What can you do about negative SEO?
-
We have a list of 240 domains (look exactly the same) linking to our site for a certain keyword. over 3000 links in total. It means that 50% of our keywords are this keyword and it's not a branded keyword which can affect us in the long term.
I have done a WHOIS search and found a name, email and number. Vikas Kumar. I linkedin searched him and found his "legit" SEO site which has EXACTLY the same registration details as the spam sites.
I emailed him and he said it would cost 5$ a link removal. I phoned him and he DENIED these emails. He then denied owning these sites etc.
We have disavowed them but the anchor text % is still affecting us. Is there anything we can do? I know negative SEO isn't illegal but it's really frustrating.
Anyone else had any problems with this type of thing?
-
If you pay them, then they put you on their second network of sites.
-
Ah, I understand. Unfortunately there's really nothing you can do to fix that problem other than paying for link removal...which I really would not recommend.
-
Hi Marie,
Thanks for the reply. Sorry, let me re-phrase. Its affecting our reports in terms of anchor text %.
At the moment we have not been hit due to it but it would be far easier for us to have accurate reports on our anchor text %. These spammy links have distorted the analytics a lot if that makes sense.
We have disavowed them and hoping we can carry on as if they are not there.
-
Personally I wouldn't waste your time. Disavow and move on. I have had no issues with this approach.
-
I see these directory links all the time when doing link audits. While I always disavow them, my gut instinct is that Google is able to recognize that these are not self made links and as such, ignore them.
I would never recommend paying the money to remove them but I know several people who have.
**We have disavowed them but the anchor text % is still affecting us. **
How do you know that these links are affecting you? If you're seeing a drop in rankings I'd be looking for other possible reasons for the drop.
-
I obviously can't say for sure regarding the anchor text - however:
My understanding is that the anchor text ratio is more a signal rather than a trigger - as in it must be one of (X) amount of signals to then fire a penalty trigger (algorithmic/manual review).
So even if it was still sending a bad 'signal' as it were, it wouldn't be the final nail in the coffin.
Of course, this is my opinion, but it's based on my experience and a bit of testing with some spam sites.
-
Thanks for the detailed response, appreciate it!
We have disavowed them so hoping they won't do us any harm in the future. It's reassuring to know you've done a study like that. Very interesting.
I will still proceed to send him a legal document out of principle, he needs to be shaken up a bit.
thanks again
-
If your site has enough authority and trust (site age is also a factor here), those 3k links won't hurt a bit, no matter how many links you have. I have done experiments and a domain with 50DA/50PA and less than 100 links did not move at all after getting hit with 250k spammy links (from spammy websites - using a spammy link profile). In fact the site increased in the serps for a few keywords after about 1 month and stayed there (currently in the top 3). We did the same experiment on a high DA domain with only 8 links - nothing bad happened, rankings increased in 2-3 months.
Just think about it this way, if negative seo would be that easy to pull off, all the shady Kumars out there would start doing this. Fortunately, it's not about the links, their number or quality. Unfortunately, neg seo exists and google can't do much about it (but average Kumars don't have access to neg seo that truly works).
So if you didn't see any drop in rankings, or message in GWT saying that you have a partial penalty, there's nothing to worry about.
-
It was the same in our case. Could do nothing more, then just disavow him.
Unfortunately there are people who fall in his trap, and pay for the removal.
His websites are not indexed in Google. Therefore I hope Google doesn't count any links/anchor from his sites.
-
He's an absolute idiot.
Demanded 5$ a link removal, I phoned him then he said he never sent such an email. I sent him a screenshot of the email then he starts denying the links are his etc.
I hate people who build a business on such negativity. He claims it's not him after I make it clear I won't be spending a penny on link removals from him.
-
It totally depends on how many links you have to start with though? His 3000 links is treble what our official links are. Makes our anchor text 50% of the keyword he has targeted and just messes up our reports.
-
Ye I think I will draft up a legal document to send to him. He has really rattled my cage with his responses.
The issue I have isn't so much the links because I know Google (should) will know it's negative SEO. It's just that our anchor text is now 50% "table tennis tables" which comes from all his sites. Correct me if I'm wrong but disavowing will simply tell Google not to count those links but will my anchor text still be negative in Googles eyes because technically the links are still there?
I will be drafting a legal letter today and sending it to him. He is an absolute joke, people like him really annoy me.
His "official" site and all the spammy ones have the same IP, email, number, location how can he possibly deny it... rant over. Thanks for the reply!
-
Yes, at the top of my disavow file, I also mentioned about the negative SEO attack. In my case it was obvious from the anchor text used on all the backlinks. I don't think they even look at the disavow file unless it is with a manual penalty, but I did add the comments anyway.
-
Did your rankings drop? How old is your domain and what DA/PA do you have? How many links do you have (checked with all available tools)?
3000 links won't do much, that's not really negative seo, 300k links would be something to worry about. So unless your rankings dropped or your site is brand new, all should be ok.
Also, disavowing is not instant, not even fast, might take up to 2 (or more) months to see some effect.
-
Negative SEO may not be technically illegal - but extortion is.
What you have described there looks like extortion to me. 240 sites built to link to you, verifiable whois information, contacted the culprit, he has requested money from you to remove the links he built. That's extortion - and you have it in writing.
It might not be the most solid legal case, but it can be enough to scare off any disgruntled webmaster who is doing this. If you have anyone who can draft a legal letter to serve, I'd get on this. It should put a stop to it.
