Page 33 - The Dark Side of Back Link Building

THE DARK SIDE OF LINK BUILDING 33

But if you sell links to other people, you’re playing a much more dangerous game.

Google is more likely to take manual action against sites that sell links in an attempt to
profit off of manipulating search.

Why Do People Buy And Sell Links?

People do still buy backlinks for SEO.

In the past, before the updates that made many of the tactics in this book obsolete,

trading in links was seen as positive. People viewed it like any other kind of business.
A link has value, and if you own a domain with a lot of value in its links, why not take
advantage of that business opportunity?

It turned out that this wasn’t great for search results. Websites buying their way to

the top meant that search didn’t work well for users. The “voting” power of links works
best when there isn’t a pre-existing agreement to trade a link for something else
of value.

But some people still view buying and selling links as a legitimate business practice.
Some people learn it one way and don’t know better. And some people do it because

it works (temporarily).

If you hide it well enough, it can take some time for Google to catch up to a site that is

buying or selling links. For some people, that’s enough time to make their money and
abandon the website when Google catches on.

If you’re not careful, it’s quite easy to accidentally hire an SEO service provider who
will be happy to take that reckless attitude with your website.