Linkspam can kill you

You all know what linkspam is.

Originally it appeared in internet guestbooks, where spammers would repeatedly fill a guestbook with links to their own site and no relevant comment. If an actual comment was given it was often just “cool page”, “nice website”, or keywords of the spammed link.

(That’s just one of the reasons why you should never leave comments saying “cool” or “great” or similar meaningless words).

Here’s a snippet from Squidbits – Greekgeek’s Squidoo Blog in which she explains

Linkspam is not harmless. If your webpage links to poor neighborhoods, to sites that engage in shady linking practices, or to a lot of non-relevant content, those links could lower the quality, trustworthiness and relevance of your article in Google’s eyes.

(If you use Squidoo, Greekgeek’s blog is well worth following)

But let me reinforce the message about link spam – we all have to actively fight the people who will bring down your site without a second thought. Does it give them pleasure to destroy your site? Do they act from malice? Or is it just a manifestation of self-centred stupidity? It doesn’t really matter – the result of their spam is the same.

Linkspam is more than a nuisance, it can kill your site.
Link spammers will attack you. Link spammers will attack ANYTHING out there, and nothing is foolproof. For success with a social site, or any site that allows user-generated content (such as a blog allowing comments), you have to be prepared to fight spam.

Even in these days of capcha programs, even if you scrupulously moderate every comment you receive, the disgusting people who revel in creating linkspam continue to do it and they’re always finding new ways to do it. There’s software for sale which linkspams for them!

Please don’t get tired of fighting linkspam, keep at it!

Report the offenders!
Matt Cutts (the head of Google’s Webspam team) wants your linkspam reports