Top 5 Factors That Negatively Affecting the Value of an External Link

1. 
   

   
   Domain Banned from Google’s Index for Web Spam

   70% very high importance
   

   70%
   10.8% moderate consensus
2. 
   

   Domain’s Rankings Penalized in Google for Web Spam

   65% very high importance
   

   65%
   10.9% light consensus
3. 
   

   Link is Determined to be “Paid” Rather than Editorially Given

   63% high importance
   

   63%
   12.5% moderate contention
4. 
   

   Domain Contains Links to a Significant Amount of Web Spam

   52% moderate importance
   

   52%
   11.3% light consensus
5. 
   

   Domain Has Not Earned Trusted Links

   41% low importance
   

   41%
   11.8% light consensus