The policy in plain language
Google's spam policies describe link spam as links intended to manipulate rankings in search results. The policy is broad on purpose. It covers buying or selling links that pass ranking credit, exchanging goods or services for links, excessive link swaps ("link to me and I'll link to you"), large-scale article or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchors, automated programs that create links, and requiring a link as part of a terms of service or contract without letting the site owner qualify it.
The key idea is intent and control. A link that exists because an editor decided your page was useful to their readers is fine. A link that exists because someone paid for the ranking effect, or because a network was built to manufacture links, is the problem.
What happens when links break the rules
Google has two broad ways to deal with link spam. Its systems, including the algorithm it calls SpamBrain, try to identify unnatural links and simply ignore them, so the money spent produces nothing. In more serious or obvious cases, a site can receive a manual action for unnatural links, which is reported in Search Console and can suppress rankings until the issue is cleaned up and a reconsideration request is accepted.
Many vendors argue that "Google ignores bad links now, so there is no risk." That is half true. Ignored links still cost you money and months, and manual actions still exist. A program that relies on links Google is designed to discount is a program that produces reports instead of results.
Paid links are allowed when they are labeled
Buying advertising is legitimate. Sponsorships, paid reviews, affiliate links and advertorials are normal parts of marketing. Google's rule is that paid links must not pass ranking credit, so they must carry a qualifying attribute.
| Attribute | When to use it | Effect on ranking credit |
|---|---|---|
| rel="sponsored" | Ads, sponsorships, paid placements, affiliate links | Signals the link is paid; not used to pass ranking credit |
| rel="ugc" | Links in comments, forum posts and other user-generated content | Signals the publisher did not editorially vouch for it |
| rel="nofollow" | Any link the publisher does not want to vouch for | Treated as a hint not to pass ranking credit |
| No attribute | Editorial links the publisher chooses freely | Can pass ranking credit |
Google treats these attributes as hints, and you can combine them, for example rel="sponsored nofollow". A sponsored link can still send traffic and awareness. It just should not be the thing you count on for rankings.
Four qualities that matter
An editorial link has four qualities, and a link missing any of them deserves a second look.
- Earned. An editor or author chose to link because the page helps their readers. Nobody paid for the ranking effect.
- Relevant. The linking page covers a topic close to yours, and the link makes sense in its sentence.
- In-content. The link sits in the body copy, near related text, not in a footer, sidebar, author box stuffed with keywords, or a "partners" page with 200 other links.
- On a real site. The site has its own audience and organic traffic, publishes for readers, and does not exist mainly to sell placements.
Why relevance beats raw authority
Third-party authority metrics such as DR or DA are useful shortcuts, but they are estimates built by tool vendors, not something Google uses. A site can carry a high score because it once had strong links, while today it publishes anything for a fee. A smaller trade publication read by your buyers often sends more qualified visitors and a more natural signal than a generic high-score blog that writes about crypto on Monday and dental implants on Tuesday.
What editorial links look like in practice
Typical editorial links include a journalist citing your original survey in a news story, an industry blog linking to your free calculator in a how-to guide, a trade association listing your research in a resource roundup, a university page referencing your dataset, or an expert quote with attribution in a feature article. Each one exists because the content gave the editor something worth pointing to.
Build something worth citing
Outreach without an asset is just asking for favors. Editors link to things that make their own content better. The most reliable assets fall into a few groups.
| Asset type | Why editors link to it | Typical effort |
|---|---|---|
| Original data and surveys | Journalists and bloggers need numbers they can cite | Medium to high |
| Free tools and calculators | Useful to readers, referenced in how-to content for years | Medium to high |
| Definitive guides | Become the reference page for a topic | Medium |
| Expert commentary | Reporters need quotes from qualified people | Low to medium |
| Digital PR campaigns | A story with a newsworthy angle earns coverage in bulk | High |
| Templates and checklists | Practical, easy to recommend | Low to medium |
Digital PR without the stunts
Digital PR works when the story is real. Original data about your industry, an honest analysis of a trend you see in your own work, or a useful index updated each year can earn coverage repeatedly. Stunts with no connection to your business may earn links, but they rarely bring relevant traffic and can look odd in your link profile.
Expert commentary and source requests
Journalists regularly look for qualified sources. Responding quickly with a specific, quotable answer, from someone with genuine experience, is one of the cleanest ways to earn links from news and trade sites. The answer has to be good on its own. Generic quotes are ignored.
How good outreach reads
Editors receive a lot of pitches, and most of them are templates. Outreach that works is short, specific and honest.
- Find the right person, the author who covers the topic, not a generic inbox.
- Read what they actually published and reference it accurately.
- Explain in one or two sentences why your asset helps their readers.
- Offer the asset, data or quote with no strings attached.
- Never offer money for a "dofollow" link, and never ask for a specific anchor text.
- Follow up once at most, then move on.
