What is a toxic link in SEO?
A “toxic” link is generally considered to be a link that has the potential to harm your website’s ability to rank. However, not all SEOs are aligned on how to define toxic links and whether their presence actually could hurt your ability to rank.
What Are ?
Toxic backlinks are links from untrustworthy website sources that can harm your domain’s reputation. Toxic backlinks can cause your website to be penalized by search engines, affecting its visibility and rank in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Why Are Dangerous?
Toxic backlinks are dangerous for several reasons. First, if search engines identify toxic backlinks, they can impose penalties on your website. This can often involve reduced visibility in search results or even complete removal from SERPS.
Secondly, high-authority sites may distance themselves from your website if you have a large number of toxic backlinks pointing to it. This can have a damaging impact on your website’s reputation by association. Other sites may be reluctant to link to you if they think your website contains toxic content.
How Can I Detect ?
There are methods to detect toxic backlinks that can be applied manually or via link audit software. The key factors to look for when checking backlink toxicity include:
- Domain authority: If the domain linking to you has low domain authority, it may be a red flag.
- Link types: Links from certain sources, such as link exchanges, are considered potentially toxic and should be monitored.
- Anchor text: Anchor text that does not match the keyword/subject of the content it’s linking to can be deemed as suspicious.
How To Remove
If you detect toxic backlinks on your website, the first step to take is to contact the webmaster in question and request they remove the link. If this is unsuccessful, you can submit a disavow request to major search engines to alert them you do not approve of the backlinks. This will prevent them from counting as a vote of authority and having a negative impact on your website.
Finally, keep monitoring your backlink profile and strive to build links from high-authority sites to ensure your website is seen in the best possible way.