To Fix An Incoming Link Or Not?
-
I recently received a unnatural link notice from Google. The thing is, I haven't done any link building in the last two years.
So, I looked at my latest links report within Google Webmaster Tools and see where one of our dealer's website has been updated recently and now includes a site-wide link to us.
Site note: My brand name as the anchor text ... no keywords nearby.
I think this is what may be causing the problem because nothing else within the report really jumps out at me. Also, it lines up with the timeline. It looks like they changed their site to include the link at the beginning of April. Google was noticing the links throughout April and to the present. I got the notice May 19th.
Now, I have a good relationship with this dealer and can have him change anything I want at the drop of a hat.
The question is, by having him change it am I admitting to Google wrongdoing and thus hurting myself by inviting further scrutiny. Should I leave it as is since it truly is a legitimate link?
Google having false positives like this really muddies the water.
Thanks guys!
-
In your shoes, I would send a short reconsideration request and explain the situation: that you don't do link building, that what you think it might look odd is that link but you didn't requested, is natural so you can't touch it - and see the reply - if you have some manual action in place or not.
They are not hunting us down - but they do send a lot of notices like that to innocent people so it's worth dealing with it so you won't be colateral damage in this spamy link war.
Cheers.
-
Awesome responses guys. That's how I was leaning. Google's fishing expedition isn't going to work on me.
-
You could change it without informing Google and just see what happens.
Personally I wouldn't do anything until you've actually seen a decrease in traffic and ranking placement. I received an unnatural link notice in GWMT back in March for one of my sites and have yet to see anything happen to it. There was black hat SEO work done on that site in the past (not by me, of course) so I wouldn't be surprised if all the sudden it took a hit but to this day I've seen nothing but improvement in my target keywords for that site.
I feel like if I had responded to Google and submitted my site for reconsideration I would have seen bigger penalties. So I created a re-inclusion package and waited... two months later I see no problems so I'm still waiting.
-
If it were me I would leave it as is. It is a legitimate link coming from a dealer web site. I really think Google is baiting here.
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
-
link building problems
Hello everyone
Link Building | | mkeshavarzmozprodt
I am not sure about the way Moz rank websites but sometimes I think it's a bit confusing. As an example, it kept changing in 3 days by going up and down. In addition, It is not compatible with my Ahrefs ranking. Would you please tell me which one is more correct and accurate in terms of my website authority?
It would be my pleasure if you take look at it first. Thank you in advance.
https://www.englishdon.ir/0 -
Link removal
We were hit by penguin and have been going through the process of removing bad links. Things were looking up but then wasa 20% jump in our bad links. They all seem to be related. There are over 100 different domains that all seem to go back to mbiz. examples include http://www.5stone.com.cn/Literature-holders-.html http://www.building-stone.com/Display-furniture.html http://www.china-tombstone.com/Display-exhibition-products-.html It looks like they have automatically gathered data from google to create these pages. I would hope that the guys at Google are clever enough to be aware of these sorts of links. But if not I need to get them removed. I have tried whois but I cant find out how to contact these guys. Has anyone got any bright ideas? Thanks
Link Building | | Discountdisplays0 -
Spammy Links in MOZ but when I go to the external link I can't find a link to us
I was going to try to contact webmasters to see if they would remove some of our spammy links. I see alot of them in MOZ but when you go to the site our anchor text is not there. Is this good? How often does MOZ refresh external links. Please see: http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/anchors?site=www.totalvac.com None of the links for the anchor text <a class="clickable title link-pivot" title="See top linking pages that use this anchor text." data-text="vacuum cleaner parts vacuum parts vacuum bags vacuum cleaner bags" data-id="46391436859">vacuum cleaner parts vacuum part...</a> in MOZ exist? We got hit extremely hard by Penguin in May
Link Building | | totalvac0 -
Linking Etiquette
Hi Moz Community, Long time lurker, first time poster. I work for a real estate firm and have recently done some link analysis. I'm noticing that my company is not getting linked to as frequently as we should be. Several news outlets (including NYT & Bloomberg) have cited our reports, interviews with employees and other original content belonging to my company without linking back to our site (although they do mention us).Some publications are even linking back to our competitors for similar content but not ours. Is it appropriate to reach out and ask for links from these outlets after they've been published? Does anybody have tips on making others aware we want links shared for future articles? Thanks in advance!
Link Building | | rlaughlin0 -
Link building
I keep sending personal emails to website asking for a link form them but every one says no how do other website get so many links to there website whats the best software to use
Link Building | | homesandindustrial0 -
Are you careful about linking back to sites that link to you?
Suppose that a trusted website added you to their recommended links page. Do you worry that linking back to them from a page on your site will diminish the value of the original link?
Link Building | | Charlessipe0 -
Creating Widgets For Links
I'm familiar with creating widgets for link building and relationship building but I'm not savvy on implementing a strategy. I'm in the commercial truck financing business and, although I have some ideas I do need help with the creation of widgets, how to market them, etc. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Link Building | | leaseman0 -
Link Directory
I am not an SEO expert by any means, just trying to improve the ranking of my own personal real estate site. Are directory links good for backlinks, or are they a waster of time?
Link Building | | CalgaryRealtor390