We have just been continuing to build higher authority links from websites, that get legit organic monthly traffic, to our targets. if they dont get traffic we dont want them in our link profile. Same with niche edits.
When building guest posts(same with niche edits), we make sure that our content for posts is relevant (obviously), and that the content isnt over optimized (Ie keyword stuffed, kw density, spammy subtitles ect) looking like search engine food. Just as when these updates roll out like HCU, and guys sites get hit with an algo penalty from having low quality content, over optimized content, ect;(new tolerances/filters are being introduced each update to try clean up serp) SO DO websites and pages your links are on/coming from. Shit rolls down hill. My point is, if you are getting those cheap low quality links, these updates are going to effect not only your on page/on site, but also your offsite/link profile. I have seen a lot of sites that think they got spanked from updates and they think its an on page issue, when infact, the shitty links they have in their profile got nuetered/nerfed and no longer pass near as much power as they once did, which in result, causes your targets to tank looking like you took a penalty and in fact a person didnt. This is not in all cases, but i have seen this enough out in the wild to bring it up here.
What happens when you buy low end garbage links i wouldnt even want stuck to the bottom of my shoe?
With the new filters/aglos in place, low level content wont index for shit, having indexing issues? look at the quality of the site and posts your pulling links from. Even if you manage to force index them, its only a matter of time before HCU and other filters kick it out of googles cache. They dont want that trash eating up their index.
So..... How does that harm you when this happens? Welp, there are multiple things going on sending negative signals to the algos:
First - It causes negayive link velocity, which is a clear indicator of spam when links drop out of googles index enmasse. If you dont know what this is, look it up.
Second - Those links dropping off will throw your anchor distribution %'s off and in a lot of cases i have seen working on recovering sites that have been penalized, can trigger an over optimization penalty. The same goes for your NF/DF %'s (if you dont think this can harm you, think again. I have tested this out several times on our test sites and have seen it first hand)
Third - When all this goes down and you tank, you have ended up wasting a ton of time and flushed a ton of money down the toilet by building the SEO foundation of your website on quicksand.
Quality over quantity any day of the week. The volume game of spam blasting low level crap links for ranking is over, if a guy can rank doing so its a flash in pan, its only a matter of time before you get taken out.
I guess my mindset is; if you are going to do something, do it right, and do it right the first time.
Keep grinding guys, protect your link profile at all costs. I hope this info helps.