A link scheme is any plan to create links to or from a website mainly to influence its Google rankings rather than to help readers. Google's spam policies now file link schemes under link spam, defined as "the practice of creating links to or from a site primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings" [1].

A typical example: a company pays a blog to publish a guest post with a keyword-rich link back to its product page, and the link is left as a normal followed link. To readers it looks like an editorial mention. To Google it is a paid link that passes ranking credit, which is the first item on Google's list of link spam [1].

The older phrase "link scheme" comes from Google's earlier guidelines page of that name. Wikipedia summarizes the idea as "Any links intended to manipulate a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme" [2]. It is Google's own term for much of what the link building industry sells.

Google's spam policies list these examples of link spam [1]:

  • Buying or selling links for ranking purposes.
  • "Excessive link exchanges ('Link to me and I'll link to you') or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking" [1].
  • Using automated programs to create links.
  • Requiring links in Terms of Service without letting the other party qualify them.
  • Text ads that don't block ranking credit.
  • "Advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass ranking credit" [1].
  • Low-quality directory links.
  • "Keyword-rich, hidden, or low-quality links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites" [1].
  • "Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites" [1].
  • Forum comments with optimized links.
  • "Creating low-value content primarily for the purposes of manipulating linking and ranking signals" [1].

Link farms and private blog networks fit the same definition. Wikipedia describes link farms as "tightly-knit networks of websites that link to each other for the sole purpose of exploiting the search engine ranking algorithms" [7]. Search Insider does not support or suggest the use of PBNs.

No. A paid link is only a link scheme when it passes ranking credit. Google states that "buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web for advertising and sponsorship purposes", and that such links are not a violation "as long as they are qualified with a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute value" [1].

<a href="https://example.com/product" rel="sponsored">Example product</a>

Google prefers sponsored for "advertisements or paid placements (commonly called paid links)" and still accepts nofollow [6]. The value tells Google not to count the link as an endorsement. It does not tell readers anything, which is a separate obligation covered under paid link disclosure.

The honest version of this for buyers: a paid guest post, sponsored article or link insertion that carries a plain followed link is, in Google's wording, a link scheme. The fact that a vendor calls it "editorial", "outreach" or "white hat" does not change how Google's policy reads. What changes the risk is whether the link is qualified and whether the placement would exist without the payment.

Google enforces link schemes mainly by ignoring the links, and sometimes by manual action. When Google's systems neutralize spammy links, "any ranking benefit the links may have previously generated for your site is lost" and "cannot be regained" [4].

There are two routes:

  • Automated. Google uses spam detection systems including SpamBrain [8] and runs link spam updates when it improves them [4]. Since Penguin 4.0 in 2016, the usual effect is that bad links are discounted rather than the whole site being demoted [3].
  • Manual. A reviewer can apply an "Unnatural links to your site" action when Google detects "a pattern of unnatural, artificial, deceptive, or manipulative links pointing to your site", or an "Unnatural links from your site" action for sites that sell or place them [5]. Google says this can result in some or all of a site getting a manual action [5].

Google does not publish how many paid links it detects or what share of link schemes it misses. Any claim that a given network or placement type is "undetectable" is unverifiable.

Google has moved from demoting sites for link schemes toward discounting the links themselves. The definition has stayed broadly the same throughout: links meant to manipulate rankings.

2005: nofollow gives sites a way to opt out

Google's response to comment spam was the nofollow value, which let a site mark a link as not an endorsement. Wikipedia's spamdexing article notes Google proposed nofollow because of the amount of spam posted to user-editable pages [7]. See nofollow link for the full history.

April 24, 2012: Penguin targets link schemes

Google announced the Penguin update on April 24, 2012, aimed at sites using link schemes and other manipulative techniques to rank [3]. Penguin turned link schemes from a guideline issue into a ranking risk that hit whole sites.

October 5, 2014: Penguin 3.0

Google launched Penguin 3.0 on October 5, 2014, again aimed at sites using black hat link building [2].

September 23, 2016: Penguin becomes real time

Google announced that Penguin had become part of its core algorithm and updated in real time. Penguin 4.0 does not demote a site when it finds bad links. It discounts the links, meaning it ignores them [3].

2019 to today: sponsored values and link spam updates

Google added rel="sponsored" as the preferred way to mark paid links, while keeping nofollow acceptable [6]. Its spam policies now list link spam alongside other spam types [1], and Google describes link spam updates as improvements that neutralize spammy links [4].

A link scheme is the practice, while an unnatural links penalty is one possible consequence. A link scheme describes how links were created. An unnatural links manual action is what a Google reviewer applies after detecting a pattern of manipulative links [5]. Most link schemes never lead to a manual action: the more common outcome is that Google's systems neutralize the links and they stop counting [4].

Link schemeUnnatural links manual action
What it isA way of creating linksA penalty notice in Search Console
Who decidesThe site and its link sourcesA Google reviewer
Visible to the site owner?Not as a labelYes, in the Manual actions report [5]
Usual effectLinks neutralized [4]Some or all of the site affected [5]

To tell if a link is part of a link scheme, ask whether the link would exist if no one was trying to influence Google. Then check these signals against Google's examples [1]:

  1. Was anything exchanged? Money, a free product, a service or a return link, and the link is followed.
  2. Is the anchor text optimized? Exact-match commercial anchors in places where people would normally write a brand name.
  3. Is it in a template? Sitewide footer, widget or theme links placed across many unrelated sites.
  4. Does the site sell links openly? A "write for us" page with a price list, or many unrelated outbound commercial links.
  5. Is the content written to hold the link? A thin article that exists only to carry a link.

If you buy links, insist that paid placements carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" [1] [6], and treat any offer of a followed paid link as a link scheme under Google's policy. If you have a manual action for unnatural links to your site, Google's recommended steps are to get links removed or qualified, disavow those you cannot remove, and submit a reconsideration request [5]. If you sell or host paid links, qualify them, which is also Google's recommended fix for an "Unnatural links from your site" action [5].

The durable alternative is links that exist because the content deserves them: original data, genuine coverage and real relationships. Those links do not need hiding, and a link spam update has nothing to neutralize.