of spammy backlinks is decreasing:

"The Portent analysis found strong evidence that Google is steadily lowering the bar for what it considers spam link profiles. [...] We found that the majority of websites — 36 out of 50 — have “clean” profiles with less than 10 percent of their links coming from questionable sources. [...]

We discovered Google has been applying a stricter standard over time. In the initial Penguin update, the only sites we saw penalized had link profiles comprised of more than 80 percent manipulative links.

Within two months, Google lowered the bar to 65 percent. Then in October 2012, the net got much wider. Google began automatically and manually penalizing sites with 50 percent manipulative links."

Google has become much stricter when it comes to spammy backlinks. If you want to get high rankings on Google, you should make sure that your website doesn't contain spammy backlinks.

The following backlink types can be considered spam:
Too many keyword-rich links in press releases: If the linked keyword doesn't make sense in the press release, it's better to avoid that link.
Low quality article directories: Links from websites that contain thousands of low-quality articles about every possible subject provide no value.
Low quality blogs: automatically created blogs with a lot of articles about a wide range of topics usually trigger Google's spam filters.
Link lists with hundreds of unrelated pages: Link lists aren't bad as long as they are related to the topic of a website. If a link page lists to every Tom, Dick and Harry, you should stay away from that page.
Random forum links: If you're not participating in an online discussion, you should not add your link to that forum.
Tools that you should avoid at all costs:

Many newbie webmasters still fall for tools that promise thousands of backlinks within a few days. Any link building tool that uses words such as "dominator," "super," "amazing," "secret" or any other superlative in its name or headline is usually a spamming tool. Avoid these tools if you want to get lasting results.

Shortcuts often lead to dead ends:

People who use these spamming tools often said things like "this tool got my website to number one within two weeks." Six months later the same person had to say "my website rankings plummeted." Shortcut SEO methods lead to short-lived results:

The right tactics and methods lead to lasting results:

If you use safe SEO methods that play by the rules, you don't have to worry about Google's algorithm updates. It takes longer to get high rankings with safe SEO methods, but the results are worth the time and effort:

SEOprofiler is a complete SEO software suite that helps you to get high rankings on Google and other search engines. It uses only safe SEO methods that play by the rules.
If you want to improve the position of your web pages, try SEOprofiler now. You can get the full version for just $1 (this offer is available once per customer):

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New Google link building

For many webmasters, link building has been a numbers game. The more links a website has, the better. Whole industries were built around this idea. You can buy links in bulk and there are several tools that automatically created hundreds of backlinks through low quality links from forums or blog comments.
Since Google's recent updates, even the most ignorant webmaster should have understood that this is not the way link building works. Google hates these artificial backlinks and you can even get your website in trouble if you use tools and services that automatically create backlinks to your site.



It's the quality of the backlinks that matters, not the quantity. When you try to get new backlinks to your website, consider the following:

Get backlinks that show your influence

When Google introduced a ranking algorithm that was based on the number of backlinks that point to a website, the main idea was that a website with many backlinks must be an influential website.

Most of the artificial backlinks do not indicate influence at all. If you focus on the backlinks that show Google that your website is important, then you don't have to worry about future Google updates. Google's algorithm wants to find important links that point to your website.

Google likes the following links:

Links from websites that have a related topic. If your website is an online travel agency, links from travel blogs will have a very positive influence on your rankings.
Links from single web pages that are related to your topic. For example, a newspaper website usually isn't related to your site. If they publish an article about a topic that is related to your website, a link from that page would be great.
Links that show the importance of your website. If your website is linked with a "Further information about that topic can be found here" link then search engines will see that your website is an authority for that topic.
Links from high authority websites. If Wikipedia or the NY Times link to your website, it's clear that your website must be important.
Get backlinks that show that your website is real
These four link types above are the best links that your website can get. That does not mean that other links don't count. There are several other link types that will also have a positive influence on your search engine rankings:

Links from business associations. These links show search engines that your website belongs to a particular category.
Links from related articles. If you publish guest posts on other web logs, it's okay to link to your site. As long as the content of the page is related to your website, this will have a positive influence. Do not bulk submit the same article to many sites. Be selective.
Links from business directories. Some websites such as the Yellow Pages simply must list your website if you want to show search engines that you're serious about your business.
Links from business partners. It's perfectly fine if your business partners link to your site.
Any link that delivers targeted visitors to your website.
All links that deliver visitors to your website are good links. When you build backlinks, ask yourself: "Can I get visitors through this link?" If the answer is yes, the link is a good link. It's as simple as that.

How the tools in SEOprofiler help you to get these links

SEOprofiler offers many powerful tools that help you to get the links mentioned above. The hub finder tool helps you to find websites that link to several of your competitors, the link opportunity finder helps you to find websites that accept your guest posts, the backlinks by keyword tool helps you to find websites that will link to your website with a particular keyword, etc.

In addition, SEOprofiler offers a sophisticated link manager that helps you to manage your link building campaign. The link manager keeps track of your link requests, it checks if the other websites still link to your site, it automatically finds contact information, and much more.

Google's new approach to link building actually isn't a new approach. It's what we have been recommending in this blog for years. If you want to get high rankings that last, you have to use search engine optimization methods that are beneficial to searchers, search engines and your business.

Start getting great backlinks
The link building tools in SEOprofiler help you to get high quality backlinks that lead to high rankings that last. You can use all link building tools in SEOprofiler for just $1 (this offer is available once per customer):



Create a free trial account now or test the full version for only $1.

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Google Start showing Spam Websites

On a new web page, Google shows live examples of web pages that have been removed from Google's index.
According to Google, "these pages are examples of 'pure spam.' They appear to use aggressive spam techniques such as automatically generated gibberish, cloaking and scraping content from other websites."

Obvious and not so obvious web spam

 

Some of the pages that Google shows on the website are obvious low quality pages:



Other pages look like regular websites. These websites usually use hidden text, cloaking or other spam techniques that are not visible to website visitors:



Do not spam Google

Google is serious about removing spam from their search result pages. For that reason, you should avoid spam methods to promote your website.

Spamming is not the same as search engine optimization
Unfortunately, many spamming tools are labeled as 'seo tools'. If you find a tool or service that promises you to 'dominate Google' or 'thousands of automatic backlinks' then it's extremely likely that you have found a spamming tool. Although these tools work for some time, Google will penalize your website sooner or later if you use them.

Optimizing your website for search engines is not the same as spamming search engines. Real search engine optimization is beneficial to your website, search engines and searchers.

Save time and money

You will save a lot of time and money by avoiding offers that seem to be too good to be true. It’s very likely that you will pay a lot more if you opt for the ‘quick and easy’ and ‘fully automated’ solution that will lead to a penalty and lost revenue.

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