In general, the answer is no. Although Google’s algorithm is dynamic, link building still carries weight in the ranking factors. This is one of the white hat techniques used by link builders to achieve higher website ranking. However, here are a few things to avoid while link building. The three ineffective methods of link building include:

• Do Not Create Profiles on Bookmarking Sites

While being involved in bookmarking can seem like a winning strategy, some of the back links created may not be beneficial for your site. If a service links you to hundreds of other sites, you may find yourself removing several links because they are simply not quality links. If you want to spend a lot of time parsing through links, you can use this approach. Otherwise, it may be an inefficient way to increase your website’s ranking. Why? If no one links to your profile page, then, you’re less likely to get a higher ranking. The links should be credible and of high quality to have the most impact on ranking.

• Do Not Focus on Directory Link Building

While this used to be a beneficial way to build links, after the Penguin update avoid building links your to site by linking to every generic directory that’s not directly related to your industry. First, linking to websites will requires a minimal amount of effort, but it has a significant negative impact. You can quickly boost the total number of inbound links that can be counted on an inbound link report but sooner or later it will catch up to you. The concern is that the link value is not enough to drive traffic to the website. This is why experts don’t recommend focusing your efforts on low quality directories.

• Avoid Syndicating Articles Across Several Relevant Sites

When you syndicate articles, you hurt your ranking with duplicate content if you are using an article spinning software. Companies must have a number of quality backlinks to ensure that they can get the rankings they desire. Search engines are growing more and more sophisticated in recognizing duplicate content. When they find it, you may be hit by a manual or algorithm penalty and lower the ranking of your site overnight, plus it can end up costing you thousands of dollars attempting to clean up the mess you created. If you’re working on link building, ensure that the sites you link to have fresh, relevant, and engaging content.

It’s not that you should be spending less time on link building, but you should be spending less time on linking to sites that exhibit any of these above characteristics. This type of link building is not fruitful and may lead to ranking decreases. Otherwise, link building is considered an advantageous practice that should be considered. Do not advise your customers to discount link building all together because I think it’s a necessary evil, but do consider avoiding the practices in link building that are known to reduce your credit score.