Backlink quality vs quantity: Should I keep spammy backlinks?

[LianaLewis]

Regarding backlinks, I'm wondering which is more advantageous for domain authority and Google reputation:

• Option 1: More backlinks including a lot of spammy links
• Option 2: Fewer backlinks but only reliable, non-spam links

I've researched this topic around the web a bit and understand that the answer is somewhere in the middle, but given my site's specific backlink volume, the answer might lean one way or the other.

For context, my site has a spam score of 2%, and when I did a quick backlink audit, roughly 20% are ones I want to disavow. However, I don't want to eliminate so many backlinks that my DA goes down. As always, we are working to build quality backlinks, but I'm interested in whether eliminating 20% of backlinks will hurt my DA.

Thank you!

[Midelal]

Backlinks are always about quality not quantity. Google does not like too many backlinks and especially spammy backlinks. I would suggest you to go with quality backlinks if you want long term and sustainable results otherwise there will always be a threat of getting penalized by google if you focus on spammy backlinks.

[Vanderlindemedia]

It's a myth that your DA drops because you put links in disavow. Disavow is a google only (or bing) tool, where lets say you get spammy links from a rogue domain and there's no way you can get 'm removed.

MOZ cant read your disavow file either you file into google. So i'm not sure on how the link is being put here. With MOZ, or any other tool, they just calculate the amount of incoming, FOLLOW links and presume your DA on some magical number. Thats all there is to it. Again, PA/DA has nothing in common at all with Google as Google maintains their own algorithm.

[LianaLewis]

Hello again,

Thanks for the clarification and the link. I've read through that and a few other sources across the web, but none of them seemed to answer my question the way you did, so thanks! Our backlink profile is pretty balanced with spammy and definitely not spammy,  so I'm not super concerned about it, but I appreciate the reminder.

[Advanced-Air-Ambulance]

I should also clarify, these may hurt you if they are your only links. If you have very little equitable links, this may cause Google and other search engines to falsely recognize you as spam. So just be careful and be on the look out for extra suspicious spam links. The balanced approach is the best approach: don't worry but stay aware!

Here is a more technical write-up from Moz that I reccomend: https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/help/link-explorer/link-building/spam-score

[Advanced-Air-Ambulance]

No problem Liana.

1. That is correct. Google understands that you don't have control of 3rd party sites, so instead of penalizing you, they minimize/ delete the effect the spam site links have.
2. Yes, but only kind of. It may or may not increase PA/ DA, but according to Google it shouldn't hurt you.

But yeah that's the gist of it! Instead taking the time investigating and disavowing links, you could spend that time cultivating relationships with other websites and businesses that could give you nice quality linkage.

Hope this answer works for you.

[LianaLewis]

Hello Advanced Air Ambulance SEO!

Thanks for the quick and thorough response.  Please confirm if I understand you correctly:

• I can leave spammy backlinks alone (not spend time disavowing them) _unless _I see a manual action in Search Console, which would indicate that Google sees an issue and is penalizing my site until I disavow the links. Without this manual action, there's no indication that the spam links are hurting my rankings or DA.
• Leaving spammy backlinks that don't incur a manual action may actually increase DA since leaving them maintains a higher volume of backlinks (albeit some spammy), and backlink quantity is a contributor to DA.

Thank you!

[Advanced-Air-Ambulance]

Hi Liana,

As far as spammy links, Google has done well detecting whether or not they are intentional, aka black hat. If they aren't, Google does not penalize you for these links, so it's best to leave them.

As far as a strategy for generating links to your website, you should always focus on high quality over quantity. High quality links give you exponentially more return than high quantity of bad links.

I recommend this article Google wrote for us to understand when and how to disavow links.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2648487?hl=en

In short, rarely do you ever need to disavow links, even if they have a high spam score. You are only hurt when they sense you are gaming the system and in the case that they detect or suspect unethical backlinking, you will be penalized with a "manual action". You can check if you were penalized, as well as disavow flagged backlinks, in the Google Search Console.