Tracking Backlinks In Google Sheets (Is It Safe?)

[DeadpoolSEO]

Hey Guys

Just wondering what your thoughts were on this question?

I have created a simple Google Sheets document to back engineer my competitors Authority Links (Niche Edits & Guest Posts).
I am tracking all the main info such as: DR, Traffic, Type, Words, Topic, Date Published, Anchor Text & Target URL.

I then do tracking for my site competing and try to do a like for like or better Guestpost / Niche Edit.

Not sure if this is how you do reverse engineering or not (I used Ahrefs, cleared out all the pillow links and comments, forums etc).

Edit: The Anchor Text for each Guestpost / Niche Edit is Hyperlinked to the actual article.

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Anyway, the main question: Tracking Backlinks In Google Sheets (Is It Safe?)

My worry is that I am basically making it too easy for google to see my backlink campaign and they would know I am breaking their TOS and do a Manual Penalty or something.

I am wondering If I should just download Microsoft Office Excel and use that instead? Google Sheets is just so much easier / convenient.
Worry/Problem is, I am spending upwards of $2K on links per month (Guestposts / Niche Edits) and don't want all that money wasted.

Thoughts?

 

[rafark]

Some people are paranoid and would not do it. However, it’s pretty hard for google to connect all the dots and penalize a site based on this (google can barely know what the sheet is about to begin with), so in my opinion it doesn’t matter.

 

[BuildMoreLinks]

Google knows everything, even if you don't use Google spreadsheet or Chrome or Google search.

 

[Starblazer]

Don't help Google to penalize your site. It's better to keep this data on your PC or at least, don't make the sheet public.

 

[JessePinkmanBB]

No, as long as you keep the document in Private, it shouldn't be fetched by Google or used in that way. That would be a huge privacy breach.

 

[rafark]

Don't help Google to penalize your site. It's better to keep this data on your PC or at least, don't make the sheet public.

Doesn’t matter if it’s public or private. It’s in google’s server's anyway.

It would be unwise for google hand out penalties for data like this. Google can’t really tell the context of the contents of these files. It could be someone analyzing their competitors or even a website owner that’s tracking all the websites that have mentioned their site.

I just don’t think google would penalize based solely by parsing someone’s spreadsheet.

 

[jaerehan]

Make your PC to store all the backlinks data for your purpose alone. I think Google doesn't need this kind of data. As you are investing more, just like a notes or idea regarding creating backlinks for your reference.

 

[DeadpoolSEO]

No, as long as you keep the document in Private, it shouldn't be fetched by Google or used in that way. That would be a huge privacy breach.

I just checked and it's set to "Private To Me Only".

 

[rafark]

No, as long as you keep the document in Private, it shouldn't be fetched by Google or used in that way. That would be a huge privacy breach.

I just checked and it's set to "Private To Me Only".

Google doesn’t need to fetch it. It’s already in its servers. Every single google spreadsheet, doc, Gmail email, etc is saved and analyzed by google. It’s not a privacy breach. It’s like blackhatworld. Every private message is stored in Bhw’s server and thus it’s available to the admins even though they’re not public.

But back to the question, do you really think google would say: “oh look this file is about backlinks so I’m going to penalize the sites mentioned there”? I don’t think there’s enough evidence or grounds for penalizing sites just based on this.

 

[DeadpoolSEO]

I just found this also:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/free-office-online-for-the-web
Apparently "Free" but you never know with Microsoft lol

 

[GenesisOne]

I have lost 1.2 Tb of files stored in G cloud.
They blocked my access.
They know and they will f*ck you up.
Buy one of this student accounts and use office locally.

 

[Starblazer]

Doesn’t matter if it’s public or private. It’s in google’s server's anyway.

It would be unwise for google hand out penalties for data like this. Google can’t really tell the context of the contents of these files. It could be someone analyzing their competitors or even a website owner that’s tracking all the websites that have mentioned their site.

I just don’t think google would penalize based solely by parsing someone’s spreadsheet.

I once had a penalty for having Google Sites containing my backlinks (in another gmail account). The links in Google Sites are nofollow and the sites are not even submitted in GSC. I tried everything else to remove the penalty but finally I got approved after deleting these Google Sites. There is a strong reason why Google won't reveal details about manual penalties. They know a lot of information about us but they maintain low profile.

Moreover, the algos are so advanced that there is no need for any person to connect the dots as this can be done within a few seconds by the algo. According to competitor research, Google will already know which links OP will create next and they wait for it to happen like snales in the grass. By the time he receives a penalty, he wouldn't even doubt his spreadsheet and go on to remove all his quality links and end up losing rankings.

 

[xReminisce]

No, as long as you keep the document in Private, it shouldn't be fetched by Google or used in that way. That would be a huge privacy breach.

Like google cares
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-google-privacy-lawsuit-idUSKBN23933Hhttps://www.brouse.com/corporate-tips-google-sued-again-for-data-collection-misconducthttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10...federal-court-misleading-use-of-data/11649356They do whatever they want, and continue to

I wouldnt even risk it, you are a small fish, but google likes to stomp on everything

Rules are for people like us
giants like google simply does whatever they please

 

[JessePinkmanBB]

Google doesn’t need to fetch it. It’s already in its servers. Every single google spreadsheet, doc, Gmail email, etc is saved and analyzed by google. It’s not a privacy breach. It’s like blackhatworld. Every private message is stored in Bhw’s server and thus it’s available to the admins even though they’re not public.

But back to the question, do you really think google would say: “oh look this file is about backlinks so I’m going to penalize the sites mentioned there”? I don’t think there’s enough evidence or grounds for penalizing sites just based on this.

Just because they store the data doesn't mean they can freely access it - wouldn't you consider it a privacy breach if BHW admins checked users' DMs out - or would you be fine with that? Your last point makes sense yes.

 

[rafark]

Just because they store the data doesn't mean they can freely access it - wouldn't you consider it a privacy breach if BHW admins checked users' DMs out - or would you be fine with that? Your last point makes sense yes.

They can and they do it all the time when investigating an account. I’m fine since I’m the one giving them the data. It’s not like they’re taking it from me by by force or without my consent. Same thing with google (and Facebook, etc), you’re giving them the data voluntarily. Once it hits their servers, they can do whatever they like (at least technically since it’s under their control)

 

[tidelow]

I use private airtables, G is a peepingtom.

 

[solidguy_82]

No. Google don't have rights to see what are you using in sheets unless they receive court order
So it's safe