Red Flags to Look Out for When Building Links

How to tell if a link is low quality

All links are not created equal.

It’s important to make sure that you’re getting your money’s worth when buying links.

In today’s article I’m going to cover a few different GLARING red flags that indicate that you should pass on a site when prospecting for links.

No clear niche

“Everything” sites with categories like “News”, “Movies”, “Lifestyle”, “Home”, “Travel”, etc. are usually not worth getting links from.

High-quality, legitimate sites are focused on a clear niche. It used to be possible to rank sites without clear niches (e.g. The Wirecutter), but those days are long gone. It’s impossible to rank a new “everything” site in 2022.

The only reason someone would create an unfocused site is if they’re planning on using it as a link farm. Having huge, broad categories of content maximizes the amount of niches they can link out to.

If a linkbuilder owns a travel site and needs a link, the link farm already has a built-out travel section. If a health site needs a link, the link farm can link to it from already-existing health content. Etc.

If you can look at a site and instantly tell that it’s a link farm then Google can figure it out as well. A few links here and there from sites like these that actually have traffic isn’t the end of the world, but definitely don’t make them the main way you build links.

Bad backlink profile

Many sites that sell links try to pump up their DR number (domain authority) by building shitty links.