Don't Fear Building Too Many Backlinks
The search engines themselves (especially Google) have publicly stated (see Google's Webmaster Forum with Matt Cutts) that they will NOT penalize websites for the backlinks that point to their site because Google knows a website owner
has no control over who and how another site links to them. While Google may not give you credit for marginal or irrelevant backlinks, Google won't penalize you for those links.
Imagine what the internet would be like if this wasn't the case. There would be mass subterfuge across the internet as competitors built "bad" backlinks to their competitors' websites so those sites would be banned.
So go ahead and build backlinks and don't worry about getting penalized. However, if you are going to put in the effort you might as well get the maximum benefit: build one-way links from relevant sites. And if you want those backlinks to help your website rise in search rankings, try to focus on DO FOLLOW links because the search engines will completely ignore your NO FOLLOW links and they won't even exist in the eyes of the search engines.
One thing you should keep in mind is reciprocal links. While Google won't penalize you for backlinks to your site, they will (and have) definitely penalize you for outgoing links on your site. Why? Because you completely control your own content and Google will hold you accountable. So avoid reciprocal backlinks with websites that are not reputable or relevant to your site.
But above all, make back link-building a top priority. Then boost the power of those back links to make them even more powerful at getting your website to the top of search results. |
