We were penalized for a specific key phrase due to incoming links. How long to come back?
-
We were penalized for a specific key phrase, I had included a link using that phrase to the targeted page in a header on another site. This resulted in hundreds of identical lincoming links using that key phrase to the page, so I'm guessing that's what did it. I've since rectified the problem but about how long do you think it will take for the penalty to be dropped? We were knocked down about 10 places.
-
Well this penalty actually occurred back in February and I think we did add a paragraph or two of descriptive text at the time which may have been slightly over optimized but has also been fixed. The specific page is "http://www.absoluteautomation.com/driveway-alarm.html" <-- it's been penalized for the phrase "driveway alarm" it's still doing alright for driveway alarms,driveway sensors, etc.
-
It definitely doesn't hurt to completely remove the links from their site if you suspect that it could be hurting you. it's the exact anchor text in the links? Is the site that the links are on penalized?
Did you do any on page content changes recently?
-
Darn, thanks. I thought for sure that had been the problem, all other keywords were unaffected, but there was that 10 position drop on one specific key phrase. I thought that must have been it.
-
I agree that this is not your problem or a penalty.
Sitewides are discounted by Google anyway and one site is not enough to get you penalized. If you get penalized you will also be kicked back further, usually to the 3rd page or 5th page or sometimes completely off the map. Always avoid sitewide links though. Ask them to make it a homepage only link if possible.
Look somewhere else for your rank slipping problem
-
Was this link in the header of only one website? If yes then I think it's very unlikely you've been penalized for one site wide link, or else it would be far too easy to get your competitors penalized. It's more likely that you're been bumped down from one of the recent Google updates in which case you will need to work to get your rankings back.
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
-
Any advantage spreading linked-back articles vs concentrating them?
I have had good luck getting a reputable ezine in my field to publish my articles, and they always link back to my site. Would I do better SEO-wise to spread my articles among several different ezines?
Link Building | | Lysarden0 -
Self linking
There are 10 links on page that point to this page where they exist (link to the page itself). Does it influence on ranking?
Link Building | | templatemonster0 -
Root Domain Link for Affiliate's Link
It seems my affiliate link: http://www.hrmsplugins.com?partners=21 is not being considered as a "root domain" backlink when this link is used on their website. Is there a reason for this?
Link Building | | delphia0 -
Link or Ad
I recently requested a link back from a site that is ranking 2nd for a term that i'm working on and they said they would gladly give me the link and remove my competitors but would also like me to have an ad on the same page for an annual fee that i could link to a landing page. I know that paying for links is no good and google can penalize you. so do i pay them and do a no follow to the landing page from the ad and call it a day? and how does google differentiate an ad from a link?
Link Building | | CHiP_RuN0 -
Buy links
I know that many of you are against the whole thing with buying links. Your feelings put aside. Will it be better for my site to buy links or even do link exchange? Haven´t the crawlers been thought by now how to find these untrue links? I have read somewhere that the stop after 100 links, aren´t they smarter than that?
Link Building | | mato0 -
Sidebar Links
If I have x number of posts with sidebar having popular posts. Will each post acts as a link to popular posts? or will be penalized for site wide links? Thanks, Venkee
Link Building | | Venkee0 -
How do you check to see if your site (site A) has already been linked to by another site (site B) when you have a large site with lots of links
There are some basics in SEO relating to finding out about who has linked to whom that I could use some help with.
Link Building | | hughman0 -
Links and keywords
A rather simple question, If i have a paragraph and have the words cat, dog and bird would it be a good idea to have them all linking to the same url? or is better to have them all going to different urls?
Link Building | | Vetshopgroup0