What is link farming?
Link farming is the practice of creating and linking to numerous websites with the intent of increasing their authority in search engines such as Google. There are two basic types of links to be aware of when you’re talking about link farming in SEO.
On-page links and off-page links, which includes natural and unnatural links, can both have an effect on your search engine rankings if you have too many of either type or if the source or context of the links isn’t relevant to your site.
Here’s more information on both types of link farming and what you need to know about them.
How does link farming work?
Link farms are groups of web pages that are manually created and linked together to build a network. Essentially, they act as links to each other and appear as one page to search engines.
The objective is for search engines to see these pages and believe they are important due to their high number of links. Search engines will view them highly in rankings compared to pages with little or no backlinks because more authoritative websites usually get more links than others.
There are several different types of link farms that can be used for different purposes. Some are created to spread malware or carry out other illegal activities. The type most commonly used by companies attempting to improve their website’s search engine rankings is comment or guest post farms.
Search engines are able to detect comment or guest post farms and remove any links that violate their rules. They’re also unlikely to pass much value to your website because users don’t want to be seen as spamming for links.
Instead, focus on getting natural links from other sites. This ensures you get recognized by search engines without resorting to black hat methods that could damage your reputation.
To learn more about natural links and how to get them, read our full guide. It will give you detailed information on everything from building relationships with influencers to writing content that people want to share.
This way, you’ll be able to promote your website without needing to use unsafe tactics or putting yourself at risk for getting a penalty from search engines.
There are two basic ways to get natural links.
The first involves increasing your domain authority and PageRank (PR). To do so, focus on creating high-quality content that people want to read and share.
This will drive more traffic to your website and result in more links as users see your content on social media or get backlinks from other sites for their posts about you.
The second way involves seeking out top influencers who are interested in covering relevant topics related to your business.
Influencers can help attract a large number of links to your website because they are seen as authorities on their topics. If you create content that’s useful for them, they will appreciate it and share with their followers.
This strategy won’t directly increase your domain authority or PR, but it will show search engines that you have relevant content and encourage them to rank you higher for more searches related to your business.
Why do people do it?
Link farming has been around for years, and chances are if you’ve ever purchased a cheap eBook on how to rank high on Google or become an SEO expert you probably bought from a spammy website. Why do people do it then?
Link farmers make money by selling links to businesses that want to raise their own rankings. It’s a fast way to earn some quick cash without much work. So why not just get paid for something they’re doing anyways right?
How can I use this to my advantage in SEO?
Link farming or link manipulation is any practice that involves creating links to your site that are artificial or otherwise violate Google’s quality guidelines.
It can include having paid for links added to unrelated sites (this has been proven to lower a site’s ranking by Google), using software to automatically create large numbers of links, and leaving fake comments on unrelated sites.
Link manipulation can negatively impact your search engine ranking by artificially raising your site’s search engine rank or trust with Google.
Search engines use a variety of metrics to determine your website’s rank and trust, but one that we don’t hear about as much is Google TrustRank. The higher TrustRank you have, generally speaking, the more traffic you will get from searches.
There are several factors that go into calculating your TrustRank including your backlink profile and others. Google will also use your site’s relative popularity to determine whether you should be ranked higher or lower than you currently are.
If someone were to add a ton of links pointing to your site that were artificial or manipulative, they could cause a lot of trouble for you since your TrustRank would change negatively. Use link building in an ethical manner and you’ll be rewarded with better search rankings and traffic.
However, if you start to manipulate Google’s ranking system through unethical or black hat practices such as those mentioned above, you could find yourself facing a penalty that lowers your TrustRank and drops your site’s search engine rank.
Take away
Link farming is a practice that you need to avoid at all costs. It’s designed to inflate your website’s authority by using automation tools and other methods to create tons of links that don’t seem natural or relevant.
While some sites do get away with it for a short time, Google is always improving its algorithms and will eventually catch on. Your site will likely be removed from its rankings after being caught as well – which isn’t good for anyone!
Think about your reputation and how other people view you. Will they look at you differently if you’re caught practicing link farming tactics? If so, keep that in mind when making decisions about how to build links. It’s not worth ruining your reputation just to rank higher on Google.