Note (September 2026): This article was revised because its earlier version encouraged buying backlinks and using guest posting services; Google’s spam policies treat paid links, and links with optimized anchor text in guest posts, as link spam unless they are marked rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow”.
Link building methods that lose their value over time are the ones built to manipulate rankings rather than earn genuine references: bought links, excessive link exchanges, automated links, low-quality directory and bookmark links, forum-signature links, and keyword-anchored guest posts. Google’s spam policies list all of these as link spam, and since December 2022 its AI system SpamBrain neutralizes such links so they pass no ranking credit.
Key Takeaways
- Google defines link spam as creating links to or from a site primarily to manipulate search rankings, and its spam policies name paid links, excessive link exchanges, automated links and low-quality directory links as examples.
- Google’s Penguin update, first announced on April 24, 2012, targeted manipulative links; since September 23, 2016 Penguin runs in real time as part of Google’s core algorithm.
- Paid, sponsored and affiliate links are allowed only when marked rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow”; rel=”ugc” is for comments and forum posts.
- Links that last are earned: useful content, genuine relationships with publishers, and promotion that people choose to share.
As a business, you need to make sure you have an idea of what you are going to be able to work with for the future. Making the most of your business marketing is something that really plays a massive part in taking things to the next level.
But this means you are going to need to understand the importance of coming up with developments that allow you to take your business to the next level.
Links from other websites still matter: Google says links are one of the ways it understands which content may be helpful to searchers. But not every link is worth having, and some tactics that once moved rankings now pass no value at all or put a site at risk of a manual action.
Many link developing methods lose their worth over time because search engines learn to detect and ignore them. That is why it helps to understand the difference between quick, manufactured link building and genuine blogger outreach, and determine some of the best ways of building links as a business.
Think about blogger outreach
Blogger outreach means contacting writers and site owners in your field and offering them something genuinely useful to reference, such as original data, a tool or an expert view. There are many blogger outreach methods that can help you reach relevant audiences and earn links, as long as the publisher decides freely whether and how to link.
Outreach keeps its value when it is personal and relevant. It loses value when it turns into mass emails offering money, products or content in exchange for a followed link: Google’s spam policies list exchanging money, goods or services for links, and sending someone a product in exchange for a post with a link, as link spam.
Link building
Judge any manual link building services carefully: manual work such as outreach, digital PR and partnerships can earn lasting links, while bought link packages usually cannot. Think carefully about each link building strategy, such as guest posting services. Guest posts written mainly to place keyword-rich links are a method that has lost its worth: Google’s spam policies name links with optimized anchor text in guest posts as link spam, and a July 26, 2021 Google Search Central post said links in sponsored and guest posts should carry the appropriate rel values.
Many sites sell links, but a bought link that passes ranking credit breaks Google’s spam policies. The links worth building are ones an independent editor would add anyway because the page they point to helps their readers.
SEO
It’s clear that SEO and link building are closely connected, although Google’s SEO Starter Guide notes that PageRank, its link-based algorithm, is only one of many ranking signals. The way you use keywords and backlinks can really impact the way your business ranks on search engines, and this is why you need to make sure you get this right.
Be cautious with any service that sells backlinks. Buying or selling links for ranking purposes is link spam under Google’s policies, and since the December 2022 link spam update, Google’s SpamBrain system can detect both sites buying links and sites used to pass outgoing links, and neutralize the credit those links carry.
Social media marketing
Never overlook the importance of social media as a way to get content in front of people who may later cite or link to it. Google’s SEO Starter Guide lists social media promotion, community engagement, advertising and word of mouth as ways to promote a website, and warns that overdoing promotion can look like manipulation of search results.
If you can get social media marketing right, more people see your content, which increases the chance that journalists, bloggers and other site owners find it and reference it.
Developing the right social media links on your profiles helps customers find your website. Treat social profiles as a way to reach people, not as a shortcut to ranking credit.
The pattern is consistent: link methods that are cheap to scale, such as paid links, link exchanges, automated links, directory submissions and comment signatures, lose their worth because search engines learn to discount them.
Methods that keep their value, such as genuine outreach, useful content and real promotion, are slower but earn links that an editor chose to give.
Which Link Building Methods Lose Their Value?
The link building methods that lose their value are the ones Google’s spam policies describe as link spam. According to Google Search Central, link spam is the practice of creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings. The table below lists the examples Google names and why each one stopped working.
| Method | Why it loses value | What Google says (spam policies, as of September 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Buying or selling links | Paid links that pass ranking credit are detected and neutralized | Exchanging money, goods or services for links is link spam unless the link is marked rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow” |
| Link exchanges and partner pages | Reciprocal “link to me and I’ll link to you” patterns are easy to spot | Excessive link exchanges and partner pages made only for cross-linking are link spam |
| Automated link building | Software-made links come from low-quality pages at scale | Using automated programs or services to create links is link spam |
| Directory and bookmark submissions | Low-quality directories exist only to host links | Low-quality directory or bookmark site links are listed as link spam |
| Forum and blog comment links | Signature links with keyword anchors add nothing for readers | Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature are link spam |
| Widget and footer links | Links repeated across many sites’ templates look unnatural | Keyword-rich or hidden links in widgets, and widely distributed footer or template links, are link spam |
| Guest posts, advertorials and press releases for links | Placed mainly for anchor-text links rather than readers | Links with optimized anchor text in articles, guest posts or press releases distributed on other sites are link spam |
| Expired domains and rented site sections | Borrowed reputation is treated as abuse | Expired domain abuse and site reputation abuse are separate spam policies |
How Google’s Link Updates Changed Link Building
Google’s link updates are the main reason these methods lost their worth. The key milestones, in order:
- 2005: Google introduced the nofollow attribute to help fight comment spam, according to its September 10, 2019 Search Central post.
