Google May Trust Links Less After They Are Modified

Pedro Dias, a former Google employee who worked on the Search Quality and Webspam team for years, said on Twitter that Google is less likely to trust a link after it is modified.

He wrote:

Did you know Google is less likely to trust a link once it has changed from the 1st time it was seen?

Did you know Google is less likely to trust a link once it has changed from the 1st time it was seen? — Pedro Dias (@pedrodias) July 1, 2014

I tried to probe Pedro on how he knows this. Was it from a test he conducted or was it from his past work experience at Google? My impression, but I do not have him saying this on record, was from his past experience:

@rustybrick Yes, but I'd rather protect myself from being sued :) — Pedro Dias (@pedrodias) July 1, 2014

So how much does Google drop the trust in the link? David Naylor asked Pedro and he implied, not too much:

@DaveNaylor *I would say* not as much as the 1st time it was seen. But as I said before people shouldn’t fret about it. — Pedro Dias (@pedrodias) July 1, 2014

He even added that less trust, in this case, is not a bad thing. I don't see how that is possible:

@DaveNaylor Like I said, "less trust" doesn’t mean it’s bad or negative. Specially if it’s on a reputable site. — Pedro Dias (@pedrodias) July 1, 2014

Anyway, this is a former Googler saying this who worked closely in web search. He did not say if this is based on his past work experience with Google or via new tests he is running based on him now being an SEO consultant.

Either way, I am sure the SEO community will have a field day with this.

Forum discussion at Twitter.