Concerned about quality of backlinks - should I take action?
-
I regularly work on websites to which previous SEOs have built questionable backlinks.
This morning I've just been analysing some backlinks - found 40 odd were coming from 20 odd websites which all had the same gentleman as personal registrant, who happens to be the boss of an SEO company.
The SEO company name is mentioned in registrant details too, and often on the websites in question (including weblinks from some of these 20 odd websites to the SEO company). I did note the IP addresses / hosting for these websites did vary though, as did the postal address of the individual in question, perhaps throwing Google off the scent a bit.
I should add that these websites are virtually all tourism related/themed, with up to a few dozen backlinks per page - usually articles. It's very clear they are backlinking to keyphrases.
Now, this kinda thing<a></a> sets the alarm bells ringing. Firstly, this looks like an infringement of Google Webmaster Guidelines. Secondly, it doesn't sound like a White Hat technique for building links! Am I correct?
I guess it might be denied they are partner pages due to the quality of content, perhaps, which isn't as spammy as it might've been. However, I suggest these are at least paid links because there is no other clear way of getting content on these pages, as far as I can see.<a></a><a></a>
Should I demand these backlinks are taken down? What level of risk is posed do you think? I don't want this website to suffer a Google penalty at some point, particularly not after I've started work on it.
Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.
-
Thanks for reply John - appreciated. Pretty infuriating isn't it, huh. To be honest, I think the SEO industry needs a minimum standard, a code of conduct that's policed in some way. There really is so much awful stuff being carried out in the name of SEO. From what I've seen, the SEO agencies I've come across do it (1) Because it's easy (2) Because they can show their clients quick results.
-
Thanks Robert - moving on with a positive focus is good advice. That said, I really have little idea how dangerous the kind of linkbuilding I've described really is. What level of risk my client has been exposed to. Hope Google doesn't hit them on those backlinks, that's for sure.
-
I have the same situation going on with one of my clients. Except their competition is doing the same exact thing to a larger extent and is ranking well for all the keywords which they have tried for. I just moved on and started to build high quantity back links. I don't understand why these SEO companies feel the need to do this kind of spammy link building. I have had the fear that there will be an Google update targeted towards spammy linking.... Meanwhile all we can do is do what Robert said and ask them to remove the links.
-
Luke,
You could send out demands for removal, etc. but I doubt they would get too far. I think the easier thing to do would be to move forward from where you are. First, most are not going to remove them and second, there are likely better places to spend your time (more SEO valuable). If you want to cover your client's butt in the event of a Google interdiction, send out some emails requesting the links be taken down, keep copies, and start building new links. At least you will have something to show them if there is a problem.
I have often run into this with clients and at first panicked. Today, I just move forward. Focus on the bigger issues:
Does the site have good content or is it spammy?
Is the SEO on page/site, etc. solid?
Are they targeting the right keywords?
Did I mention Content?
Are there ads everywhere?
Do you need a freshen up campaign? etc. etc. etc.
I think if you focus on those things and, if still nervous, send out the emails, you will likely be fine. If all else is solid and the site is quality, go get them some good links as I don't think Google is going to kill you over the links alone.
Best of luck.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Which backlink is better for increasing my MOZ DA ?
Hello Moz Community, I have sports niche website bongdatructuyen.site. I am in process of link building for my website. May i know what should i do to increase DA of my site? Is there any way to increase my site Authority through increasing DA of my site and Keyword difficulty? Thank you !
Link Building | | gogoanimetp0 -
How new website / blogs can earn backlinks?
Hi, As link wheels, link pyramids and paid links are penalized by google and the only chance to get back links is to earn them. My Question is that with a new website / blog, how a newbie with no relationships with established bloggers, can earn links? Because writing quality contents and detailed posts (e.g. more than 3000 words posts twice a month) still would benefits for those blogs having already traffic to share these contents and in case of new blog, due to very low traffic, it would take months or years to enter in the game. Please propose step by step strategy / plan / footprint for newly born website and marketers. Thanks
Link Building | | Kashif-Amin0 -
Do Testimonials with backlinks work?
I looked up that testimonials for like, some of our providers, with a backlink back to us, is a legitimate backlink. The thing is they are a provider, not necessarily in the same industry as us. Do testimonial backlinks work?
Link Building | | RafeTLouis0 -
Total Exact Match Anchor Text Percentage or a Few High Quality Exact Match Backlinks, which is better?
Hello, I was wondering if anyone could help me. I am trying to rank a web page for a competitive regional search term. Upon inspecting all the competitors’ backlinks they appear to using an overly high exact match anchor text to rank on the first page for this keyword. Somewhere in the region of 15 – 55% exact match anchor text. So the question is what does big G provide a heavier weighting for, A.) The total percentage of exact match anchor text for all your backlinks, until it reaches the point of over optimization. A higher percentage up to about 60% will help you rank in the top 3. Meaning I should change a 1,000+ backlinks on multiple domains to the exact match anchor text. B.) Or just a few backlinks with the exact match anchor text but from really high quality domains with a ‘Majestic SEO’ Trust and Citation Flow above 40. Any help would be appreciated, exact match anchor text is meant not to work but it still does.
Link Building | | tomfifteen0 -
Manual Spam Action Revoked... Finally!
Just got this: Dear site owner or webmaster of http://www. We received a request from a site owner to reconsider http://www. for compliance with Google's Webmaster Guidelines. Previously the webspam team had taken manual action on your site because we believed it violated ourquality guidelines. After reviewing your reconsideration request, we have revoked this manual action. It may take some time before our indexing and ranking systems are updated to reflect the new status of your site. Of course, there may be other issues with your site that could affect its ranking without a manual action by the webspam team. Google's computers determine the order of our search results using a series of formulas known as algorithms. We make hundreds of changes to our search algorithms each year, and we employ more than 200 different signals when ranking pages. As our algorithms change and as the web (including your site) changes, some fluctuation in ranking can happen as we make updates to present the best results to our users. If your site continues to have trouble in our search results, please see this article for help with diagnosing the issue. Thank you for helping us to maintain the quality of our search results. Sincerely, Google Search Quality Team
Link Building | | sbrault741 -
Outsourced Backlinking?
Hello, I've been newly hired to head up a decent sized company's digital marketing initiatives. Between social media campaigns, web content development, ppc management, etc. I've been a bit overwhelmed. It looks like until my team gets a bit larger we may have to outsource link building, but with the new penguin update I'm worried about choosing the wrong company and ending up with a ton of spam links that gets us nailed. Does anyone happen to have any good recommendations? Thanks!
Link Building | | JFritton0 -
Homepage vs specific page Backlink
Hello, I have a local business and have been working on getting backlinks for highly relevant keywords. I have keyword optimized pages (keyword in URL, title, H1, etc) but I have been sending backlinks to the homepage, as these keywords represent the core of what we offer. See example below: car repair car repair london auto repair auto repair london I have been sending backlinks (with the correct anchor text of course) to the homepage, am I better off sending them to the specific pages? One more thing: the SEOMOZ report talks about cannibalisation of keywords, where for example the page optimised for "car repair" links to "Car repair london". I have links to the optimised pages in a footer at the bottom of every single page on the website, is this bad practice? (considering SEOMOZ talks about cannibalisation? Should I do something else instead (or eliminate the footer links altogether?) I would appreciate your expert advice.
Link Building | | dpaq20110 -
Widgets Designed for Getting Backlink
Where can we find widget samples that are designed for widgetbait and getting backlinks?
Link Building | | merkal20051