Google’s at it again, and this time, they’re taking down businesses that are building low-quality links into their websites. Google search quality team has long been going after those that try to manipulate search rankings by using unethical techniques, especially those employed by spammers.

Now, before you say, “But I thought link building was a good thing,” check this out:

Yes, the point of SEO is to help businesses rank better in search engine results. However, many companies use tactics that will actually bury your website farther down in results than where you started. The reasons for this is because the main rule with search engine optimization is to PLAY BY GOOGLE’S RULES. They’ve made their SEO guidelines public, so it’s important to pay attention to what they’re saying.

Of course, Google isn’t going to give away any trade secrets. That’s where companies like Red Rocket come into play. SEO requires extensive research, and without all the trial and error and testing, we’ll never really know what Google’s up to.

Penguin reinforces this.

The Penguin update is designed to stop spammy links from counting as votes to your website. The biggest mistake that most SEOs make is to build links haphazardly back their clients’ pages that have nothing to do with their individual topics. For example, you don’t want to build a link back to a page about SEO on a page that’s all about fly fishing. Sure, ActiveAngler.com is one of the number-one resources for fly fishing on the internet, and a link from such a high-quality website would be a great boost for PageRank purposes. However, it has nothing to do with what Red Rocket does.

Here’s the fix: Build links from websites that are relevant to yours. Ask webmasters that have “authority” pages to link back to you. Also. if you write lots of great content, you’ll attract the links. The idea is to create a link magnet (that is, make your content worthy of linking to).

The Penguin update is now preventing those low-quality, irrelevant links from counting as votes for your website, and many people are suffering. All of Red Rocket’s clients, however, are benefiting from this. We’ve spent countless hours developing link building strategies that work. All of those spammy sites are finally losing their rankings, and letting those hard-working businesses shine create a valuable presence on the web.

The biggest advice we can give to anyone is this: If someone offers you 15,000 links for $50, RUN!

If you think you’ve been bitten by the mighty Penguin, give us a call today at (970) 674-0079.