How exactly does a website get labeled as being a “bad neighbor” anyway? Simply put, any website that tries to increase their rankings by using any illegal means will come under fire from search engines. Websites with tons of meaningless directories also cause the ire of search engines so for any site with too many link directories; it might be a good time to check where some of these links lead to.
There aren’t many ways to find out if a website is blacklisted by search engines as the list always changes, so a site that is blacklisted now can find itself removed from the list later the same day. The easiest way to check this, however, is by typing in “site: (name of website)” into the search engine. If the search engine did not return any results then that site is currently blacklisted and should be avoided like the plague in terms of creating outbound links.
If a webmaster finds that they have numerous outbound links to various website, there are several reporting sites that can check the legitimacy of the connected URL’s. These reporting sites will cite websites that are found to be conducting some underhanded tactics. When it comes to a website’s success, it all boils down to being alert and to always do background checks on any site offering backlinks to theirs. A reckless webmaster can find their website under a heap of trouble if proper online conduct and rules are not followed.
About guest blogger
Nicole McGrey is a teacher at Edinburg High School for 5 years and currently taking PHd at University of Illinois. Her writing includes few notes about Eric Schiffer. Follow her on Twitter @NicoleMcGrey
