Most SEOs Think Competitors Can Hurt Them With Links

Sep 10, 2010 - 7:48 am 10 by
Filed Under Link Building

Time after time, Google has said spam links can't hurt you. Google said it a bunch of times, competitors can't hurt you, but most SEOs do not believe that. So I decided to run a new poll asking Can Spam Links By Competitors Hurt You In Google?

I wanted to share those results with you.

We had a nice number of responses, 284 to be exact and most said - spam links from competitors can hurt you.

  • 73% said Yes, Spam Links By Competitors Can Hurt You In Google
  • 25% said No, Spam Links By Competitors Can't Hurt You In Google

There were seven "other" open end responses, nothing really all that interesting to share.

Forum discussion continued at Google Webmaster Help.

Note: This post was scheduled to be automatically posted today.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: February 17, 2026

Feb 17, 2026 - 10:00 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Allowing Opting Out Of AI Overviews Is A Huge Engineering Project

Feb 17, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Recommendations Doc About The Results Tab

Feb 17, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google

Google AI Mode Ask About Feature Now Triggers On Overlay

Feb 17, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google

Google Tests Links In Recipe AI Overviews

Feb 17, 2026 - 7:21 am
Google

Google AI Overviews Have Blue Links Before Click & Gray After Click

Feb 17, 2026 - 7:11 am
 
Previous Story: Over Linking: Many Say It Can Hurt Your SEO Efforts