In the practice of SEO, backlinks are like digital votes of trust. The more quality backlinks you have, the more credibility your site earns in the eyes of search engines. But here’s the catch: not all links are good. Some links can actually sabotage your rankings, especially if they’re toxic, irrelevant, or clearly manipulative. And if you’re not careful, these backlinks can quietly impede your SEO efforts without you even sensing it.
Whether you’re an SEO agency managing multiple clients or a business owner trying to rank your site organically, understanding which backlinks to avoid—or remove—is non-negotiable.
Let’s narrow down the ten most damaging backlink types that could destroy your SEO performance, and what you should do if they’ve already infected your link profile.
1. Link Farms: The Original SEO Scam
If you’ve ever come across a cluster of spammy websites all linking to one another with no real content or purpose, you’ve likely encountered a link farm. These were once a go-to tactic in black-hat SEO, but today, they’re a clear path to a Google penalty.
Link farms are created solely for the purpose of gathering backlinks. The sites themselves provide no value—no real traffic, no engagement, and definitely no trust. If your website gets mixed up in one of these networks, it’s only a matter of time before your rankings take a hit.
2. Undisclosed Paid Links: Risking It All for a Shortcut
There’s nothing inherently wrong with paying for exposure—as long as it’s transparent. But paying for backlinks and failing to mark them as “nofollow” or “sponsored” can violate Google’s guidelines.
Search engines see this as an attempt to manipulate rankings, and they respond accordingly. You may see a serious dip in traffic, or worse, get hit with a manual action. If you’ve used paid backlinks in the past without proper tagging, it’s worth reviewing those links and fixing them before they become a liability.
3. Links from Irrelevant Niches
Imagine running an interior design blog and getting a backlink from a site that reviews cryptocurrency exchanges. It doesn’t make sense to users, and it doesn’t make sense to Google either.
Backlinks from explicitly unrelated niches do more harm than good. They raise red flags about the authenticity of your link-building efforts. Relevance matters a lot. The more aligned the linking site’s content is with yours, the more powerful that link becomes.
4. Spammy Blog Comments: An Old Trick That No Longer Works
Once upon a time, dropping your link in every blog comment section across the internet seemed like a clever hack. But those days are long gone. Blog comment links, especially those that are spammy, off-topic, or stuffed with keywords, are now considered toxic.
Google’s algorithm is smart enough to detect these low-effort tactics. If your link profile is filled with shady blog comment backlinks, it’s time for a cleanup.
5. Low-Quality Directories and Bookmarking Sites
Directory submissions used to be a legitimate SEO tactic, until everyone started abusing it. Today, backlinks from generic directories or bookmarking sites with zero editorial standards are completely ignored by Google. In some cases, they might even hurt you.
If your SEO strategy still includes submitting to random directories just to get a link, it’s time to shift gears. Focus primarily on getting listed in reputable, industry-specific directories where real users might actually find you.
6. Sitewide Footer or Sidebar Links
Getting a link on another site sounds great, until you find that it appears on every single page of their website, usually in the footer or sidebar. These sitewide links can look spammy, peculiarly, if they use exact-match anchor text like “best SEO agency.”
Similar Read: Vira Stratagem’s Top 10 Strategies for Negative Link Removal
While one or two might slip under the radar, a pattern of these can trigger suspicion. It’s far better to have one contextual link in a relevant article than hundreds of identical footer links across someone’s site.
7. Backlinks from Foreign Language Sites
If your business operates in New York, and suddenly you’re getting backlinks from Russian or Chinese gambling sites, something’s definitely wrong. These kinds of backlinks typically come from hacked or spammy sites, and they’re a major red flag.
Google knows these links are unrelated to your content, your language, and your audience. They’ll presume you’re either buying backlinks or involved in some shady link scheme. Either way, your rankings will suffer.
8. Links from Hacked or Malware-Infected Websites
This one’s serious. If your backlink is coming from a compromised or malware-infected site, your credibility takes a hit. Not only does it damage your SEO, but it can also lead to users being warned that your site is unsafe.
In many cases, you won’t even know these backlinks exist until you run a thorough audit. Once found, act quickly—remove negative links, disavow the domains, and take steps to protect your site from being associated with these toxic sources.
9. Over-Optimized Anchor Text
Using keywords in anchor text is a good practice—until it’s not. When your backlinks all use the same exact phrase, like “top SEO agency,” it starts to look suspicious. This kind of over-optimization is a telltale sign of artificial link building.
Anchor text diversity is important. Mix branded terms, generic phrases, and long-tail keywords naturally. If you’re stuck with a bunch of over-optimized links, you’ll want to prioritize negative link removal and diversify moving forward.
10. Private Blog Networks (PBNs)
Private Blog Networks may promise high-authority backlinks, but they come with enormous risk. Google has invested heavily in detecting and penalizing PBNs, and once you’re flagged, recovery is tough.
If your SEO provider has been using PBNs to build links, that’s a red flag. It might be time to delete negative links and reconsider who you’re trusting with your business.
What to Do If You Have Toxic Backlinks
Now that you know what to look for, the next step is to clean up your link profile. Start by conducting a detailed audit using tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Search Console. Look for suspicious, irrelevant, or spammy backlinks.
Next, reach out to webmasters and request link removals, this works best for smaller sites. For persistent toxic links, use Google’s Disavow Tool to signal that you don’t want these links considered in your rankings.
If this sounds overwhelming, it’s wise to work with a professional SEO agency. They can handle the heavy lifting—auditing your profile, reaching out to webmasters, and verifying that you remove negative links without damaging your good ones.
Final Thoughts: Quality Over Quantity, Always
Backlinks are the backbone of any SEO strategy, but the quality of those links matters more than ever. A single toxic backlink won’t necessarily ruin your rankings, but a pattern of bad links will. It’s not about how many links you can get—it’s about how trustworthy, relevant, and organic those links are.
If you want your website to succeed long-term, be proactive. Review your backlinks regularly, work with experts when needed, and focus on earning links through content, relationships, and real value, not manipulation.
Don’t wait for your site to sink. Audit your backlinks now, delete negative links, and take control of your SEO performance before Google does it for you.
