Does Google penalize you for Guest links or link exchanges?

web_riches

web_riches

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Hi,

I am building up links for a travel-related blog, so I contacted other travel blogs and asked if they would do a link exchange.

Example:
I post an article (2200 words) with a contextual link to their site; in exchange, they add a link back to my site, either in a new article or in an existing one.

My site has a DA of around 17, and I am networking with other sites with DAs of 20 - 35.

Will Google slap me for this, or is it more accepted? I looked online (on Google) and did not find a good answer, so I posted here.

Thoughts?
 
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These are called link farms. Google wouldn't find anything wrong with your site but the other site gets penalized as they'll do the same with hundreds of sites like yours. When Google penalizes their site, all sites linking to them including yours comes under scrutiny. You'll receive a penalty without much explanation. Google won't remove the penalty until the host removes the link to your site.
 
i don't think so as long as it is valueable to the end user.
 
Starblazer said:
These are called link farms. Google wouldn't find anything wrong with your site but the other site gets penalized as they'll do the same with hundreds of sites like yours. When Google penalizes their site, all sites linking to them including yours comes under scrutiny. You'll receive a penalty without much explanation. Google won't remove the penalty until the host removes the link to your site.
Click to expand...
I am not reaching out to farms but to other bloggers who have travel blogs, looking to grow as well. (* I.E., I am not hiring a paid service, but like a personal e-mail outreach to other travel blogs.) Is that still the same thing?
1SEOWarrior said:
i don't think so as long as it is valueable to the end user.
Click to expand...
That is my thought as well, but I am finding a lot of contradicting information on the topic. It's contextual and in the body of context about something. For example, if it were a destination guide on Jamaica and that person has a blog on Jamaica, then I would link to their blog as a source of information. The sticking point would be if they provide a link back, and Google sees it as an exchange and not a one-way link, I think.
BassTrackerBoats said:
Link exchanges are almost always going to get caught by Google which is why it has not been mainstream SEO since 2013 or so.
Click to expand...

I think I am just old school; I've got to get up to speed. Is there a more modern method that will be better or more accepted in 2025? Perhaps a 3-way thing or something?
 
web_riches said:
I am not reaching out to farms but to other bloggers who have travel blogs, looking to grow as well. (* I.E., I am not hiring a paid service, but like a personal e-mail outreach to other travel blogs.) Is that still the same thing?
Click to expand...
In ideal case, you're not allowed to offer anything in exchange for a link. Bloggers linking among themselves is considered link farming.

Here is the textbook definition of link farming:
Link farming in SEO refers to the practice of creating numerous, often low-quality, backlinks from one website to another, with the primary goal of artificially boosting search engine rankings.
Click to expand...

You can't share backlinks. Google wouldn't bother if it's random but if one of the sites in your network does it with hundreds of sites, then the crawler hunts down sites eventually reaching up to you.

The worst thing about it is that the link will no longer appear in your backlink profile in either GSC or Ahrefs as the site gets deindexes but your penalty remains. Google won't remove the penalty even if you disavow all your links. They won't even reveal you why you got the penalty. So, you should figure it out on your own and beg the host site to remove your link. It's going to be a nightmare. I know many people who abandoned their sites due to such reasons. It's not worth the risk.
 
Not automatically, but if it looks like a link scheme too many swaps or low-quality guest posts—it can definitely raise red flags. Best to keep it natural and relevant, with solid content behind the links.
 
Sites that do a lot of "Guest Posts" are going to get nailed one day by Google too as that is just a different form of link exchanging.

Building your own network of sites that link to your site, and perhaps a few random links to authority sites like Wikipedia and such is really the way to control your destiny as much as possible.
 
Starblazer said:
These are called link farms. Google wouldn't find anything wrong with your site but the other site gets penalized as they'll do the same with hundreds of sites like yours. When Google penalizes their site, all sites linking to them including yours comes under scrutiny. You'll receive a penalty without much explanation. Google won't remove the penalty until the host removes the link to your site.
Click to expand...
G is ignoring links now. They aren’t doing penalties over links anyone can get for free, because then neg seo would be real.

It seems like a penalty because rankings drop but it’s because G ignored the link instead of passing PR to your website.

That’s why these types of links don’t do anything for rankings. Websites that have in text “write for us,” “free guest post,” and other similar phrases, but have no moderation, and allow any topic to be posted, for example.

This was the purpose of the algorithm that was known as Panda back in 2012. It is still part of the algorithm but it’s part of the core algorithm and no longer has a name. It works to devalue link farms and stops them from ranking.

G did used to penalize for links found on websites like this, but now they just ignore your links as long as anyone can post there. You can build better links and rank again without removing the links, or wasting your time on the old “disavow links tool.”
 
web_riches said:
Hi,

I am building up links for a travel-related blog, so I contacted other travel blogs and asked if they would do a link exchange.

Example:
I post an article (2200 words) with a contextual link to their site; in exchange, they add a link back to my site, either in a new article or in an existing one.

