Source
r/bigseo•
brainscab

Can links hurt?

Hi, for the first time in a long time we are building links. Our links come from quality sources like medical blogs and high ranking sites like dailyinfographic.com.

We are rising in branded search terms, but for terms like 'waterproof keyboard' we are falling/hovering.

Our visits from the medical sites seem to have a high bounce rate (the people read the infographic than leave). is this a possible reason that, in spite of quality, relevant links, we are falling?

Posted Dec 14, 2015, 2:25 PM UTC

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victorpan@victorpan•

I wouldn't worry about the high bounce rates from referral sites you're getting.

Yes, links can hurt if they're part of a penalized network of links for the sole purpose of moving rank.

Since it's been a while that you've built links.... and we're talking about the medical field... were these links purchased or earned?

Does the referral traffic you're getting from these medical sites look legitimate or are they bot traffic from some guy who promised you that their site has legit traffic?

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brainscabOP•

Some links were earned, some were purchased. The traffic looks legitimate, but we do have some strange traffic coming to the site from other sources ( adf.ly and get-your-social-buttons.info).

Is that a problem?

Thanks!

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victorpan@victorpan•

Sounds like you haven't gotten a warning yet for the "paid" portion. It's kind of a prisoner's dilemma in that as long as nobody within the network is caught, everyone benefits - but if you disavow now, you'll see some drops if these are still haven't c aught on.

Personal preference here is to just build good links going forward and don't disavow the ones you know are shady.

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sagetrees•

try to avoid having too much exact match anchor text, branded links are good.

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Rtbriggs•

Our links come from quality sources like medical blogs and high ranking sites like dailyinfographic.com

Daily Infographic is not going to be a high quality link. The site has good authority, but it is basically a user-submitted content site with tons of outbound links and no particular industry focus.

We are rising in branded search terms

This is not really a major accomplishment, as soon as your brand name is identified as such by Google, it is a pretty automatic rise to the top. You shouldnt expect your non-branded rankings to mirror the same ranking improvement.

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brainscabOP•

Well it is a common phrase ("man and machine") and lots of bands, organizations and there is another company also called man and machine with a good online presences, so taking the top three spots isn't bad.

Good point about daily infograpghic featuring no industry focus. Will focus on tech review sites, etc.

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josephlapin•

Just read a great article on this from Search Engine Land: http://selnd.com/1NQ6HOQ

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[deleted]•

[removed]

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[deleted]•

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ninjatune@LuxuryBranded•

You can be filtered for specific terms or the entire site penalized for links. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en. You building links = against Google's TOS.

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brainscabOP•

Thanks, not sure if google knows that some of these links are paid links.

Also, where does google draw the line. They say that they dislike people paying for links, but things like 'forming a parternship with blog' (with a sponsored by xyz' link in the header) or 'buying a blog' are still reported to be good ways of getting links. These would seem to be a way of paying for a link, and even the old school 'sending swag' is a way to endear yourself to the opinion makers could be seen as a way of buying links. There is definitely a lot of gray area, so trying to figure it out when Google makes so many calls without letting people know what is happening, so that is frustrating, if anyone has any imput that would be helpful.

Also, are private blogging networks still working?

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