How do i remove bad links ?
-
Google have sent me an email regarding manipulativre link or paid link etc. Tey are asking me to fix the issue then resubmit my site for consideration. My site IS still in the search results but i suspect that they may remove it soon. I suspect that a competitor may have a contact in google andthey are submitting complaints against my business but we do have many link to my site . How am i going to know exactly what link are the problem.
-
If Google sends you a letter, the first step is to be 100% certain the letter is authentic. It is possible the letter is fake.
If the letter is authentic, Google wants you to make every effort to clean up your site. They intentionally don't call out any specifics. Their goal is not to ask you to remove one bad link but any and all bad links.
In my experience, the overwhelming majority of these cases involve actions by the site owner or someone acting on the site owner's behalf (i.e. an SEO). If you have paid for any links, stop paying for them and request the site you paid to remove them. Visit any other sites you used to create any questionable links and remove them. Once you have removed them all, let Google know and your site can be re-evaluated.
If you sincerely wish to claim the bad links were not created by you, then you can make that claim to Google. If they don't believe you, your site's links can all be devalued and your rankings will suffer. I would suggest being 100% sure neither you nor anyone acting on your site's behalf created any of the "bad" links. Often site owners feel confident "there is no way Google could know" when actually they have a lot more information at their disposal then people give them credit for.
Good 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
-
How do I search for a link within a competitors website that is linking my website?
Hello, I have just been checking my link profile and according to webmaster tools a competitor is linking to my website. Is there anyway of finding this link besides looking at every page within their website? Many thanks
Link Building | | mblsolutions0 -
Will short linking to my site affect SERPs attribution of inbound link?
Some brand partners are using their short links to link back to our site (like bit.ly but they have their own). They have a high domain authority and trust so we want that link back to be read by Google. When I downloaded all inbound links from Moz, this brand's site was not listed, making me worried that the inbound link isn't being seen or considered! Haven't been able to find any info on this...
Link Building | | PAC31350 -
Removed Link
After I have removed a link, how long does it take for it to be reflected in Google WMT?
Link Building | | raph39880 -
"Activating" Links - Do External Links Have to Be Clicked On to Really Have Value?
I heard an SEO talk about the concept of "activating" a link - meaning that if an external link to your site exists, but google doesn't detect that it has gotten any actual clicks, they will significantly discount or ignore the value of the link. Obviously between Chrome, toolbars, and GA, google does have a lot of ways to detect whether a link has gotten clicks. What is the SEOmoz take on this issue?
Link Building | | kbrake0 -
Can bad links be removed from a website
An SEO company we contracted with linked us up with many poor quality sites - some in foreign countries and now our site has hundreds and thousands of poor quality links to inappropriate sites.. Is there any way to un-link from these? Thank you!
Link Building | | Barb1230 -
Why does my website have 2,000+ links, but only 16 linking root domains?
Why does my website have 2,000+ links, but only 16 linking root domains?
Link Building | | thestudio40 -
Building Links
Hi everyone, I am new to SEO and in the process of building links the clean way. Any suggestions on how exactly I can find websites that are linking out to quality websites already? I went thru most of my competitors link building strategy - and 90% of their links are done either thru link exchange or paid links. So looking at my competitors strategy does not really help. So I need to find websites/blogs/forums that are ready to link to me if I can show them some useful content. How do I find these websites first? Please help! Cheers! Arjun
Link Building | | ArjunRajkumar0