What exactly are unnatural links, and why should you be concerned about them? Unnatural links are artificial connections created to manipulate search engine rankings. 

These links are often hidden in plain sight as legitimate. But their impact can be harmful for your site’s authority and trustworthiness. 

This article will help you identify different types of unnatural links and understand the effects of having them in your link profile. We will also delve into Google’s regulatory framework and show you methods to cleanse your site of these harmful links.

Let’s continue reading and learn more!

What Are Unnatural Backlinks

Unnatural links are links created artificially to manipulate a website’s ranking in search engines. These links do not occur naturally, as they are not based on the merit of the content or established through genuine relationships. 

Google defines unnatural links as those that violate its Webmaster Guidelines. These include paid links that pass PageRank, links from low-quality directories, and widely distributed footer or template links. These tactics aim to manipulate search rankings, but search engines are increasingly effective at detecting and penalizing them.

Common Types of Unnatural Links

Unnatural links come in various forms, each designed to manipulate search engine algorithms favoring a particular website. Here are some of the most prevalent types of unnatural links:

1) Link Farms

Link farms are networks of websites that link to each other exclusively to boost each site’s PageRank. This method involves multiple sites that appear unrelated but are actually working together to manipulate SERP rankings. Search engines like Google have become experts at detecting these schemes and often penalize sites involved in link farms.

2) Buying Links from Untrusted Sites 

Purchasing links from platforms like Fiverr poses a significant risk, as these links are usually of low quality and relevance. Sellers on such platforms often disregard Google’s quality guidelines, resulting in links that can do more harm than good by attracting penalties and harming your site’s credibility. Whenever getting links, always consult a professional link building agency.

3) Private Blog Networks (PBNs)

Private Blog Networks (PBNs) involve creating or using multiple websites to generate links to a central site to falsely increase its authority. While PBNs can temporarily boost rankings, they violate Google’s webmaster guidelines and pose a high risk of penalties once detected, making them a dangerous long-term strategy.

4) Low-Quality Directory Links

Links from directories that do not curate their listings or assess the quality of the linked sites can negatively impact your SEO. These directories are often considered part of link schemes designed to pass PageRank rather than provide genuine user value. Google tends to view such links as manipulative, leading to potential penalties.

5) Injected Links

Injected links are unauthorized hyperlinks placed into a website’s content by hackers. These links can redirect users to malicious or spammy sites and significantly damage a website’s reputation and search rankings. Regular security audits and updates are crucial to prevent such vulnerabilities.

6) Sitewide Links

Sitewide links are repeated on multiple pages across a website, such as in footers or sidebars. While not inherently harmful, their overuse, especially to unrelated or low-quality sites, can be considered an attempt to manipulate search rankings. Here’s what John Mueller from Google says about Sitewide links:

So, Google examines such links closely, especially when they appear in template parts of a site, but if they are natural and organic, you need not worry.

Why Are Unnatural Backlinks Harmful

Unnatural backlinks can have detrimental effects on your website’s performance and reputation. Here are some consequences unnatural links can lead to:

1) Google Penalties

Google seeks to provide users with the most relevant and trustworthy search results. This means penalizing sites that try to manipulate rankings through unnatural links. 

If Google detects unnatural linking practices, it may issue a manual action penalty against your site. This can range from demoting your site’s rankings to completely removing it from search results, depending on the severity of the violation.

2) Drop in Rankings

Even without a manual penalty, unnatural links can negatively affect your site’s search rankings. Algorithms like Google’s Penguin update are designed to detect and devalue such links. 

As a result, your site could suffer a significant drop in search rankings, leading to decreased visibility and traffic. This automatic adjustment by search algorithms ensures that sites gaining an unfair advantage through manipulative linking practices do not prosper.

3) Loss of Trust & Authority

Beyond penalties and ranking drops, unnatural links can erode trust between your website and its users, as well as between your site and search engines. Users who encounter spammy or irrelevant links on your site may question the credibility of your content and the integrity of your business. Similarly, repeated violations of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines can diminish your site’s authority, making it harder to rank well in the future, even with legitimate SEO efforts.

How Google Considers Unnatural Links

Here’s a detailed look at the guidelines and implications set by Google to manage these issues effectively.

1) Google Unnatural Links Penalty

A single unnatural link is unlikely to trigger a Google penalty on its own. Google typically takes manual action when there is a pattern of manipulative linking practices involving multiple links. It’s essential to monitor your link profile regularly to identify and address these issues proactively.

2) Persistence of Unnatural Links

The age of an unnatural link does not affect Google’s decision to penalize. Whether a link was established years ago or recently does not spare it from scrutiny; all manipulative links are treated equally under Google’s guidelines. This underscores the importance of regular audits of your backlink profile, ensuring older links still comply with current standards.

3) Site-Wide Consequences

When Google issues penalties for unnatural links, it does not limit the action to specific pages or sections of your site. Instead, the entire website can be penalized, leading to a significant drop in traffic across all pages. This comprehensive approach means that maintaining a clean link profile is vital for the overall health of your site.

4) Detection of Money Anchors

Google easily identifies “money anchors,” which are exact-match anchor texts directly targeting specific keywords for ranking. An overuse of exact-match anchors can signal manipulative practices to Google, harming your site’s rankings. It’s advisable to pursue a more natural and varied link profile, incorporating a mix of anchor texts to avoid detection and penalties.

