What is a Link Scheme?
A link scheme refers to any manipulative link building technique done to increase the number of backlinks pointing to a webpage. Bloggers use link schemes to trick search engines into increasing the rankings of their webpages on search results pages.
Link schemes violate Google’s Search Essentials guidelines and can earn you a manual action penalty. Google typically issues penalties against the specific webpage involved in the link scheme. However, in situations involving large-scale link schemes, Google may take action against the entire site or even the host.
Google Guidelines on Link Schemes
Google explicitly forbids bloggers from engaging in link schemes. Its Search Essentials spam policy advises creators to avoid engaging in link spam if they want their content to appear on search results pages.
Google generally refers to link schemes as link spam. Both are related, though link spam is often used to refer to specific types of link schemes, while link schemes include all manipulative link-building techniques, including link spam.
For example, some sites may create webpages with nonexistent or expired scholarships to gain .edu backlinks. These are not explicitly link spam but clearly link schemes. The linking site may not even realize it is already part of a link scheme.
How Google Prevents Link Schemes
Google frequently releases algorithm updates to identify and demote or deindex webpages that engage in link schemes. Some of these updates include the Panda e Penguin algorithm updates, both of which greatly affected the rankings of sites that engaged in link schemes.
Google also frequently releases other spam and link spam updates that target sites that publish spammy content or engage in spammy link-building techniques. This includes the July 2021 e December 2022 link spam updates.
Google also has a webspam team that manually evaluates webpages suspected of engaging in link schemes and issues penalties against pages caught engaging in them. Webpages issued with a manual action penalty will lose rankings or even have their content removed from search engine results pages. In extreme situations, the penalty may be extended to cover the entire site or host.
Examples of Link Schemes
Link schemes vary from site to site. There is no definite list of link schemes since spammers are always coming up with new techniques to manipulate search results pages. However, some common types of link schemes include:
1 Paid Links
Link a pagamento involve buying or selling links in exchange for money or other goods and services. For example, a clothing store pays a blog to include a follow link pointing to its site.
2 Excessive Link Exchanges
Link exchanges involve two or more websites agreeing to link to one another. For example, two sites linking to similar content on each other’s site. Link exchanges are not explicitly link schemes but could become one when done excessively or between unrelated sites and content.
3 Automated Linking
Automated linking is the process of creating backlinks at scale using software or third-party link-building services. For example, a site using a bot to post comments with links on various unrelated blogs and forums.
4 Private Blog Networks
Reti di blog privati are a group of sites that link to a specific site. Their content is often unhelpful, low-quality, and created with the sole intent of providing backlinks. For example, a business creates multiple blogs that link to their ecommerce site.
5 Advertising Links Not Marked as Nofollow
Google requires all links in adverts and sponsored posts to be marked with the sponsorizzato o non seguire link attribute. Sites that do not identify the links using those tags may be considered to have engaged in a link scheme.
6 Keyword-Rich Anchor Texts
Anchor texts are considered link spam when they excessively contain keywords the target site is trying to rank for. For example, a business that sells garden tools might write dozens of guest posts about gardening tips, with each linking back to their website with the anchor text “best garden tools.”
7 Hidden Links
Some bloggers hide text within their content. These texts are invisible to the visitor but visible to search engines. Sometimes, they even contain links, creating hidden links. For example, a site might hide links by setting the text color to match the background color, making the links invisible to users but still crawlable by search engines.
8 Requiring Backlinks as Part of a Terms of Service
Some sites require other sites to link back to them as part of their terms of service or use. This forces the linking site to provide a backlink even when it is not earned or relevant. For example, a software provider might include a clause in their service agreement requiring users to place a backlink to their site.
9 Low-Quality Directory Submissions
Directory submission is a white hat SEO technique. However, it can become a black hat SEO and link scheme when bloggers submit their links to low-quality directories with no editorial standards or directories that only exist to provide backlinks. For example, a new blog might submit its URL to hundreds of low-quality directories to quickly gain backlinks.