- April 24, 2012: Google announced the Penguin update, aimed at sites that manipulated the number of links pointing to their pages. Google estimated it affected about 3.1% of English-language search queries.
- January 20, 2014: Matt Cutts, then head of Google’s webspam team, wrote that guest blogging for SEO links had become too spammy and advised against relying on it as a link building strategy.
- September 23, 2016: Google announced that Penguin had become part of its core algorithm and runs in real time, so sites are evaluated continuously instead of waiting for periodic refreshes.
- September 10, 2019: Google added rel=”sponsored” and rel=”ugc” and began treating sponsored, ugc and nofollow as hints rather than strict instructions.
- July 26, 2021: Google reminded publishers to qualify affiliate, sponsored and guest post links, warning of algorithmic and manual actions for sites that do not.
- December 14, 2022: Google announced the December 2022 link spam update, using its AI-based SpamBrain system to neutralize unnatural links in all languages.
- November 19, 2024: Google clarified its site reputation abuse policy: publishing third-party pages on a site to exploit that site’s ranking signals is a violation regardless of first-party involvement.
For a broader look at current tactics, see our guide to link building strategies and techniques.
How to Mark Paid, Sponsored and User-Generated Links
Paid links are not banned outright; they must be labeled. Google says buying and selling links is a normal part of the web’s advertising economy, and such links do not violate its policies when they carry a rel=”nofollow” or rel=”sponsored” attribute. Google’s documentation on qualifying outbound links, as of September 2026, describes three values:
| Attribute | Use it for |
|---|---|
| rel=”sponsored” | Advertisements and paid placements, including affiliate links. Google says nofollow is still acceptable for these, but sponsored is preferred. |
| rel=”ugc” | Links in user-generated content such as comments and forum posts |
| rel=”nofollow” | Links you do not want Google to associate your site with, when the other values do not apply |
Google notes that more than one value can be used on the same link, for example rel=”ugc nofollow”.
Link Building Methods That Keep Their Value
Links keep their value when they are earned rather than manufactured. These approaches line up with Google’s guidance:
- Publish something worth citing. Original research, clear guides, free tools and data give other writers a reason to link. Our article on balancing link building and content creation covers this trade-off.
- Do personal, relevant outreach. Contact editors who cover your topic, explain why your resource helps their readers, and leave the linking decision to them. Never offer payment or products in exchange for a followed link.
- Write guest posts for audiences, not anchors. A guest post can still build reputation and referral traffic; keep links natural and accept that the host may qualify them. Our guide to guest posts explains how to approach publishers.
- Use natural anchor text. Google’s policies flag optimized, keyword-stuffed anchors. Learn more in what anchor text is and how to use it.
- Promote through real channels. Google’s SEO Starter Guide recommends social media promotion, community engagement, advertising and word of mouth, and says word of mouth is one of the most effective and lasting methods.
What to Do If Your Site Has Bad Backlinks
Most sites do not need to act on spammy backlinks. According to Google’s Search Console Help, in most cases Google can assess which links to trust without guidance, so most sites will not need its disavow links tool. Google recommends disavowing only when both of these apply:
- The site has a considerable number of spammy, artificial or low-quality links pointing to it, and
- those links have caused, or are likely to cause, a manual action.
If that is the case, Google’s steps are: first try to get the links removed from the other sites; then list the remaining URLs or domains in a UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII .txt file, one per line, using the prefix domain: for whole domains; then upload it through the disavow links tool. Google limits the file to 100,000 lines and URLs to 2,048 characters, and warns that incorrect use can harm a site’s performance in Search. The tool does not support Domain properties in Search Console. For background on why links matter at all, read the importance of using backlinks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is link building still worth it?
Yes, earned link building is still worth it. Google says links help it understand which content may be helpful, but its SEO Starter Guide stresses that PageRank is only one of many ranking signals, so links work best alongside useful content.
Is buying backlinks against Google’s rules?
Buying links that pass ranking credit is against Google’s spam policies. Paid links are allowed only when they are marked with rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow”, which tells Google not to count them as editorial endorsements.
Does guest posting still work for SEO?
Guest posting still works for exposure and reputation, but not as a way to place keyword-rich links. Google’s spam policies list optimized anchor-text links in guest posts as link spam, and Google has asked sites to apply rel values to links in sponsored and guest posts.
What was the Google Penguin update?
Google Penguin was a search algorithm update first announced on April 24, 2012 to demote sites that manipulated links. Since September 23, 2016, Penguin has run in real time as part of Google’s core algorithm.
Should I disavow spammy backlinks?
Usually not. Google says most sites do not need the disavow tool; it is intended for sites with many artificial links that have caused, or are likely to cause, a manual action.
What is SpamBrain?
SpamBrain is Google’s AI-based spam-prevention system. Since the December 2022 link spam update, Google says it can detect both sites buying links and sites used to pass outgoing links, and neutralize those links.