What we never do in outreach
Respectful outreach rules out mass emails to scraped lists, fake personas, pressure tactics, offers to pay editors privately for links, and link exchange proposals. These practices burn relationships, can violate the publisher's own policies, and fall squarely into what Google describes as link schemes.
Guest posting done properly
Guest posts are not banned. A genuinely useful article written by a qualified author for a publication that edits its contributors is fine. The problem is scale and intent: hundreds of thin guest posts on sites that accept anyone who pays, each with a keyword-rich link back home. If a site's "write for us" page lists a price per post, that is a placement, not an editorial link.
Offers to walk away from
Many link building services sell products that look like links but behave like risk. Watch for these patterns.
- Private blog networks (PBNs). Sites built or bought to link to clients, often on expired domains with thin content and no real audience.
- Link packages priced by DR or DA. "10 links at DR 50 plus for a fixed price" means the vendor is selling placements on sites that sell placements.
- Sitewide footer or sidebar links. A link repeated on thousands of pages looks paid and carries little editorial weight.
- Guest-post farms. Sites that publish anything on any topic for a fee, usually with a "sponsored" price list.
- Exact-match anchor quotas. Promises like "30 percent of anchors will be your main keyword" are a pattern search engines are built to spot.
- Guaranteed numbers of links from guaranteed sites. Editorial links cannot be guaranteed in advance by domain name.
- No list of live URLs. If a vendor will not show you exactly where links are, you cannot verify anything.
- Links that disappear after a few months. Rented links on sites that remove them when payment stops.
Why cheap packages cost more
A low price per link usually means the placement is on a site whose business model is selling links. Those links are the most likely to be discounted, so the real cost per useful link is very high. Worse, cleaning up a manual action takes time and attention that should have gone into growth.
The ten-point check
Use this checklist for every link, whether it comes from your own team, an agency, or a partner.
- [ ] The linking site publishes for readers and has visible organic traffic of its own.
- [ ] The site covers topics related to yours, not everything for everyone.
- [ ] The page itself is indexed and relevant to the linked page.
- [ ] The link sits in the main content, inside a sentence that makes sense.
- [ ] The anchor text reads naturally (brand, URL, or a descriptive phrase).
- [ ] Paid or sponsored placements carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".
- [ ] The site does not advertise a price list for "dofollow" posts.
- [ ] Outbound links on the page are few and editorially chosen.
- [ ] The link sends or could send relevant visitors, not just a metric.
- [ ] You can see the live URL and recheck it later.
Score the whole program, not one link
One mediocre link will not hurt you. A pattern of mediocre links will. Review links in batches each month and ask whether the overall picture looks like a business people genuinely reference, or like a campaign.
What a natural profile looks like
In a profile built by real editors, most anchors are your brand name, your naked URL, generic phrases like "this guide" or "their research", or descriptive phrases that vary. Exact-match commercial anchors exist, but they are a minority, because editors write for readers, not for your keyword list.
| Anchor type | Example | Role in a natural profile |
|---|---|---|
| Branded | AgencySEO | Usually the largest group |
| Naked URL | agencyseo.com | Common in citations and resource lists |
| Generic | "this study", "read more" | Common in news and blog copy |
| Descriptive or partial match | "a guide to technical SEO audits" | Frequent, varied wording |
| Exact match | "link building services" | Small share, appears naturally |
Do not set anchor quotas
There is no correct percentage, because every niche and brand is different. The safe approach is not to request anchors at all. Let editors write naturally. If your anchor report shows one commercial phrase dominating, something in the process is forcing it.
What a good link report contains
A link building report should let you verify every claim without trusting the vendor. At a minimum it lists:
- The exact URL of the linking page.
- The page on your site it links to.
- The anchor text used.
- The rel attribute (none, sponsored, nofollow, ugc).
- The date the link went live.
- The date it was last checked and whether it is still live.
- Why the site is relevant, in one line.
Recheck links over time
Links get removed, pages get redirected, and sites change ownership. A responsible program rechecks links regularly and reports changes, rather than counting a link once and forgetting about it. If a link disappears, you should know, and you should not be paying for it twice.
Editorial links inside a monthly retainer
At AgencySEO, link building services are part of a monthly retainer you buy online, with no sales calls and no setup fee. Small includes 2 editorial links per month, Growth 6, Scale 14 plus a digital PR asset each quarter, and Enterprise 24. Every link is live-checked and reported in your panel with the exact URL, anchor and attribute, so you can verify it yourself. Plans are month-to-month, you cancel in the panel, and you keep ownership of all content and accounts. You can compare plans on the pricing page.
Links work best with the rest of SEO
Links amplify pages that already deserve to rank. If key pages are thin, slow or hard to crawl, links earn far less. That is why link building sits next to technical SEO and content work in every plan. If you want to know where you stand first, start with a free SEO audit of your site and current link profile.