When driving, if we see a police officer on the side of the road, it's normal for us to slow down.

You've probably done this even when you weren't speeding!

Why? It's your instinct to avoid getting a ticket.

No one enjoys being penalized in any way.

It's why we slow down when we see a police officer, follow our work's dress code and do our best to ensure our websites stay on Google's good side.

Yes, avoiding Google penalties is a big part of the job of any website owner.

We all know that quality backlinking is good for SEO, and that we can suffer from penalties from bad backlinks.

But can you get a penalty from building too many backlinks too fast?

In other words: How many backlinks per day are safe for your website?

Today, we're going to see why this question has sparked so much debate in the world of SEO, as well as deliver a clear answer that will help you avoid penalties.

Why So Much Confusion About Backlinks Per Day?

When searching for a direct answer to the question of how many backlinks per day are safe, many are disappointed by the lack of information to be found online.

Unfortunately, our friends at Google haven't given us a straight answer.

This means that those of us who are website owners are somewhat left in the dark as to a specific number.

If you've looked at online SEO forums, you've probably seen a number of different answers from so-called "experts." Some even give specific numbers of backlinks allowed per day. They sound so sure. And this is only adding to the confusion.

Along with that, backlinking became more complicated with the introduction of the Penguin update from Google. This update attacked spammy backlinks, giving penalties to websites whose backlinks looked unnatural.

So, among all of this confusion, can we say for certain that building too many backlinks too fast is bad for SEO?

Is Speedy Link Building a Bad Thing?

If you built 100,000 new backlinks in one day, would your website get flagged by Google?

It's possible. Why?

Well, as we mentioned above, Google's Penguin update is checking to make sure that your backlinks are natural.

So, if you generate 100,000 new backlinks in less than 24 hours, there's a very good chance that those backlinks aren't being built naturally.

So, what would be considered an unnatural backlink?

We've all seen the ads on Fiverr and other places that offer quick backlinking services. For a fee, these people offer us tons of new backlinks for our websites in a short amount of time.

However, are these offers really legitimate?

While they will probably hold true to providing your website with backlinks, there's a very good chance that those backlinks will bring you penalties.

Many of these "buy backlinks" offers dabble in shady backlinking strategies that aren't approved by Google. These backlinks won't be natural, and Google will quickly reverse any good effect they may have had on your website.

Generating backlinks naturally takes time. You cannot create backlinks out of thin air. There are many safe backlinking strategies, each with its own methods and tricks, and it's natural for these safe backlinks to be added gradually to your site.

In short, speedy backlink building is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as the backlinks you're building are quality and the strategies you're using are building links naturally.

But how many of these natural backlinks do you really need?

Quantity vs. Quality: What Really Matters?

With each new update that relates to backlinks, Google shows that they're placing much more importance on quality rather than quantity.

In fact, a website with fewer backlinks can actually rank higher than one with many backlinks, simply because its few backlinks are very good quality.

Google's goal is to make sure that users have a good search experience. They want to match your content with the right searcher, and make sure that both parties are happy.

So, while a good number of backlinks is important, Google will check first to make sure those backlinks aren't spammy.

Here's the point: If you bought 1000 spammy backlinks in one day, you'd probably get penalized by Google.

If you generated 1000 quality backlinks naturally in one day, you wouldn't get penalized.

Quality Backlinks: How to Build Limitless Backlinks Per Day, Safely

For those of you with the need for speed, you can build limitless backlinks as long as they meet the following conditions.

1. From High Authority Websites and Pages

"Authority" for a website or page is how well it ranks in Google, as well as how much trust Google has for that site.

Different people have created their own ways of judging the authority of a website, but basically it comes down to this: Does Google like that website or page?

A website that has been linked to naturally by many different people, produces content that people enjoy reading, is well-organized and fits the bill for every other point that Google looks for will be considered an authority website.

For example, Google considers .edu and .gov websites to be very high authorities. Getting just one of these types of backlinks can boost your ranking better than 100 backlinks from low-authority websites.

2. From Relevant Websites

For a backlink to be useful to your website's SEO, it needs to be relevant.

That means that if you run a website about cat care, a backlink from a website about PC repair isn't helpful to you. In fact, it could be harmful.

Since Google is searching for natural backlinks, it gets suspicious of websites who link to other sites on unrelated topics. This means that those backlinks aren't going to carry any weight for you, and may actually put you in line for a penalty.

A quick way to find relevant websites is the Similar Site Search tool. This free tool gives you an idea of websites that are similar to your own.

3. From a Diversity of Websites

So, let's say you've found a website that's relevant to yours and has high authority rankings. You start working your charm, and the owner of the website agrees to place links to your website.

Within a short amount of time, you've got lots of new backlinks coming in from this site.

Fantastic!

Or is it?

You see, Google will also start getting suspicious if it sees that your backlinks are all coming from one place. They may think that you're paying for these backlinks, or that you're involved in a backlink exchange scheme.

Once again, this puts your SERP ranking in danger.

So, within your backlink strategy, make sure that you're reaching out to multiple websites. This will ensure that your backlinks come from diverse websites, not all from the same one.

Bonus tip: Reaching out to several websites at a time for backlinks will also help you build backlinks faster!

4. Has Quality SEO Metrics

From the above comments, it may seem like getting a penalty from Google that hurts your website's ranking is just too easy.

And granted, there are many ways to receive penalties from Google.

That's why it's important to stay on top of your backlinks, and make sure that you're only getting the best quality backlinks to your website.

So, How Many Backlinks Per Day Is Safe?

If you're backlinking naturally, the increase will be gradual.

Shortcutting the system to create backlinks faster won't help you improve your ranking, and will only hurt the SEO on your website. In fact, methods such as buying backlinks or backlink exchanges will bring severe penalties from Google.

That being said, is there a limit to the amount of natural, healthy backlinks you can generate per day?

With confidence, we can say: No, there's no limit!

In fact, Matt Cutts talked about this in a Webmaster's video. He said that, as long as you follow the rules, there's no such thing as too many backlinks.

So, it's time to find new backlinking opportunities!