Building links, sharing content and inspecting previously garnered link acquisition are all normal aspects of proper SEO maintenance. Without a variety of links pointing to and from your blog or website, search engines will harshly de-prioritize your content in all targeted search engine results. Because of this, constant maintenance is required, as well as proactive acquisition of new links via link building. There is a lot of advice regarding links available on the web, but some of it is dangerous and useless to your long-term efforts. Today, we’ll talk about a few of the many terrible pieces of link advice out there so that you can avoid making these mistakes when improving your content.

“International Links Harm Your Website”

One of the biggest misconceptions out there is that pinging links to or from websites in other languages can actually harm your search engine optimization efforts. This advice is likely derivative of the belief that since many websites that utilize black hat SEO techniques and link building efforts often link to websites all around the world, that search engines penalize links to sites in other languages. The truth of the matter is that there are plenty of high-ranking websites in a variety of search engine niches that earn links from non-English websites. Do not be afraid to link to other, reputable websites in different languages and definitely do not disavow links just because they were earned on a website in a different language or country.

“Rely Upon High-Value Metrics When Building Links”

Whether it pertains to domain authority, a website’s PageRank or another high-value measurement, many bloggers and webmasters avoid trying to earn links on websites that do not have high-value indicators. While Google PageRank does weigh link value to a considerable degree, Google does not automatically assign more link value to a given website just because it has a high PageRank. Likewise, domain authority is not an automatic guarantee that search engines will view other websites with more clout just because a link is earned. This bad advice ensures that many people miss out on earning great links from websites that may not fit a specific set of criteria. You can boost authority through links by having a diverse portfolio of earned mentions across a variety of websites – including some that might not be immediately recognizable if you only assess domain authority, PageRank and other comparable variables.

“Don’t Seek Out Sitewide Links”

Several years ago, search engines began really cracking down on purchased links. During this time, it was very common for websites to link directly to the main page of the site – as opposed to a specific piece of content – and so this advice propagated. Google and other search engines, however, have many different ways in which to detect whether a site is pinging links that were purchased or earned organically. There is no reason why you shouldn’t seek or otherwise disavow sitewide links that are earned legitimately. These will provide just as much benefit as other types of links and will not endanger your broader SEO efforts.