What are toxic links, and should you be afraid of them?
Toxic backlinks are low-quality backlinks or backlinks intended to manipulate your rankings in the search engines.
Google sees such links as a breach of its so-called Webmaster Guidelines. As an SEO specialist, you should therefore focus more on the quality of your links than on the quantity. That way, you avoid falling rankings or penalties.
Here are some examples of toxic links:
- Links from domains that have nothing to do with your own website.
- Links from domains that exist only for link building.
- Links from domains that Google hasn't indexed.
- Links that spam comment sections on websites.
- Links from a link network, where all the links often share the same IP address/anchor texts/domain.
- Links from porn and gambling sites.
An example from one of our clients: SEMrush's Backlink Audit found no fewer than 4,078 backlinks on the client's website. The website had been under attack from spam links for a long period. The image shows that a good share of them were pornographic. In other words, toxic. Many of them also came from the same IP addresses, and they all arrived within a short period.
How does a link become toxic, and how can you spot toxic links yourself?
A link can become toxic for several different reasons.
1. Low-authority sites
Domains with very low authority usually provide low-quality links too. These may be sites Google hasn't indexed at all, or sites without any backlink profile. They may also be sites about porn, gambling and the like.
The easiest way to see a domain's authority is in a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush. You enter the website, and the tool shows a DR (domain rating). If the domain's rating is below 10, you should review the domain and the link. Then look into whether the link should be removed.
2. Mirror sites
Mirror sites are several copies or clones of a website with different URLs, and they all link to your website. They usually use exactly the same anchor text and have the same page structure.
Google sees them as duplicate pages with one purpose: to build a larger link profile for the domain they link to.
3. Private blog networks (PBN)
A PBN is a collection of websites that someone builds and maintains solely to create backlinks to other websites. Typically, these are old, expired domains that someone buys up and restores.
Many SEO specialists believe Google will never detect a PBN. However, Google has been actively hunting down PBNs for many years and has penalised sites as far back as 2014. Sooner or later, Google catches a PBN, and the penalty can be quite devastating for the website's rankings.
How can toxic links affect your SEO?
Now you know what a toxic link is and what makes it toxic. The next question is how Google detects the toxic links.
1. Manual actions for toxic links
If your website gets too many toxic links, Google can penalise it with a manual action. Google has a dedicated team that keeps an eye on spam links and on whether websites break Google's Webmaster Guidelines.
Your website may get a manual penalty if:
- Your competitors keep reporting your website for spam links.
- Google's algorithm spots something irregular in your website's backlink profile.
- Your website belongs to a niche known for spam links. In that case, the risk of a manual penalty is high.
2. Your website is spotted by the algorithm
In addition to manual actions, Google also uses its crawlers to scan websites for toxic links. If they find too many toxic links pointing to your website, Google can impose an algorithmic penalty.
An algorithmic penalty comes without warning. You have to find the problem yourself to get the website back into the search results. Remember, too, that the penalty isn't necessarily caused by toxic links. Google uses around 200 factors to rank websites, so there can be many reasons for the penalty.
Just as with a manual action, Google removes your website from the SERP until you've fixed the problem. So go through your website step by step with a sharp SEO eye. Review any changes to the site as well, so you can find and fix the problem.
Here's what you can do to avoid a penalty from Google's algorithm in future:
- Find the toxic backlinks and take action against them.
- Keep adding informative content and relevant keywords to the website.
- Do organic outreach link building.
What should you do about toxic backlinks?
If you find a toxic link or a link network, use Google's disavow tool. You can find it here.
Here, you upload a .txt file listing the toxic links or domains.
The formatting should look like this:
Where does link building stand today?
As mentioned earlier, Google has repeatedly documented in recent years that its algorithm has become better at telling toxic links apart from the rest. Google itself says the search engine can ignore low-quality links and toxic links.
The team behind Ahrefs put this to the test in December 2021. They simply disavowed ALL 3,476 backlinks to three of their biggest blog posts.
The aim was to test whether links actually affect rankings. The effect was immediate: traffic and rankings fell for all three blog posts. One of them lost 18% of its search traffic, and some rankings fell from 1st to 4th place.
The study shows how much your backlink profile matters for your website. Imagine your website sitting in fourth place with good content and a solid technical profile, and no backlink profile at all. Then think what a solid backlink profile could do for you there.
So do we even need to use the disavow tool today?
Google claims its algorithm can tell the difference between low-quality links and toxic links. That doesn't mean you should throw in the towel.
You could easily get that impression when the topic is debated so much. A poll on Twitter, now X, from January 2021 showed that 32% of respondents no longer considered disavows an important tool. 42% felt it depends on the situation. We can understand that.
We've worked with backlink profiles for several years. Our position is clear: keep an eye on your backlink profile on an ongoing basis, and use the disavow tool if things are in really bad shape.
There are plenty of spam links out there, and you can't ignore that. Google is getting better at spotting them. Even so, you need to follow how your backlink profile develops yourself to avoid manual actions. If, for example, you see a link network or mirror pages linking to your site, it's a good idea to upload them to the disavow page. That way, you know Google ignores them, and you're not blindly trusting the algorithm.
Be careful, though. Use the disavow tool with care. As Google itself puts it:
This is an advanced feature and should only be used with caution. If used incorrectly, this feature can potentially harm your site’s performance in Google Search results.
One thing is certain: if you're not 100% sure whether a link could harm your website, don't disavow it.
Get help identifying toxic links
Does finding and disavowing toxic links yourself sound too complicated? At Amplify, we're an SEO agency specialising in link building and SEO best practices. If you're worried about your website's backlink profile, don't hesitate to contact us.
FAQ: toxic backlinks
What are toxic backlinks?
Toxic backlinks are low-quality backlinks or links intended to manipulate your rankings on Google. They are poison for your SEO.
How do you remove toxic backlinks?
You submit them for removal in Google Search Console. If you've found one or more toxic backlinks, you upload a .txt file with the toxic domains.
Why do toxic backlinks affect SEO?
Many toxic backlinks can lead Google to penalise you and your rankings. This happens when Google judges that your website breaks its Webmaster Guidelines.