Paid links?

[windocleaningdublin]

Semrush is listing all paid links in red. Is this a bad thing? From what have read 90% of the SEO is within the grey area. Some websites have paid and free listings but all of it is listed as paid for some reason

 

[nshep]

I think if SEMrush can figure out that those links are paid, Google can, too. Best case scenario, they ignore those links in your ranking. Worst case, you get punished for them. I would never pay for links, it pretty much always hurts you in the long run.

 

[Colin]

According to Google:

The following are examples of link schemes which can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results:

• Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link