The Truth About “Toxic” Backlinks: What Google Actually Cares About
June 9, 2025
First, Let’s Get This Straight: SEMrush Doesn’t Work for Google
SEMrush is a third-party SEO tool. It does not have access to Google’s internal algorithm or ranking system. Their "toxicity score" is based on their own set of rules and assumptions, which often err on the side of caution. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it does mean their reports should be interpreted with a grain of salt.
If you’ve run a backlink audit using a tool like SEMrush, you may have seen alarming red flags labeled "toxic backlinks." It's natural to feel concerned, after all, no one wants to risk a Google penalty. But before you hit the panic button, let’s unpack what these labels really mean, and more importantly, what Google actually pays attention to.
How Does Google Evaluate Backlinks?
Google's algorithm considers many factors when evaluating a backlink, including:
- Relevance of the linking site to your niche
- Authority and trustworthiness of the linking site
- Anchor text and natural placement within the content
- Overall link profile (diversity, consistency, etc.)
It does not use SEMrush’s toxic score. In fact, Google has become very good at simply ignoring bad backlinks, rather than penalizing your site.
Why Your SEMrush Report Might Look Scary
Many legitimate backlinks get flagged by SEMrush simply because they:
- Don’t allow SEMrush’s crawler (so SEMrush can't see the full content/context)
- Come from private blog networks or partner networks not indexed by SEMrush
- Appear on domains SEMrush doesn’t recognize or hasn’t categorized properly
As a result, your report might show a lot of red that Google doesn’t actually see as negative at all.
What Metrics Should You Be Looking At Instead?
At our agency, we use Majestic to analyze backlinks. Why? Because it focuses on:
- Trust Flow: How trustworthy a page is based on how trustworthy sites link to it
- Citation Flow: How influential a URL might be based on the number of sites linking to it
These metrics are more in line with how Google determines authority and trust.
Can You Still Get Penalized for Bad Links?
Yes, but it's rare. Google typically only issues manual penalties for aggressively manipulative link schemes, and even then, they'll notify you in Search Console.
If you’re not getting a manual action, chances are Google is just ignoring any low-quality links you didn’t build intentionally.
Don’t Let Tools Intimidate You
SEMrush is a helpful tool, but it's not a judge or jury. It's one lens through which to view your backlinks—but it’s not the full picture. The most important thing is real-world performance:
- Are your rankings improving?
- Is your traffic increasing?
- Are you getting more leads or sales?
- If the answer is yes, your SEO is working.
If you ever have questions about a backlink report or how your SEO is being handled, feel free to reach out. Transparency and education are a big part of what we do. We want you to feel confident in the strategy behind your success.
Need help decoding your backlink profile? Contact us today
to schedule a free backlink audit review.
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