Can you build too many backlinks? If so, when? Why? How?

The common SEO question -> “Can you build too many backlinks for a new website?”

Simple answer = “Yes, if the quality of backlinks are poor. BUT, You will never be penalized for having any # of backlinks if they are from related and relevant sources i.e. authority sites in your field or are natural i.e. link bait, viral social media explosion, etc”

the assumption = “If you build too many backlinks, your new website will be banned and de-indexed from Google!”

SEO Facts:

• Google DOES have a “waiting period/sandbox” where they must build trust before allowing new sites to see quality rankings (this time can be very short or long depending on many many factors – different and more difficult post altogether)
• Google DOES shuffle and dance your result rankings when re-evaluating newer websites as backlinks come in, once your in the authority phase you’ll see this dance is less and less
• Google DOES NOT penalize based off quantity of  backlinks
• Google DOES NOT want webmasters to manipulate or game their algorithm
• Google DOES associate YOUR website with the websites that you are getting backlinks from

I feel that these are some really basic points, but say a lot about how your website is going to be treated within the “new” phase, roughly 6months to a year in most SEO eyes.  For a lot of new bloggers and internet webmasters, this seems like a long time.  But for Google, the quality of search results is everything, if they lose accountability with their users and the quality goes down the drain, then so does their company..  Google cannot allow spam, fraud, and other criminal acts or false information to dominate their rankings. So taking a few months or even just a year, before giving you the keys, ain’t that big of a deal is it? Your website is going to be around a lot longer than that..right?

This new phase will be a time period for Google to learn why your website should be ranking on the first page.  And how can Google learn about your website? Just like making a new friend, who are they associated with? Who says what about them??  In the online world, that’s your backlinks.

How does Google build trust with your site?

• Backlinks – quality and relevance
• Content – unique and duplicate %’s
• Website quality – html/css/etc errors? any cloaked links? keyword stuffing/spam, blah blah
• Domain age

Well, here is my take and experience with backlinks and new websites.

10,000 (indexed) backlinks or more per month within any of the the first 3 months attracts attention, you will be scrutinized further and possibly manually reviewed. If you pass and those backlinks are natural, than you are the man or have some friends who own Facebook or Youtube and happened to drop your link front page.. Only new websites with massive content at launch, >1,000 pages should be looking to generate a backlink footprint anywhere near this PER month so early on.

Backlinks that are NOT relevant or related should NOT be built in high quantities PER domain.  The best way to avoid any penalties and see positive results, is to make sure they come from different domains, never stack 1,000′s of backlinks from a single domain, especially if it isn’t relevant.

Backlinks that are from authority and other relevant sites in your niche/market/profession/etc you will NOT be penalized for, build as many as you can.  These look absolutely wonderful to Google and will greatly increase your search engine rankings quickly. You can spam higher numbers of these backlinks PER domain but I would recommend having a diverse variation in anchor text to reap the most benefits.

So there you have it folks, it’s not really the “amount” of backlinks as it is the quality and source.  If you spam thousands and thousands of backlinks from junk domains you could be penalized, but most likely all of those links will be de-valued a lot.

SEO Tips Backlink Strategy for New Websites:

1. Build as many links as you can from related/relevant websites
2. Build high PR/quality non-related backlinks from as many DIFFERENT domains as you can (not as many per domain)
3. Diversify your backlinks as much as you can
4. Keep your anchor text natural – target numerous keywords and phrases, mix it up

SEO Tips for Backlink Tools/Creating Backlinks Manually:

• Aim low quality/junk backlinks to Web 2.0 and other sites that then pass the link juice to your money site (buffer buffer buffer, don’t ever spam your main domain!!)
• Make sure to not repeat the same “footprint” of backlinks, for example, do not spam the same 500 article directories every week with the same URLs/anchors and content types.  This will raise a red flag as we have seen many of the directories been hit post-panda.
• Never inter-link websites on the SAME ip address.  This is gaming the system and Google will nail you for it. Even if your using a high PR authority site.
• Get blog comments, article posts, press releases, directory listings, social media links, social bookmarks, and don’t stop.  Keep blending, twisting and changing, you’ll build a network of link juice in no time.