Spam links in spam analyses tool: Referral page doesn't exist anymore
-
Hi,
I have the following problem: The spam analyses tool in MOZ gives me a few links with a spam score of 10 and 9. I want to remove those links and try to contact the webmaster before disavowing the links. I read about being careful with too much disavowing. Unfortunately removing the links isn't possible because three different reasons:
- The page/subdomain of one referring website that should have a link to my website doesn't exist anmymore (compliance.ikkiesvoorverandering.nl/). The website http://ikkiesvoorverandering.nl does exist, but is almost empty and there is no possibility to contact the webmaster. What do you guys recommend to do in this situation? Any experience with this problem?
- On another website (with again no contact option) there is a link who directs to a former website, which has a redirect to my current website. I have no Google search console on that old website anymore. Does that make it impossible to disavow the link? What are other option to remove this link?
- The website that comes up in the spam analyses tool is pretty much empty (http://veensma.jouwbegin.nl/). How can I delete a link from an empty website? Any thoughts?
I hope someone can help me with this, Would be glad to here from you
Lars
-
Hi Lars,
My first questions is whether or not a disavow is strictly necessary. It is absolutely normal for websites to showcase a small amount of spam in their link profile and in many cases I have seen a link profile that is "too clean" merits as much skepticism as a website with spammy links.
The purpose of the tool is to alert you to potentially spammy or harmful links, but this does not mean it is causing your website, rankings or traffic any harm. The first thing I would do would be to determine exactly how problematic this issue is based on your overall link profile rather than focusing your efforts on a few spammy links.
Additionally, it is worth determining whether the links you are referring to are follow or nofollow, since a disavow merely creates nofollow tags instead of removing the links entirely. If they are already nofollow links, then there's no point in conducting a disavow.
If you are dead set on removing them, however, here would be my process for your 3 questions:
-
If the page featuring the link to your page no longer exists, then the link no longer exists. At the very least it is not providing you with any metric-enhancing data and won't have a follow attribute. Nothing to worry about here.
-
This is a disavow situation if you don't have access to Webmaster Console.
-
Same as 1) above - if the page linking to you doesn't exist, then the link doesn't exist. If the page exists and you have no option for removing it or contacting the webmaster, then you have to run the disavow here as well.
Again, I will stress that disavows should be treating as a last-ditch effort when facing a ton of spammy follow links. If you are not meeting these criteria, then it's probably not worth going that route.
Hope this helps - if you have any other info that might help feel free to get in touch and I'll help as best I can.
Cheers,
Rob
-
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
-
Should I focus on building links to my homepage, or internal pages?
I'm hiring several PA's to contact site's linking to my competition. Should we try to get links to content pages (blog post, article, etc) or build links directly to my homepage? More info: My site is a web application, so most links will naturally fall on the homepage. If links to content are more important we'll need to change our strategy. We are pitching the free version of the application to universities and schools as a resource for their students.
Link Building | | Dunjenman0 -
Should i disavow yellowpages.com. Webmater tools shows 656 links coming from it.
We do not have any manual penalty warnings but I am still concerned that Google will see this as unnatural and be penalizing us to a lesser degree.
Link Building | | Jason_C0 -
Where can I get a list of broken links to my client's website?
I have a client who owns a website that attracted a large number of links to internal pages of their sites. Without realising the value of those links, they removed every page of their website other than the home pages that now reads, "new website coming soon". How can I get a list of every website still linking to the (now broken) internal pages of their site?
Link Building | | richdan0 -
Why don't directory backlinks show up in Open Link Explorer?
Why don't we see linking root domains like yelp, google, yahoo, etc? Is there any way to get a more accurate list of links to a domain where webmaster tools are not an option?
Link Building | | ScottM0 -
Are links from every page of a partners website to my website bad for seo?
I have asked a partner website to link to my website in the Menu Bar. Which has resulted in a link to my website from every page of the partners website (Over 1000 Pages). The link is not a "nofollow" link, it is a regular link. Can this have any negative effects in terms of SEO?
Link Building | | raghavkapur0 -
Header and Footer Links on Home and other catelog pages of site
Hello, in our site www.mycarhelpline.com - we have just reworked on header and footer links. Have removed lost of unncessary footer links. However, the header links on extreme top right side has some links like - login, register, about us, partner with us etc. Is is that google will give importance to these links and i rather should move them to footer links of page and should move the most important anchor links on the top header. Pl suggest
Link Building | | Modi0 -
Market Samurai's Latest Link Building Tool
Hey, Would be interested to see everyone's opinion on the latest software form Market Samurai http://www.noblesamurai.com/as/video/3 It's basically an article spinning & syndication promising to be the 'biggest in the world'. Most things they mention in the video is quite contradictory to everything SEOmoz teaches about link building. What's everyone's thoughts about Market Samurai and their practices?
Link Building | | LukeyJamo0 -
SEO MOZ LINK BUILDING TOOLS
So I learnt that in link building you need to send an email to someone from where you want the inbound link coming in from. In this case, are there any tools withing SEO moz that allow you toactually search for links and also provide you the contact email? Thank you, Vijay
Link Building | | vijayvasu0