Welcome to my blog. I am a professional SEO and Digital Marketing Expert. This blog is about Negative SEO tactics and the process of Recovery. You may already know that negative SEO is a Dark Art of SEO. As a professional SEO expert for more than ten years, I have seen a lot of Algorithm updates, and I better know how search engines react against Different SEO methods.
For example “Link Farm” Was the best tactic to rank a website within a very short time. For low and medium competitive Keywords, I used to rank a website within 24hours using the Link farming Method. It was my favorite methods until Google updated a new Algorithm called “Google Penguin”. Google Penguin first announced on April 24, 2012, and it has been updated several times till now.
The main purpose of launching Google Penguin was to detect Link Farming and Penalized websites that use this tactic to manipulate SERPs. So, today I am going to discuss the link farming method that is considered as the BlackHat SEO process that might become the main cause of the rank drop.
Some peoples still use links firming tactics to rank their website. I know a lot of guys who used to follow this process until they got penalized by Google. There is a saying “Stealing is not a crime if not caught”. So Link firm is an amazing way to rank until Google detects it. If you can do it properly, you will get rank; otherwise, you will be penalized.
What is Link Farming?
The basic concept of link Farming is link exchanging among a group of websites. So basically, link Farm is a process of interlinking among couples of similar websites aimed to increase the link popularity of all websites which will ultimately increase Search Engine ranking for all of them.
For example, A – B – C – D Are four websites, “Website A” gives Backlinks to B, C, and D. In return “Website A” gets links from B, C, and D. So there will be an interlinking among these websites. Each website gives links to another. So there will be a link juice for every website. So link’s popularity will be increased for each website for better ranking.
Why Link Farming causes Penalizes?
Search Engine like Google focuses on Filtering its search page for the Best Result. It always tries to rank the website which is informative for users. On the other hand, people follow Link Farming for the purpose of manipulating search results. With the link farming method, the worst website or less informative website might rank in the top position which might mislead search engine users.
So for ranking the best websites on the top position of Google search page, Google always tries to find out if someone is trying to manipulate the SERPs. If Google finds someone trying to manipulate the Search engine Rank position by Link farm method, Google initially ranks drop these websites that are involved in link farming. Google Penguin algorithm always tries to find out if there is a link firming before placing the top position.
If you are thinking about White hat SEO to rank your site, don’t even think about it. If you are already doing link farming, then stop it now and take corrective action for recovery before you get a flag by Google.
Corrective Actions If You’re Involved in Link Farming
If you’re running a business website and have unintentionally engaged in link farming practices without knowing the risks, it’s essential to act quickly to protect your website from a Google penalty—or to recover if you’ve already been penalized. Link farms are networks of websites created solely for the purpose of building backlinks, but Google sees these as manipulative and against its Webmaster Guidelines.
Below is the step-by-step corrective action plan to clean up your backlink profile and regain Google’s trust.
Step 1: Stop All Link Farming Activities Immediately
The first and most critical step is to stop engaging in link farming activities right away.
If you are actively exchanging links with low-quality sites, using automated tools to create backlinks, or participating in Private Blog Networks (PBNs), you must cease these actions immediately. Continuing such practices will only worsen the situation and may lead to a more severe penalty from Google.
Step 2: Remove Outgoing Links
If your website contains outgoing links to link farms or suspicious, spammy websites, you need to remove them.
- Go through your website and identify links pointing to unrelated or low-authority sites.
- Remove these links manually from your content, whether they are in blog posts, sidebar widgets, or footer areas.
This step is essential to show Google that you are no longer contributing to manipulative link-building schemes.
Step 3: Identify All Backlinks Pointing to Your Website
Next, you need to analyze your backlink profile to identify any harmful links that might have been created as part of a link farm or PBN.
- Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Search Console to download a complete list of backlinks pointing to your website.
- Look for links from:
- Low-authority domains.
- Sites with irrelevant or spammy content.
- Websites clearly part of link farms or PBNs.
Carefully create a list of all toxic backlinks that could harm your website’s reputation.
Step 4: Disavow Toxic Backlinks Using Google’s Disavow Tool
If you cannot remove harmful backlinks manually (e.g., by contacting the webmasters of linking sites), the next step is to use Google’s Disavow Links Tool.
Here’s how to do it:
- Create a disavow file in .txt format, listing all the domains or URLs you want Google to ignore.
- Format example:
Negative SEO with link Farming Method
As Google penalizes websites which are involved in link farming, So SEO expert tries to take advantage of this method to rank drop of their competitors. Though this is a very complicated process, still experts are doing this for kicking out of their competitors.
In case of doing negative SEO for Competitors, Experts use a kind of similar process. As they don’t have access to linking back from their competitors, So they use a method of building PBNs with interlinking then point links from these PBN’s to the competitors.
Check the diagram below to get a clear idea of how Negative SEO Expert uses Link Farming Method for Doing Negative SEO of their competitors.
So this is all about Links Farming. If you are practicing white-hat SEO for your brand then stay away from it. You can use this process for your competitor’s website if you want to drop their ranking from search engine.