BUSTED
Negative SEO is a real threat
The Myth
"Competitors can easily hurt your rankings by building spammy links to your site."
The Truth
Negative SEO is largely a myth for most sites. Google is very good at ignoring spammy links automatically. They've processed billions of attempts at link manipulation and can identify unnatural patterns. Unless you're in an extremely competitive, spammy niche, worrying about negative SEO is usually wasted energy. Focus on building your own authority instead.
John Mueller, Google
We work hard to prevent negative SEO from affecting sites. Most attempts fail.
We algorithmically ignore most spammy links.
DInsight from @dejanseo
"I've never seen confirmed negative SEO working. Every case I've investigated had other explanations. Google handles spam automatically. Build, don't worry about competitors' attacks."