What Are Negative SEO Backlinks? Do These Affect SEO?

Today, clinching the first page in a search engine result page (SERP) is a mighty task. It needs a holistic and time-consuming approach to get this ranking. However, negative SEO backlinks can immediately destroy the top ranking of a website. Negative SEO backlinks is a deliberate effort to ruin the search ranking and reputation of any website. It aims at improving one’s ranking in search engines while sabotaging the competitor’s ranking. It also refers to the use of unethical techniques to tarnish the image of a competitor’s website. It is also called ‘’Black Hat SEO’’. There are always dishonest competitors in the market. They prefer to choose shortcuts and unethical tactics to achieve a better ranking on SERP. Therefore, we have to be aware and conscious of these unethical attempts of a competitor who uses negative SEO backlinks.

Types of Negative SEO Backlinks and How They Affect SEO

Hacking and Malware

Hacking can destroy the website’s ranking completely. The website’s robot.txt file can be modified to disrupt web crawling. It may lead to the removal of the website from search.  Furthermore, links can be added or replaced by a hacker to target the search engine impression of the website. Duplicate content can also be uploaded to undermine the credibility of the website.

Link Farming

In this type, several links combine to ruin a site’s ranking. Groups of different websites join together to gain more popularity by increasing the number of incoming links. The number of links is not constant it can vary depending on the requirement. It contains irrelevant content mostly the cluster of hyperlinks. One can purchase these links to boost the page rank of a website. For instance, Private Blog Network (PBN) is a link farm. It also helps in creating toxic backlinks.  In addition, content is based on bots having a very low quality. It is also called the ‘’black hat’’ method of SEO.

Fake Reviews

It attempts to drop the traffic by posting fake reviews. These fake reviews are relatively easy to manipulate as compared to other methods. These fake reviews can be purchased in the market. Most importantly, fake reviews not only decrease the web ranking but also affect the business. It is one of the easiest and common ways to hit the reputation of any brand, company, etc.

Scraping

Competitors scrap the content of your website and paste it on other websites. It makes available duplicate content on the search engine. It is a cunning tactic to fall the ranking of a website. It hits the reputation of the website with a search engine by depicting the site as a content stealer. Thus, it immediately makes it an incredible website.

Removing Best Backlinks of a Website

Attackers can initiate a fake request to the webmaster to remove backlinks. They get in touch with the webmaster deceitfully. They persuaded them to remove the best backlinks to the website. It severely affects the positions o the website on SERP. It is one of the nastiest tactics of negative SEO backlinks to de-rank the competitor.

Heavy Web Crawling

In this type of negative SEO backlinks, the competitor forcefully crawls the website. It increases the load and traffic on the website. The sole purpose of web crawling is to either decrease the speed of a website or crash it. It daunts the credibility and reliability of websites with search engines. Thus, it affects the ranking of the website. 

How to Foil Negative SEO Backlinks Against Your Website?

Monitor Your Backlinks

According to a dissertation help firm, several online platforms can help you in monitoring your backlinks. For instance, SEMrush offers to monitor your backlink through an email. The email entails a summary of changes in backlinks. You must create a list of backlinks that will help in removing bad backlinks.

Monitor Your Social Media Mentions

Attackers can create fake social media accounts by using the name of the company or website. Report and remove these fake social media accounts as soon as possible. One can use tools like Mention.net to monitor social media mentions. It will immediately notify you whenever someone mentions the name of your website or brand. It helps to take the necessary actions in the case of spamming. It will ensure the reputation and impression of the website.

Monitor the Website Speed

If your website is having an unusual load, it’s time to make sure that someone is not attempting to crash your website. Pingdom.com can assist in monitoring the uptime and loading time of the server. You can get an email alert in the case of an overloaded website. It will help you take necessary action timely.

Improve The Security of Your Website

You need to increase the security of your website by enabling different security features. For instance, WordPress users can install The Google Authentication Plugin to create 2-step verification passwords. It will minimize the chance of hacking. In addition, stronger passwords, Backup and anti-virus can improve the security of your website.

Turn On Google Email Alerts

You need to turn on the emails notification Google search console. It will notify you in case of any malware attack, having connectivity problem or deindexing of pages of your website.

Save Your Best Backlinks

Your best backlinks are the top targets of spammers. They can deceitfully interact with the webmaster to get them to remove. To avoid this, you must communicate with your webmaster by using your domain instead of common mailboxes. Furthermore, keep the track of your best backlinks. You can use Monitor Backlinks to track the best backlinks.

Check Duplication of Your Content

It is another most prominent technique used by spammers. You must frequently check if there is a duplication of your website’s content on the internet. You can use different tools including Copyscape.com, Grammarly.com to check if your website has duplicate pages.

Conclusion

In short, negative SEO backlinks are expected in the race of better ranking on search engines. Consequently, they can severely affect the SEO of your website. Therefore, the website owner must be vigilant and equipped with all the latest tools to thwart it. A little careless can wreak havoc on the website reputation with search engines. The website owner has to monitor all the odd activities to maintain its ranking. However, the above-mentioned types of negative SEO backlinks are the most common but it is not the complete list.