A link farm is one of the oldest SEO techniques for link building. This technique is not smart enough to be under the gray SEO umbrella, not so reliable that we can assume it to be white; The only group we can link to the farm in that worthy position is negative SEO!
But if Link Farm is a negative SEO method, why do some webmasters still use it? This is the question we want to answer in the following article. For this purpose, we first go to the introduction of Link Farm and Google’s approach to it. We examine its negative effects on the site SEO, and finally, we introduce you to alternative Link Farm solutions. Follow us in this article because we are sure that its content will help you learn SEO and implement off-page solutions.
What is a link farm?
In answer to what Link Farm is, we must say that “Link Farm” is a site or a group of sites that have been created solely to provide backlinks and increase the ranking of other sites. The mechanism of operation of link farm sites is that the sites that form the link farm are connected through link building and provide backlinks to the target site.
This method worked in the past, long before the unveiling of Google spam link recognition algorithms, but it has long been completely obsolete. Unfortunately, some have turned it into a negative SEO tool and ruined competitors’ sites. But why is the technique that is useful to help improve the ranking of sites now become inefficient and even dangerous? To answer this question, let’s go to Google!
Google’s approach to Link Farm and search engines
As we said earlier in the external SEO article, relevant inbound links to our site are one of the most important SEO components. But this should not confuse us and make us think that receiving massive links from link farms has the same meaning because search engines and Google are so advanced that they can quickly identify spam and poor quality links.
The default of search engines used to be that if many other sites link to our site. Then our site page has more credibility. But now, the implementation of the link farm technique has failed because Google only uses user satisfaction. And creating a good and useful user experience as a criterion for ranking results. This means that a backlink from a site with trusted content or similar content to the page to which the link is given is worth more than tens or hundreds of random and poor-quality links from different sites.
Penguin algorithm; Google’s powerful weapon for identifying link farms
Google detects this behavior when web admins try to increase the backlinks to their site abnormally through the link farm, but how?
Well, you guessed it, with the help of the Penguin algorithm. In late 2012, the use of Link Farm grew dramatically as the web was turning into a pile of low-quality content and spam. And In such a situation, Google unveiled the Penguin algorithm to seriously seek to destroy the links of farms and punish sites that used this method to gain rankings. In essence, Google wanted to encourage websites to gain credibility in the most legitimate way possible and produce user-centric content. We suggest you read the article What is a Penguin Algorithm for more information.
Farm Link and SEO; Is the quality of the links important or the quantity of the links?
Many backlinks were credible before the adulthood and development of Google’s anti-spam algorithms and were even effective in improving the site ranking. But as time went on and Google changed its approach to improving the user experience and providing quality content, the number of links gave way to quality. It became a new standard for evaluating sites.
Google’s emphasis on quality links is a very positive step in encouraging value creation for users and improving the quality of web content. Because in the past, low-quality links may not have been considered, but now Google’s approach is such that if we are a little careless and go for low-quality backlinks, we will figure out the site with our own hands. The main focus of link value is on quality, not quantity. We suggest reading the article ” External SEO ” to get more detailed information about the quality linking process.
How to identify the link farm?
As mentioned earlier, Link Farm is a powerful and interconnected collection of blogs and personal sites linked together through link building. It is now more of a tool for negative SEO than improving site rankings.
In this way, a significant number of poor quality links and spam in the form of Link Farm, with irrelevant content, are directed to our site. These links can easily ruin our site ranking. To identify these links, we must first control the amount of incoming traffic and site traffic.
If the site traffic statistics were severely and significantly reduced, we must go to the tools to identify the exact links in the next step. The best backlink tracking tools are Ahrefs, Moz, SEMRush, and Monitor Backlinks, which detect and identify suspicious links and spam.
What should we do after identifying the farm link?
After identifying malicious link farm links, we need to do two basic things at once:
- Please make a list of malicious links and then gradually remove them through the Google search console disavow. It usually takes two to three weeks to remove these links.
- Simultaneously with the removal of malicious backlinks, we must design and implement a program to produce quality content and receive valid backlinks in the next step.
We emphasize these two actions simultaneously because the sudden removal of a large number of spam links without a suitable replacement can have far worse effects than negative SEO for the sites. Creating quality content and receiving valid backlinks creates new credibility for the site that will not be further damaged by deleting link farm links.
Introducing four quality alternatives to Link Farm
In this part of the article, we want to introduce you to suitable alternative methods that can help you get valid and quality backlinks. These methods include:
1. Use guest post
The first and best alternative to Link Farm is Guest Post. In this way, we produce quality and user-centric content, publish it on a reputable website with a similar field of work, and put a link to our site.
Guest post is useful for our site in two ways. First, Google trusts our site because we have produced quality content for users. Second, it sends more traffic to our site; traffic undoubtedly includes a new group of audiences related to the subject of our activity.
2. Do not neglect the publication of infographic content on social networks
Another group of link farm alternatives is the links we receive through the publication of infographic content on social media. Infographics provide a wide range of attractive and useful images to the user. The production and publication of infographics persuade users to share them with others. In this way, our content receives powerful and extensive backlinks without the need for form links.
3. Turn free content publishing platforms into a tool for publishing quality content
There are several free platforms that we can use to publish content and get backlinks. These platforms are powerful and popular with Google due to the high content volume, and organic traffic received. Commas, mediums, amigos, loggers, and dozens of similar platforms are good platforms for publishing good, user-friendly content to get links.
4. Put your site information in business directories
Directories are reference websites for listing businesses. We can get the link by creating a profile and registering the site domain in these directories.
The only thing about directories is to pay attention to the standard categorization of business groups, the registration of complete business contact information, and the ability to post or post images and share information. Directories that do not meet these conditions are no different from link farms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is deleting low-quality farm backlinks all at once the right way?
Introducing low-quality links to Google and deleting them should be done simultaneously as creating new and high-quality links. In addition, Google insists that we do this with caution.
With what tools can we detect a link farm attack on the
With the help of backlink tracking tools such as Ahrefs, Moz, SEMRush, and Monitor Backlinks, we can identify suspicious links and spam.
Concluding remarks
Finally, we emphasize again that Link Farm is an outdated method in SEO, which can lead to a sharp drop in our site ranking. Because it directs extremely low quality and spam links to our site, the resulting traffic is just as low quality; In addition, we should not forget the risk of being penalized by search engines and Google.