Is there even such a thing as "safe" SEO?

joseph15

joseph15

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People are always saying things like don't use this method or don't use that technique because it is unsafe. What does this even mean? Aren't you just as likely to be penalized if you're caught using a generic PBN as you would be with GSA blog comments?

Doesn't it make sense to do whatever is possible to get ranked regardless of "safety" because it doesn't really matter what you get caught doing wrong, but rather if you get caught at all?
 
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Some tactics are more risky than others. This ranges from things you should never do, to things that are completely safe that Google publicly says are okay to do. All tactics fall somewhere in between this range so you have to calculate your own risk tolerance. If it's one of your own sites you might be willing to try a riskier tactic, if your doing SEO for a friend or client you might want to stay with "Google approved" methods.
 
While there is no safe methods, there are methods that are riskier which need avoided by all means.
 
Safe seois following google seo advise to the t.

The time process is very slow for indexing ...
 
>Aren't you just as likely to be penalized if you're caught using a generic PBN as you would be with GSA blog comments?

You also have to ask what it even means to "be caught." For example if I point one generic PBN link at Wikipedia and then Google found out about, it would they deindex all of Wikipedia? And the on the other hand if I sent billions of GSA links with the anchor "buy cialis" at a domain that was registered yesterday, there's a difference in how that would be approach if it were "caught" by Google/Bing/Yahoo. Google "catches" spammy links all the time, but what that results in varies, whether that is ignoring the links, deindexing the site, etc.

>Doesn't it make sense to do whatever is possible to get ranked regardless of "safety" because it doesn't really matter what you get caught doing wrong, but rather if you get caught at all?

See above.
 
I'd say yes, and it's really rather simple. There are levels to it.

Safe - Long Term:
You're trying to have your site last a few years, essentially these backlinks if they ever do harm your website, it should be long after the website is very established and would most likely be able to recover from any penalty.

Safe - $$ AutoPilot
You're keeping low foot prints, you aren't exactly trying to be inconspicuous but you aren't looking for attention. A typical micro niche site.

NotSoSafe - Churn n Burn
You're trying not to get an algorithmic penalty. So you'll most likely get hit manually because all your links and anchors and pretty much everything is manipulated but you don't care. As you just need the project to last as long as it can, rank as fast as it can and then burn.

Not Safe - Desperation/lack of knowledge.
You throw everything, and end up getting algorithmic penalty in short order.
 
If your goal is for long term benefits, of course you would choose to stay safe. The point of trying to make it safe is to lower or yet avoid the risk of getting penalized or worst, banned.
 
Safest SEO I would say is no seo :) don't go the safe way, it will take you like 10 years to rank
 
On page SEO is safe, but it won't get you ranked. Sincere guest post would be a pretty safe bet. :)
 
Depends on the context.

You have to consider:

- Automated reviews (G's spider) and whether the links may just be discounted vs actually causing a penalty. Then whether the link tactics will result in a ranking penalty OR de-indexing.
- Manual reviews: are you in a niche or will you reach a level of success (i.e. page one for your niche's main keywords) where a manual review is more likely

For each of those scenarios various link types, strategies, velocity, ratios, etc will be treated differently. Another large factor will have to do with how many of those "bad" links make up the totality of your link profile as a whole, as well as the overall quality of your site and value it provides to visitors (i.e. affiliates sites tend to get hammered hard whereas a valuable "brand" or premium content site may not be hit as hard).

Regards,
 
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