Google: Are Links From Non-English to English Language Sites Bad?

Google's John Mueller took part in an intriguing discussion on Mastodon about linking between sites in different languages and whether or not it affects results.

The person who asked the inquiry was concerned that receiving connections from a non-English language site to their English language site might harm that site's ability to rank.

There is a widespread idea that connecting from a site in another language may have an impact on the ability of an English-language website to rank regionally in English-speaking countries.

According to the original poster:

"Good day, @johnmu." I had a query.

We have multiple non-English language websites and want to improve the ranking of our English website.

Can links from non-English sites improve the English site's pagerank and ranking?"

John Mueller rightly concluded that the questioner was referring to linking their non-English versions to their English language websites.

So that was the context for John's first response, which altered twice as the conversation went.

John's initial reaction:

“@shahram Regardless of ranking, cross-linking language versions is generally a good idea."

Paid non-English language links are acceptable for English-language websites.

The person who asked the question then noted that these links were originating from paid blog networks, which significantly altered the context of the question.

They stated that the links originated from a private blog network (PBN).

A Paid Blog Network is referred to as a Private Blog Network. Everyone knows what it is, but it is still referred to as a private network, apparently because it is confidential.

The person who posed the inquiry then added:

“@johnmu Is it still a good idea if I have to pay for it?

Buy from PBNs in multiple languages?"

Of course, John Mueller had a typical response.

John's response:

“@shahram Oh, you mean other people's websites? Paid links are considered link spam and violate search spam policies.

If it's only about links between versions of your own information, you can regulate that without paying or doing anything else."

Naturally Obtained Paid Links In Various Languages

The person who asked the query adjusted the context of the question and stated that they were not purchasing links from PBNs.

They argued that the link was obtained spontaneously and without any payment on their part.

That isn't as far-fetched as it may appear.

It's fairly usual for paid link vendors to connect to two relevant web pages in addition to the one purchased link.

Sometimes there is one internal link, one external link, and one to the paying client.

It's nearly always three links for whatever reason, one of those rote practices that everyone does.

The issue is that there is a belief that linking to a regular site will make the Paid Blog Network website appear more natural, and perhaps the site of the person asking the question is one of those.

The user wanted to know if they should remove the connections to dangerous websites in non-English languages.

John Mueller answered, saying:

“@shahram There is no reason to disavow connections simply because the website linked to it is in another language.

They are not harmful links because of the page's language.

For some reason, this is still a rather prevalent myth."

Links in Different Languages Are Acceptable

Links from sites published in a different language, according to John Mueller, are not harmful. He also dismissed the notion that the ties could be harmful.

He did not confirm if there was any kind of ranking-related reward, as is usual with certain types of inquiries.

He did not state that the ties were beneficial to ranking. With the remark "Regardless of ranking...", John obviously moved the context of his original answer away from ranking.

He stated:

"Regardless of ranking, cross-linking language versions is generally a good idea."

That said, I've heard for years that connections from sites in other languages work; this may have changed, but I'm not sure.

That's something I've never tried.

It makes it reasonable that a link from a different language would be beneficial because this occurs naturally.

Google does not allow naturally existing patterns to have a detrimental impact on rankings.

The reciprocal link is an example of a naturally occurring linking pattern in which two sites link to one another.

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