Google: Unnatural Links By Humans Or Bots Are Your Responsibility

Jan 7, 2019 - 8:04 am 3 by

Google Machine Man

Google's John Mueller was asked if there is a difference between a human adding unnatural links on your web site compared to AI, algorithms doing it on their own. John responded that ultimately it is the responsibility of the site owner to make sure their site is clean no matter how the content or links get on it.

John said on Twitter "You're responsible for your own site, regardless if it's random internet users dropping links and writing text, or random algorithms doing that."

Here are the tweets:

So even if you have algorithms and machines writing your content, if they are linking in an unnatural manner (can robots link naturally?) then you got a potential issue.

Either way - Google has said that even when someone spams your content, hacks your content, you are responsible to make sure your content is good and clean. So it doesn't matter if it is done illegally, without your knowledge, by a machine or a human - the ultimately responsibility with your site's content and links are yours.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: June 18, 2026

Jun 18, 2026 - 10:00 am
Bing SEO

Bing Webmaster Tools May Support More Country Reporting

Jun 18, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Dashboard Activities Button

Jun 18, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google

Google Tests 3D Model From Attribution In Product Results

Jun 18, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google

Google Discover Feed With More Google News Showcase Results

Jun 18, 2026 - 7:21 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: For Site Moves, Add All Domain Variants To Change Of Address Tool

Jun 18, 2026 - 7:11 am
 
Previous Story: Gary Illyes From Google Now Takes Speaking Requests Via Google Form