As you are working on your website’s search engine optimization, keep in mind there are several types of bad backlinks you don’t want.

Hi, I’m Cally, from the International Institute of Digital Marketing. These are five of the most significant types of backlinks to avoid.

1. Links From Spammy Sites

These are links back to your site from places you just don’t want to be associated with your brand. Your website could be receiving backlinks from these kinds of places and search engines may penalize you, especially if you start receiving tons of spammy backlinks.

If you’ve never researched your backlinks, now is the time. Use a Backlinks tool to get a list of backlinks to your site.

2. Links From Link-Mill Websites

Link-mill websites or paid link schemes bring the number of backlinks many site owners think they need to up their SEO game. The problem is more links aren’t always a good thing, especially when they come from dubious sources like link mills.

Search engines keep getting smarter and no matter how clever the latest scheme seems, it’s going to be found out eventually.

3. PR Release Links

Press releases can be a source of bad backlinks. But that doesn’t mean every press release opportunity is going to penalize your website.

You should, however, avoid filling a press release page with dozens of keyword-heavy links back to your site and then spamming it to dozens of newswires. The problem really comes in when brands do this repeatedly, trying to build backlinks to up their SEO.

4. Links From Sites Unrelated to Your Industry

Not every backlink is a great one if it’s wildly irrelevant or from somewhere completely unrelated to what you do.

When you’re starting to build backlinks to your website from fields and industries not related to your own, it can create confusion.

5. Discussion Forum and Blog Comment Links

Search engines can spot when backlinks are just keywords filled with linkson forum after forum. They are becoming smarter, thanks to AI and natural language processing,and notice when it’s not a conversation, but a broadcast.

As you research backlinks to your site, if you find a batch from any discussion forums, you can disavow them.

For more information, visit www.thedigitalmarketinginstitute.org