You may have heard the term ‘link building farm’ or ‘link farm’ used in relation to the ‘bad neighbourhood’ concept in SEO circles. While it is fairly guessable what a link building farm might be, it is helpful to have a good understanding of the term.

‘Link farm’ is a term that often is defined as a collection of sites that all have hyperlinks to every other site in the group, and while some link farms are like this, not all are. Most link building farms build links for websites by creating a page that is almost entirely links. This means it has little or no actual content, one of the reasons search engines don’t value link farms.

The term ‘link farm’ is intimately associated with black hat techniques of search engine optimisation. There is a grey area, however, as there are legitimate reciprocal link schemes around that do not create the kind of spam that search engines hate. As with many grey areas in search engine optimisation, most companies choose to avoid it altogether.

Google is typically mysterious about their precise definition of what a link farm is. Google Webmaster JohnMu last year said that the search engine giant’s stand on this issue is to bring it back to what your viewers want. In a thread on the subject, he trotted out Google’s usual line when it comes to grey areas: ‘A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself “would I be doing this (linking there) if search engines didn’t exist?” Another way of looking at it is to think about where and how you will be linking … Do you want your visitors to see and use it or is it just for the search engines?’ (Google Groups, May 2008) The question of ‘would I be doing this if search engines didn’t exist’ is not hugely helpful as, in reality it covers about 80% of what webmasters do. The basic concept is clear, however. If you aim to increase the value of your viewer’s experience, you are on the right track, and if you are doing something that feels wrong, it probably is.

Being associated with a link farm can cause long-term harm to your site. Just as a good SEO campaign can take time to take effect, links to seemingly well-intentioned directories can turn bad over time. Webado, a webmaster commenting on the Google thread above, told of how, in her initial days of webmastering a charity site, she submitted it into a web directory. At the time, the web directory owners gave the impression that the directory was highly selective. Several years later, however, Webado discovered her site was still on the directory and now hidden among links to porn. The issue only got resolved when the directory was taken offline.

Not all sites are so lucky. Spammers are desperate to give their spam site credibility, and using a reputable site as a link is one way to do this. They do not easily let go, and usually will not respond to communication.

Link farms can be avoided by researching the sites you want your link featured on. Check a site’s PageRank and investigate its associates before submitting your link. The best way to ensure that your link is featured only in good neighbourhoods is to get the advice of professionals. Talk to your consultant at SEO Consult about linking as part of your SEO campaign.

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