A link scheme is a pattern for creating links mainly to influence search rankings. Google’s current documentation uses the term link spam for this, and defines it as creating links to or from a site primarily to manipulate search rankings.
What counts as a link scheme?
Google’s spam policy names examples such as these.
- buying or selling links for ranking purposes, including money, goods or services in exchange for links
- excessive link exchanges, for example “link to me and I’ll link to you”
- links created with automated programs
- paid advertorials or native ads with links
- widgets spread across many sites with keyword-rich or hidden links
- forum comments and signatures with optimized links
Advertising and paid placements are allowed when the link is qualified with rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".
Example
A company sets up five blogs that only link to its product pages, all with the same anchor text. That is a typical link scheme. A three-way exchange, where site A links to B, B to C and C to A, is a variant meant to hide the reciprocity.
Sources
- Spam policies for Google web search (link spam) – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
- Qualify your outbound links to Google – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
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