As you probably know Google got really unhappy with link networks. Especially free and low-quality ones. If you need to track down link networks manually, you need to know what factors are taken into account while doing so. Plus it’s always a good idea to double-check any automatically-generated result that claims the need to remove your link from a specific site. It can just be downright wrong. To be on the safe side, you actually need to be absolutely sure that the presumably link network is actually one. Now, let’s get your hands dirty with all the nitty gritty factors that make a bad link network.
This sort of activity requires staying in focus for a long time. With that in mind, you want to check out the organization apps that can simplify your business life by concentrating your attention on the right things.
Automation is Still OK
Though you do want to understand the factors that are taken into account while detecting a link network, it still makes sense to automate link network detection. That allows you to drastically decrease the time that you’ll need to find such sites. The plan would be to automatically detect such sites in the first place. That done, you’ll be able to just check the sites that look suspicious and may not be bad ones. Automation works best when you need to check a whole lot of links pointing to your site. If you just need to check a few links, it’s absolutely OK to do that manually because it’s faster and cheaper for the most part.
Software for Detecting Link Networks
There are a bunch of pretty neat options out there. First off, you may want to use LinkDetox. It’s a very robust tool that explains why exactly a particular link is a dangerous or suspicious one. I personally think it’s the best tool in the niche just because of that feature. You just easily get to know why a certain link is harmful for your site. There are a few more tools that allow you to find risky links, but they don’t explain that in-depth why exactly they consider risky links as such. That said, you still may want to check a similar feature in SEO SpyGlass from SEO Power-Suite. Also, this feature is available in a brand new online tool called WebMeUp.com. The benefit of the last two tools is that you can try them for free, as opposed to Link Detox.
Same C-Class IP Address
It makes perfect sense to assume that you may be looking at a link network because you have a few (like over 10) links coming from the same C-Class IP address. There are a bunch of tools out there that allow you to detect such IP addresses. Before we tackle the tools, you want to make sure that you perfectly understand what a C-class IP address actually is. Each site has an IP address. If the third (C-position) has the same number, it means those sites are somehow related. Note 45 in this example.
66.143.45.89
66.143.45.32
So, those are IP addresses of two sites and they are somehow related because the values in the C-position coincide (45).
Long story short, you want sites that don’t have C-class IP addresses that coincide. Unlike the previous example, sites with the following IP addresses would be considered un-related:
66.143.45.89
66.143.46.32
Just because the c-position has different numbers. So, your sites should not be hosted in a similar address space. Now that you know what a C-class IP address means and why you don’t want it, you need some tools that allow you to track down such sites.
Same Domain Name Registrant
A registrant is the person, organization or company that registered a particular domain name. Some careless link network owners use the same contact details to register a few domain names. If you have a few links coming from domains that have the same domain name registrant, it’s also a sign that you may be dealing with a link network. That said, wiser registrants use different names for registering domains. In that case it’s not that easy to detect a link network using this sign only.
Same IP Address
Network owners tend to use the same providers for hosting their link network sites. What’s more, such sites also have the tendency of using shared hosting. That’s how you get links from the same IP address. If you have a few links pointing to your site from a few domains but the same IP address, it can also be a sign, though a slight one, that you participate in a link network.
Same DNS
If you have a whole lot of links that come from the same DNS ((Domain Name Server), that can be one more sign that you’re dealing with a link network. That’s actually pretty easy to explain because if you’re a network owner, you tend to buy hostings from the same providers. Nothing new under the Sun.
Same Google Analytics Code
In case you have a backlink from a site that has the same Google Analytics code as other linking domains, you need to take a closer look at the site. That said, this particular reason can be misleading because tons of agencies manage Google Analytics accounts for their clients. So, you need to take a closer look before you make up your mind and accuse that site of participating in a link network.
Same Google Adsense Publisher ID
It’s pretty much the same situation described above because many agencies manage their clients’ Adsense Publisher accounts as well. You can use this sign as an additional one only. It’s a bad one only if it’s combined with other negative or at least suspicious signs.
Networks Seem to Be Dangerous Nowadays
Even such a famous network of bloggers as MyBlogGuest.com was penalized by Google, let alone all sorts of lower-profile ones. As a rule of thumb, you want to stay away from all sorts of link networks. It’s by a long shot better and safer work on one-on-one relationships in your niche. It takes time but you risk nothing in that case. Plus you get to know new people that you can potentially cooperate and do business together down the road.
Conclusion
Since most link networks have common signs that allow to detect them as such, you need to always be vigilant against such sites. That’s because Google can track down that sort of sites the same way and, odds are, even easier. Play safe! Failing to do so may result in having inbound links from notorious or at least suspicious resources that sink your site deep under water. The good news is that now you’ve got a good handle on how to detect a link network. Use the knowledge to secure your site.
