SEO changes year-after-year. There’s no guarantee that the techniques and backlinks that work today will be safe next year. Having recovered hundreds of sites, I’ve seen tons of actual examples from Google of links that they have a problem with.
Here’s a list of links that I definitely recommend staying away from.
1. Scholarship Links Getting .edu links with the use of scholarship bait was a technique that worked well for a long time, until it got hit hard (see my 10beasts interview).
2. PBNs with footprints PBNs, when done right, are virtually undetectable… Except when they have footprints. There’s obvious footprints (like who.is and hosting patterns), but lesser known ones such as OBL and bot footprints. If you’re using PBNs, make sure you’re working with a trusted vendor like Rank Club.
3. Sape Hacked links on Russian networks are easily detectable. Don’t expect to rank for long if you’re utilizing these links direct to your money site.
4. Automated link building on Tier 1 or Tier 2 Using software like GSA or SENuke directly to your money site died with Penguin 2.0. Penguin 2.1 allowed them to trace back to Tier 2. My opinion… Google will continue to get better at tracing back tiers over time.
5. Clearly incentivized “white hat” links Remember, Google doesn’t want you to pay for links or even trade content for links (guest posting). That said, most companies do it anyways. If you’re going to proactively build links, make sure the pages that you’re getting links from don’t scream “this was purchased!” Here’s a list of white hat links that have been getting slammed: click here
This post is write based on email from Matt Diggity, SEO expert from aweber.com