How to Identify Unnatural Backlinks

Here’s a step-by-step guide to finding unnatural links on your websites:

1) Log in to Semrush 

Create an account or log in to Semrush. Create a project to do a comprehensive backlink audit. 

Now, set up your audit. The “Root domain” setting (under Campaign Scope) is suitable for most websites. For more precise results, you can also set:

• Brand Settings: Enter your official brand name if it differs from your website’s domain.
• Domain Categories: Choose the categories that best describe your website’s content (e.g., Arts, Travel). This improves result accuracy.
• Target Countries: Specify the countries relevant to your business or target audience to ensure backlink relevance is assessed correctly.

2) Backlink Audit

Backlink Audit gives you a clear picture of your backlink profile, identifying toxic, potentially toxic, and non-toxic links. The Overall Toxicity Score helps you quickly assess the risk level. This indicates the percentage of harmful inbound links that could negatively impact your search engine rankings (SERPs).

Semrush uses a tiered toxicity scoring system based on the proportion of toxic backlinks. Websites with 10% or more toxic links are classified as highly toxic, those with 3% to 9% as medium, and those with less than 3% as low.

In the above screenshot, we saw that the website has 317 highly toxic links and 832 potentially toxic links. Click on the red part to learn more about these backlinks.

3) Identifying the Unnatural Backlinks

The backlink audit tool automatically detects the compound and money anchor text and sends the spam signal. 

Here’s the information you’ll find for each backlink:

• Anchor: This is the clickable text users see.
• Authority Score (AS): Use this Semrush metric to gauge the linking domain’s reputation, considering factors like backlink profile, organic traffic, and authenticity.
• Toxicity Score (TS): This 0-100 score helps you assess backlink risk (0 is safe, 100 is highly toxic).

But what if you found out your website has some unnatural links? Let’s know what you can do then.

What to Do if Your Website Has Unnatural Links

So, if your website has unnatural links, there are ways you can use them. Either Disavow them using a tool or submit a disavow list to Google. 

Here’s what you can do:

1) Manual Review

The first step in addressing unnatural links is to conduct a thorough manual review of your backlink profile. Examine each link’s source to determine its quality and relevance. 

Look for signs that might indicate the link is unnatural, such as spammy website contexts or irrelevant topical connections. Visit every website and manually check for any spam.

2) Take Action

If you manually find that your website has unnatural links, it’s time to take action. You have the option to disavow, flag, or keep the links as they are.

a) Reach Out to the Webmaster

You can reach out directly to the webmasters of the sites hosting the unnatural links. Politely request the removal of these links. 

This method can be effective, especially if the links were set up without malicious intent or as part of outdated SEO practices that are no longer valid.

After your initial contact, it’s crucial to follow up if you don’t receive a response. Sending a reminder after a week or two can increase your chances of getting the link removed. Some webmasters may not address your request immediately due to oversight or other priorities.

b) Use Tools to Disavow

You can use Semrush to disavow the links you found harmful. You just have to select links and move them to the disavow list from Google.

This process can take time, but you have one more option as well, which is reaching out to the webmaster.

How to Build Links More Naturally

Here are some strategies to help you build links more organically, ensuring they enhance rather than hinder your website’s search engine performance:

1) Stay Away From Manipulative Link Patterns

Natural link building avoids patterns that can be easily identified as manipulative by search engines. This means diversifying the sources of your links and the timing with which they are acquired. Avoid acquiring links in bulk or using repetitive strategies that could raise flags. Instead, focus on obtaining links steadily over time, mirroring the organic growth of valuable content.

2) Focus on Niche Relevance

One of the most effective ways to ensure your backlinks are natural is to obtain them from sources that are directly relevant to your niche. Links from sites that are closely aligned with your industry or topic not only appear more naturally but are also more valuable in terms of SEO and user engagement. They contribute to your site’s authority and relevance, which are key metrics for search engine algorithms.

3) Use Contextually Appropriate Anchor Text

The anchor text of your links should naturally fit into the content from which the link originates. Over-optimizing anchor text with commercial or keyword-rich phrases can look suspicious to search engines. 

Instead, use descriptive phrases that naturally describe the value of the linked content without over-emphasis on exact matching keywords. This strategy helps maintain the contextual relevance and subtlety of your link presence.

4) Choose Your Link Building Service Wisely

If you opt to use a link-building service, select one that adheres to ethical SEO practices. Research their strategies, ask for case studies or client testimonials, and ensure their practices align with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

For example, Outreach Monks has helped numerous businesses enhance their online presence through natural link-building strategies. One of the case studies is when we partnered with an E-commerce store, Nolabels. With natural link building, we helped increase their domain rating from 0 to 55 within a few months. Moreover, the organic traffic increased from 0 to 99.1k.

Do you also want such results and need help with your link building strategy? Let OutreachMonks help you build SEO-friendly backlinks that boost your rankings and drive more traffic. Reach out to us for a consultation to learn how they can tailor a link-building strategy that fits your unique needs.

Conclusion

Building a natural link profile is essential for sustaining your website’s integrity and credibility. Avoid manipulative link patterns, focus on relevance, use appropriate anchor text, and select ethical link-building services to ensure long-term SEO success. 

Natural link building aims not only to boost rankings but also to improve user experience. Always follow Google guidelines and best practices to be safe against penalties and build a trustworthy online presence.

Frequently Asked Questions