Definition:
Negative SEO is any malicious attempt made against a website with the goal of damaging its ranking, worsening its indexing, or even making them de-indexed. In any case, these practices are usually penalized by search engines.
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Negative SEO Tactics
Negative SEO attacks can be done differently. Both off-page and off-page. For example, hundreds or thousands of spam links can be created to a website. This involves the use of link farms (sites created solely for link building). This is something detected by Google, who can flag the destination website for being involved in spam activity.
Another negative SEO tactic is to try to remove your best backlinks. Or also hack the website so that attackers can modify the content by adding unwanted links, redirecting the page or creating fake duplicate content.
How to detect a negative SEO attack
There are several ways to detect that your website is being affected by negative SEO. One of the most obvious is that Google penalizes you because it has detected fraudulent activities. It can also be observed when detecting a sudden drop in organic traffic, something that is linked to a drop in the rankings of individual keywords. Finally, you can also detect the removal of links from your own website with tools such as Ahrefs.
Frequently asked questions about Negative SEO
What is Negative SEO?
Definition: Negative SEO is any malicious attempt made against a website with the goal of damaging its ranking, worsening its indexing, or even making them de-indexed. In any case, these practices are usually penalized by search engines. In the Arimetrics glossary it is placed in a digital marketing context to clarify its role, uses and practical implications.
What is Negative SEO used for in digital marketing?
It is used to better analyse an action, tool, channel or behaviour related to acquisition, measurement, communication, sales or user experience. Its value depends on applying it to a concrete decision.
How is Negative SEO related to a digital strategy?
It is related to digital strategy when it affects objectives, data, content, technology, campaigns or conversion processes. That is why it should be reviewed together with the business context, not as an isolated term.
What should be considered when working with Negative SEO?
It is advisable to review its definition, context, associated metrics, limitations and possible risks. It is also useful to validate whether the concept has a real impact on performance, user experience or decision-making.