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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.
Comments:
Jamie
09/10/2010 01:04 pm
Interesting I wonder what the real truth behind this is.
Ryan Jones
09/10/2010 03:17 pm
In other words, 73% of SEOs are idiots.
Mike Essex
09/10/2010 04:16 pm
I hardly think 73% of SEO's are idiots. If you receive a large number of links from a small number of domains Google will reduce your rankings. Fact. We've seen it with past clients who have seen a drop before coming to us and run diagnostics showing this as the cause on several occasions.
Ryan Jones
09/10/2010 05:45 pm
To any SEO's who believe this: My Personal site URL is linked to my name. Go ahead and build me as many spammy links as you want to. I bet I don't get Google banned.
Ernest Hemingway
09/10/2010 10:26 pm
Not so true. I know it working with keywords like "auto insurance" and "loans" we have never been pushed down and I know our competition is doing all sort of things.
gabs
09/12/2010 10:36 am
Who mentioned banned ???? The post is about rankings...
Tim D
09/24/2010 06:55 pm
The real problem is that people can do all the spammy things they want to do all day long and only a portion of those links might someday, at worst, become devalued. So there really is no risk in buying links and trying to game the system - as I see it - might as well try since it's not going to hurt you if you get caught... especially if you can play innocent and claim "ahh, my competitor probably bought that link to jinx me". I personally have never/ever bought a link, but over the years I've become convinced that Google isn't capable of fixing this problem, so I might as well start? Or stop advising that clients should not do so. Right Matt?
SEO Professionals
08/19/2011 02:11 am
SEO skills, is that there are very few UK SEO training courses available. You can't just go & enroll on an SEO course at your local night school, they don't teach it in schools, there are no college courses in SEO in the UK, that I'm aware of, and there are very few real opportunities to learn real SEO from someone who knows how it's done.
Dental Tourism
10/23/2011 06:28 pm
Spam links do hurt the ranking.
Onlineslotguy77
01/13/2012 11:41 am
That would be a serious waste of time, much like your comment. If I cared enough about you (I can compare you to toilet paper) I would probably go after your company. That way I could see a worthwhile loss in you getting canned for talking shite when you clearly don't have any experience.