However, as Jonathan says, it is unlikely that this kind of negative SEO will have any sort of impact, particularly if you have disavowed the links. When uploading a disavow file, I'd also put a "# comment" in there saying that this is because of a negative SEO attack. 240 identical sites and links from the same whois (and probably IP) - Google is going to know this is a negative SEO attack on you and will discount those links.
But I'd scare that bastard into submission if I were you.
-
That Kumar guy is funny. We also had to deal with him in the past. He asks for a certain amount of money /links removed.
We have tried talking to him first, in order to remove the urls. But in the end his websites ended up in our disavow file. (and his response was: I do not care)
Keszi
-
I wouldn't worry. I got hit by negative seo. It had no effect on my rankings, and I just disavowed all the links anyway to avoid it hurting during a penguin refresh. That has since come and gone, and again no problems.
Those spammy links may just dissappear over time, but not something I would worry about as long as they are disavowed.
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
-
Looking for an SEO Mentor
I do in-house marketing for a medium sized luxury architectural design firm. I have a good understanding of the moz platform and general SEO but would like to findsomeone to provide regular guidance and answer some specific questions regarding our SEO. Specifically, we want advising on keywords, blog content, and link building. Ideally we'd like to engage a consultant (remotely) on an hourly basis. We'v have had very poor experiences with big SEO firms so that’s definitely not something we’re looking for. Best,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | WorkshopAPD
Caio0 -
Can you nofollow a URL?
Hey Moz Community, My questions sounds pretty simple but unfortunately, it isn't. I have a domain name (we'll use example.com for this) http://example.com which 301 re-directs to http://www.example.com. http://example.com has bad links pointing to it and http://www.example.com does not. So essentially, I want to stop negative influences from http://example.com being passed on to http://www.example.com. A 302 re-direct sounds like it would work in theory but is this the best way to go about this? Just so you know, we have completed a reconsideration request a long time ago but I think the bad links are still negatively affecting the website as it does not rank for it's own name which is bizarre. Actual Question: How do I re-direct http://example.com to http://www.example.com without passing on the negative SEO attached to http://example.com? Thanks in advance!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RiceMedia0 -
Can you spot the differences?
Well, I have been scratching my head on this for days, I will try throwing the ball to you with hopes someone more experienced than me can help. The scenario is: e-commerce -> brand page -> SERP -> comparison between how two pages rank; one from my website, one from a competitor website. The brand is Michelin, the keyword is "pneumatici michelin" (equivalent in italian of “michelin tires”). I am not looking at SERP first page, where competition is surely much more fierce. I am looking at position 11: http://www.cambio-gomme.it/marchi/michelin/ And my page (not in the first 50): http://www.gomme-auto.it/pneumatici/michelin My page: MOZ Page Grade (for keyword “pneumatici michelin”): A External backlinks to the page: 1 Domain Authority: 29 Page Authority: 24 On-page SEO optimization: keyword density: 0.87% internal links: 145 external links: 3 page size: 108kb html size: 24kb words on page: 2077 link-words: 408 non-linked words: 1669 time to first byte: 0.419s Competitor page: MOZ Page Grade (for keyword “pneumatici michelin”): A External backlinks to the page: 0 Domain Authority: 26 Page Authority: 13 On-page SEO optimization: keyword density: 0.75% internal links: 70 external links: 1 page size: 31kb html size: 9kb words on page: 1521 link-words: 168 non-linked words: 1353 time to first byte: 0.373s Domain age is very similar, both websites launched close to each other in 2012. Ideas? Suggestion on other metrics to compare?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | max.favilli0 -
Volusion SEO
I have an SEO setting on our Volusion e-commerce store enabled, it is titled "Enable full URL for Home Page Canonical Link (include /default.asp)" I am questioning whether or not this should be enabled for optimal SEO performance. Can anyone provide any advice on this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PartyStore0 -
How Google Adwords Can Impact SEO Ranking ?
Hi SEO Gurus, I have a question. How Google Adwords Can Impact SEO Ranking ?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Webdeal
Positive , negative or neutral impact? I will appreciate if you will provide detailed answer Thank you for your time webdeal0 -
Changing Servers + Effect on SEO
Hi, I am currently with a very slow server. Our website takes quite a while to load, FTP is very slow and content changes with Wordpress are slow because even the database connection takes a lot of time. However, my website ranks very well. Traffic has doubled in the last year. Our domain has been registered with this company for over 10 years. I am wondering if changing to a different hosting provider would have an effect on my rankings due to the change in IP.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MangoMan160 -
Seo for Q&A site
Hi, I am working on a newly launched Q&A site. We have very few questions and users right now and very very low seo traffic. In order to increase the number of users and seo traffic we intend to create a number of pages containing potential questions. Each page would have the following structure: Question. Ex: "What are the top wholesale suppliers of coffee in China?" Some content. Ex: Are you looking for wholesale suppliers of coffee in China? Post your question here? Question form Some additional content So there would be a page for wholesale suppliers of coffee for every country. We would publish the pages gradually and the content would be unique but yet similar (ex: only the Country changes). What do you think about this approach? Is it a good idea or can it be dangerous? We don't want to incur in any kind of penalization, we just want to give the possibility to people who are looking for specific information to find us and be able to post the request on our website.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ypsilon0 -
Can Anyone show me a site that has followed the seomoz seo rules
Hi i have been reading the seo information on here which is very interesting and i would like to know if anyone can point to any sites that have followed the rules and advice. It is great when you can read the info and rules but i feel it is also better to see a site that has followed the rules and to hear from people who have followed the information and put them into practice and explain what results they have got. I am currently building the following website http://www.womenlifestylemagazine.com so it would be great to see a site that has followed all the rules and who can explain if they work or not.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ClaireH-1848860