can negative seo still harm competitors effectively?

It is much less effective than it used to be. Google seems better at ignoring a lot of low quality spam links especially for established websites.
I think site owners are better off focusing on improving their own SEO rather than worrying too much about negative SEO.

On a scale of 1000s of sites, I'd say negative SEO is basically dead.

The Google algos have evolved a lot over the last couple of years - they're just far better at ignoring toxic links than they used to be. What would've tanked a site in 2018 does nothing now. The filter eats it before it ever touches rankings.

The one caveat I'd add: it's not the spam links that scare me anymore, it's the reputation attacks. Fake reviews, false accusations spread across sites - that stuff gets picked up by LLMs and shapes how your brand shows up in AI answers. That's the vector people should actually be watching, not disavow files.

But classic link-spam negative SEO? I'd call it no longer alive.

Seo have become much better at ignoring many types of spammy external signals,nbetter ocus on improving your own site's quality, authority.

I think negative SEO is much less effective than it used to be because Google has improved at handling spam signals and ignoring many bad links.

I would not completely ignore it. Regularly checking backlinks, monitoring rankings and keeping your website technically healthy are still good practices. Prevention and monitoring are better than trying to fix issues later.

Grayson Vale said:

I have been seeing mixed opinions about negative SEO lately. some say google is much better now at ignoring spammy or toxic backlinks ,while others believe it can still cause ranking drops if done at scale.

what's your experience does negative SEO still pose a real thread today

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In my opinion, negative SEO is far more difficult to execute than what many think, particullarly if the only thing done is spamming their backlink profile. most sites that struggle have issues such as bad technical SEO practices, poor content, or even an not natural link profile. A solid site will bounce back a lot faster, so why not focus on making the site better?

google has improved a lot at ignoring spammy backlinks. in most cases, negative seo isn t as effective as it once was, and strong websites are usually not affected by random toxic links