Link Building: Reduce The Risk, Maximize The Reward via @sejournal,

Using link building as part of your SEO strategy can be a roll of the dice.

Links are undeniably valuable for achieving higher rankings and search visibility. However, as Google cracks down more and more on practices deemed as spam, the risks of link building are just as great.

Though it remains an important ranking factor for most search engines, link building is fraught with black-hat tactics and bad actors – one wrong move, and you may end up taking a walk on the dark side.

So, how do you steer clear of the common link-building pitfalls?

How do you avoid the risks involved with outdated link tactics and shady providers?

In our new ebook, The Dark Side Of Link Building, author Loren Baker takes you through eight black- and gray-hat tactics, as well as what to look out for and how these tactics can be trouble.

The Dark Side Of Link Building

So, what exactly is on the “dark side” of link building? What happens to sites that use spammy SEO tactics in their link development strategies?

“The thing about black-hat tactics is that they sometimes work really well – that is, until they don’t,” writes Baker. “When they stop working, they tend to implode. And when that happens, you could be in for a lot of work undoing the damage.”

And if you’re not careful, your website could wind up banished to the outer regions of Google forever (or at least until you clean up your backlink profile and win back your good standing).

Manual penalties by Google may be rare, but they aren’t the only risks of poor link-building tactics.

Ultimately, they can be very costly, as you’ll end up wasting money on links that either don’t work now or will stop working in the future.

So, is there a way to use these tactics ethically in ways that improve search?

In this guide, Baker also looks at the positive side and explores whether these tactics can be used effectively to improve search visibility, brand awareness, or reputation.