Most SEOs Think Competitors Can Hurt Them With Links

[usedcarforsale]

Time after time, Google has said spam links can't hurt you. Google said it a bunch of times, competitors can't hurt you, but most SEOs do not believe that. So I decided to run a new poll asking Can Spam Links By Competitors Hurt You In Google?

I wanted to share those results with you.

We had a nice number of responses, 284 to be exact and most said - spam links from competitors can hurt you.

73% said Yes, Spam Links By Competitors Can Hurt You In Google
25% said No, Spam Links By Competitors Can't Hurt You In Google
There were seven "other" open end responses, nothing really all that interesting to share.

Forum discussion continued at Google Webmaster Help.

[eyanharve]

spam links generated by competitors and it can hurt your website in google.

[mypaperplates2]

If this is true, everybody would have started building spam links to competitor's sites. It's a myth around. Spam links can not hurt your search results rankings.

[flyingstone88]

Thank you very much for the information.It is usefull.

[robinjackman]

yes competitior can hurt your website when they generate spamming link for your website.

[LittleCloud]

Horrible. What if both generate spamming links for each other??? I can't believe this.

[WebSEOGuy]

I've read a interview with John Mu from Google. He admits than in some situations, the link posted by competitors may hurt you.

[bermuda]

Well, although bad links may hurt the websites but some other items too have roles to play over here. For example, if a site is of high quality, powered by many great and strong incoming links and then suddenly some bad ones are added, the site may not experience rank losses because it already enjoys a trustworthy status. The other thing is about time factor because all your competitors are already busy with their own link building plans and may not simply be interested in focusing on other jobs.