Red-flag list
Backlink blacklist: eight red flags in directory offers
Google publishes no list of banned sites that you can look up. What it does publish are spam policies, and certain offers break them in plain view.
Not one you can check. Google's SpamBrain system, announced alongside the December 2022 link spam update, learns to discount unnatural links, and manual actions are reported in Search Console. Third-party lists of bad domains are opinions.
Eight flags, in the order we notice them
One price, any site
A flat fee for a link on 'a DR 70 site' without naming it. You cannot vet what you cannot see.
Thousands of listings per hour
Submission blasts to hundreds of directories leave a thin, repeated footprint.
Every category on one domain
Casinos, dentists and plumbers on the same site is a link farm trait.
Exact-match anchors on demand
Anchor text that repeats your keyword and city on every link looks engineered.
Traffic that has vanished
A domain once strong, now with near-zero organic traffic, often lost trust.
Login requests
A link needs a URL, never your CMS password or Profile access.
Rankings promised
Anyone guaranteeing a position is selling hope. Nobody controls Google's results.
No way to see your order
If you cannot list what was bought and where, you cannot audit it later.
Spotted a flag: what now?
| Situation | Reasonable move | Not worth doing |
|---|---|---|
| Offer not yet bought | Ask for the domain list; vet three of them | Paying to find out |
| A few odd links already pointing at you | Leave them. Google mostly ignores junk links | Disavowing everything in a panic |
| Hundreds of toxic-looking links after a bulk submission | Export the list from Search Console and consider the Disavow tool | Re-submitting to more directories |
| Manual action message | Read it, fix the cause, file a reconsideration request | Ignoring it |
Why the word 'blacklist' misleads
People use the word as if a database existed. It does not.
What exists are signals: Google's spam policies, algorithmic systems such as SpamBrain, Penguin 4.0 since September 2016, and manual actions that appear in Search Console. A site that sells links to everyone tends to get its links ignored, with no announcement.
That is why an offer with no named domains is the biggest flag of all, since you cannot tell which signals it will trip.
A short word on anchors
Anchor text is the clickable words in a link. Plain brand names and bare URLs look ordinary because they are.
A dentist with fifty links all reading 'best dentist in Leeds' draws attention for the wrong reason.
How our marketplace avoids the pattern
Every placement is listed by domain with its numbers, and you choose each one yourself. No bundles.
We describe the inventory as vetted and traffic-checked from our own crawler and our own index, and we still tell buyers to open three rows and look. The thinner the page, the shorter the useful life of the link.
Anchor choice is yours. For natural variety, mix brand-name, plain URL and descriptive anchors, rather than your keyword plus your city on every one. See the free DR checker steps for a routine and the trial teardown for pitches that break these rules.
If you already bought some
Do not panic. Most odd links are simply ignored. Panic leads to rash disavow files.
List what was bought, from whom and when, and check Search Console for any manual action message. If a pattern worries you, such as hundreds of near-identical directory links from a past bulk submission, the Disavow tool exists, though Google advises using it only with care.
Then slow down. Build from relevant sources, and read the competitor walkthrough to see what a normal local link profile looks like.