My site has a DA of around 17, and I am networking with other sites with DAs of 20 - 35.

Will Google slap me for this, or is it more accepted? I looked online (on Google) and did not find a good answer, so I posted here.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
All forms of backlinks can result in penalties. It all boils down to what Google sees your links as. If they come off as unnatural, irrespective of how you acquired them, you'd get penalized.

Link exchanges are even easier to spot.
 
Zombie Pop said:
G is ignoring links now. They aren’t doing penalties over links anyone can get for free, because then neg seo would be real.

It seems like a penalty because rankings drop but it’s because G ignored the link instead of passing PR to your website.

That’s why these types of links don’t do anything for rankings. Websites that have in text “write for us,” “free guest post,” and other similar phrases, but have no moderation, and allow any topic to be posted, for example.

This was the purpose of the algorithm that was known as Panda back in 2012. It is still part of the algorithm but it’s part of the core algorithm and no longer has a name. It works to devalue link farms and stops them from ranking.

G did used to penalize for links found on websites like this, but now they just ignore your links as long as anyone can post there. You can build better links and rank again without removing the links, or wasting your time on the old “disavow links tool.”
Click to expand...
It won't count as negative SEO if the owner is linking back to the site.

I'm not talking about PR and 2012 concepts of SEO. Google penalties do happen until recently. One of the domains I bought has a penalty 2 years ago. It showed up a penalty for link farm as soon as I added it to GSC. I don't know if anything has changed in these 2 years but I always advise people to find trusted sellers instead of getting backlinks from Fiverr, fb groups, or link farms.
 
As long as you’re keeping it natural and not doing obvious 1:1 link swaps at scale, you should be fine. Google like excessive reciprocal linking, occasional exchanges between relevant sites are pretty normal.

Just try not to use the exact same anchor texts or create a pattern.
 
Starblazer said:
It won't count as negative SEO if the owner is linking back to the site.

I'm not talking about PR and 2012 concepts of SEO. Google penalties do happen until recently. One of the domains I bought has a penalty 2 years ago. It showed up a penalty for link farm as soon as I added it to GSC. I don't know if anything has changed in these 2 years but I always advise people to find trusted sellers instead of getting backlinks from Fiverr, fb groups, or link farms.
Click to expand...
The problem with this is these aren’t 2012 concepts. Google still ranks pages via PR. Panda is still in use as part of the core algorithm. It has evolved significantly since 2012, however.

I’ve never seen a manual penalty for link farm specifically. I’ve seen them for unnatural links. Interesting.

Since at least 2022 Google has become very good at ignoring links from link farms and many other links anyone can sign up and get for free. When the links are obviously paid for that’s when manual penalties occur from my own experience of spamming links and buying links in recent times.
 
in my opinion this is the good strategy for backlinks but, don't do 2-3 links exchange from singel website and Keep your anchor text natural, and focus on relevance, not just DA.
 
web_riches said:
Hi,

I am building up links for a travel-related blog, so I contacted other travel blogs and asked if they would do a link exchange.

Example:
I post an article (2200 words) with a contextual link to their site; in exchange, they add a link back to my site, either in a new article or in an existing one.

My site has a DA of around 17, and I am networking with other sites with DAs of 20 - 35.

Will Google slap me for this, or is it more accepted? I looked online (on Google) and did not find a good answer, so I posted here.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
What you're doing right now seems reasonable and low-risk if done moderately, with quality and niche-relevance in mind.
Google is not going to "slap" you for a few well-placed, relevant link exchanges — unless it sees a manipulative, repetitive pattern.
 
Bilal031 said:
What you're doing right now seems reasonable and low-risk if done moderately, with quality and niche-relevance in mind.
Google is not going to "slap" you for a few well-placed, relevant link exchanges — unless it sees a manipulative, repetitive pattern.
Click to expand...
It's the opposite of low risk.

Link exchanges, relevant or not, are link farms that Google sees and discounts.

I've owned and sold link farms years ago, and when Google caught on to that process, they penalized a whole bunch of sites.
 
web_riches said:
Hi,

I am building up links for a travel-related blog, so I contacted other travel blogs and asked if they would do a link exchange.

Example:
I post an article (2200 words) with a contextual link to their site; in exchange, they add a link back to my site, either in a new article or in an existing one.

My site has a DA of around 17, and I am networking with other sites with DAs of 20 - 35.

Will Google slap me for this, or is it more accepted? I looked online (on Google) and did not find a good answer, so I posted here.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Link exchange is very dangerous. It can result in serious penalty from google if detecter by them.
 
BassTrackerBoats said:
Link exchanges are almost always going to get caught by Google which is why it has not been mainstream SEO since 2013 or so.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Don’t use link exchange if you want to avoid Google penalties. It’s a too risky and reckless link-building method nowadays.
 
Yes, if overused or done unnaturally, Google can penalize guest posts and link exchanges.
 
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