To keep your website healthy, experts suggest that you remove bad links to your website to improve your ranking in search engines, but for some reason, some companies refuse to remove them. Why? Unfortunately, the reasons are not so obvious, but many webmasters have justified their reasoning and simply refuse to remove them. Here are some common reasons why.

1. Novice Website Owners are Unaware

Some novice website owners are simply unaware of backlinks and how they affect your ranking. They don’t know which links are good or bad or even how to access them to view them and remove them. The lack of awareness is what leads to lower rankings. Many companies are unaware until a professional evaluates the website and tells them what’s going on. Focus on natural links. They are more beneficial to your website in general.

2. They Work!

Just because it’s a bad link does not mean that it doesn’t generate traffic. That’s the beauty of black hat SEO links. They generate traffic fast, but it is the wrong type of traffic and for the wrong reasons. If you’re selling dresses and you put a link on your website for the most popular item on the Internet that’s unrelated to dresses, it may generate traffic. In fact, some people visiting from the bad links may even be interested enough to buy. Some people will hedge their bets and keep the bad links for the traffic and run the risk of having their website removed.

3. Lack of Time

Many business owners simply do not have the time to remove bad links from their site. Most companies focus on the aesthetic properties, content, and keywords. Even though backlinks make more of a difference in search engine ratings, they are less likely to pay attention to them.

4. They Don’t Know the Links are Not Reputable

Some companies simply don’t know which links are reputable and which are not. In general, .gov backlinks are going to hold more weight than a random traffic generator site with no real content available. If you read the website and you don’t gain any knowledge, it’s probably not a good link.

5. The Website is Only Used for Referrals

Some people only use their websites to show people they refer. They are not worried about someone searching for their website to get more links. Thus, they leave bad backlinks because ranking is not important to them. This is dangerous logic and could be keeping you from gaining valuable traffic.

Many people refuse to remove links from their websites, but some of the reasons are valid. Other reasons originate because of lack of knowledge or time. Whatever your reason, ensure that it’s a valid reason. Otherwise, it could result in a total shut down of your website. If your site is shut down, you could lose clients and sales. Avoid impending disaster and be proactive by removing links that are considered “bad” by Google’s algorithm.