---
title: 'Google Says Toxic Links Don''t Exist, but They Can Destroy Your SEO Rankings'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=5L37HZsVuj0'
video_id: '5L37HZsVuj0'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 60
---

# Google Says Toxic Links Don't Exist, but They Can Destroy Your SEO Rankings

> Source: [Google Says Toxic Links Don't Exist, but They Can Destroy Your SEO Rankings](https://youtube.com/watch?v=5L37HZsVuj0)

## Summary

The video argues that toxic links are a real and severe threat to website rankings, contrary to Google's stance. It emphasizes that a single toxic link can require 10 to 100 high-quality links to offset and can cause pages to plummet from top positions to lower pages.

### Key Points

- **Impact of Toxic Links** [00:02] — Toxic links are more impactful than ever; a single toxic link can require 10 to 100 good links to offset.
- **Ratio of Good to Toxic Links** [00:15] — It takes 10 to 100 good links to offset one truly toxic link.
- **Loss of Control Over Links** [00:27] — If a site owner builds bad links (e.g., Viagra, casino) on a page you linked to, that link can become toxic and devalue your page.
- **Ranking Drop Example** [00:43] — Pages can drop from top positions to 5th or 9th page due to toxic links.
- **Accidental Toxic Links** [00:57] — An SEO can accidentally build a link that becomes toxic over time, crippling the page.

### Conclusion

Toxic links are a real threat that can devastate search rankings, and webmasters must monitor their backlink profiles carefully.

## Transcript

impactful and they've been more and they are more impactful than they have ever been before if you have a toxic link pointed at your website the ratio of good links you need to try and offset that truly toxic link it's almost 10 to
that truly toxic link it's almost 10 to 100 good links to offset one truly toxic link that's how bad it is getting and that's how impactful they can be if you end up building a link to your money page and for some reason the site owner
does something awful like building Viagra Casino links on mass or selling stuff to his site because you do not have control over your links and that link then becomes toxic and it then devalues your page you could potentially
tank in rankings you only go from second third first place all the way down to the fifth ninth page even I've seen in some cases where somebody or an SEO specifically has accidentally built a link or a link has become toxic over
link or a link has become toxic over time and it is crippled that pages