Can you be hurt by the Links pointing to your site? Maybe after all??

[Mike Anthony]

The standard answer has always been that links pointing to your site can never hurt you. After all if they did then you could nuke you competitors. Now comes however this story

Google Sending Notifications Of Unnatural Links Pointing To Your Site

Essentially Google has been sending out emails to certain webmasters informing them that they were in violation of the guidelines not because they were linking to anyone but because of INCOMING links like buying links or link schemes (which just about covers all black hat links).

the real interesting part to me is this part of the letter Google sent out

"We encourage you to make changes to your site so that it meets our quality guidelines. Once you've made these changes, please submit your site for reconsideration in Google's search results.

If you find unnatural links to your site that you are unable to control or remove, please provide the details in your reconsideration request."

Normally that kind of language is reserved for a site that has been penalized.

worse using that letter I was able to find webmasters who WERE penalized for link spam/ buying links

Penalty due to apparent sabotage--Please help - Webmaster Central Help
My websites rankings have completely vanished from Google. Please help! - Webmaster Central Help


Further research indicates they mostly likely were not deindexed but their rankings did suffer a penalty.


So what is Google up to now? Has anyone got one of those emails?

Anyway be careful out there.

[Mike Anthony]

Quick update I missed in the earlier post.

The emails also seem to support that pagerank DOES indeed matter. The notices mention gaming pagerank specifically so if pagerank isn't so important to google why is it handing out penalties for people trying to game what isn't important?

[nicktyler]

That is not good news for alot of peopl. If you are spamming then fair enough but how does Google tell if you have bought a link, made it yourself or a third party has linked naturally??

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by nicktyler

That is not good news for alot of peopl. If you are spamming then fair enough but how does Google tell if you have bought a link, made it yourself or a third party has linked naturally??

Incredibly it seems they can and do slap sites first and then have the webmaster write them for a reconsideration.

[nicktyler]

Good old fashioned shoot now ask questions later. As if we don't have enough to do??

[MikeFriedman]

I'm curious how Google is determining who to penalize. That is the scary part. Seems like they are using a guilty until proven innocent policy.

I'm wondering if they are just doing this to a select few as a way to scare everyone else into doing what they want.

[JimmyWrex]

I'm not too surprised about this as Google has been extremely heavy handed in the past in other areas of business and SEO is by far the most prone to abuse.

They must get thousands of spam complaints per day and now they need to do something about it.

Unfortunately, it's us guys who have been gaming the system and making a small fortune who now need to evolve or we will be left out in the cold.

Thankfully, there are other traffic methods besides SEO.

Jimmy

[nicktyler]

That wouldn't surprise me as they aer definatly capable of it and seem to do what they want on a whim alot. But it's their playground so we must play nicely nad by their rules.

I suppose it's just a case of don't try to spam anybody and hope that nobody spams you.

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by nicktyler

That wouldn't surprise me as they aer definatly capable of it and seem to do what they want on a whim alot. But it's their playground so we must play nicely nad by their rules.

Well think about it. Does google really care if a site that has never ranked before on good links and now ranks on bad links disappears from the radar? People have always had this idea that its one rule for everyone and if one site were to get destroyed by bad backlinks then you could destroy all your competition.

theres no reason for that to be the case. google can look at a site and see that it ranked before the bad links you sent at it. The algo can say forget those links this is a trusted site. So blast away you won't hurt those sites.

But if a site comes along with no respect from google and has no authority or ranking before the blast? Well why would Google even care if it was a competitor or not. its no skin of their backs. the sites that have authority and respect with reasonable content are safer to go with in their results.

Google aint got your back. They have theirs.

[nicktyler]

Originally Posted by Mike Anthony

theres no reason for that to be the case. google can look at a site and see that it ranked before the bad links you sent at it. The algo can say forget those links this is a trusted site. So blast away you won't hurt those sites.

But if a site comes along with no respect from google and has no authority or ranking before the blast? Well why would Google even care if it was a competitor or not. its no skin of their backs. the sites that have authority and respect with reasonable content are safer to go with in their results.

Google aint got your back. They have theirs.

Now that is making sense. Good work!!

[Tuffy22]

Originally Posted by Mike Anthony

Well think about it. Does google really care if a site that has never ranked before on good links and now ranks on bad links disappears from the radar? People have always had this idea that its one rule for everyone and if one site were to get destroyed by bad backlinks then you could destroy all your competition.

theres no reason for that to be the case. google can look at a site and see that it ranked before the bad links you sent at it. The algo can say forget those links this is a trusted site. So blast away you won't hurt those sites.

But if a site comes along with no respect from google and has no authority or ranking before the blast? Well why would Google even care if it was a competitor or not. its no skin of their backs. the sites that have authority and respect with reasonable content are safer to go with in their results.

Google aint got your back. They have theirs.

Your last line might just say all there is to say...

[Fraggler]

I wonder if this algorithmic or if they were dobbed in...

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by Fraggler

I wonder if this algorithmic or if they were dobbed in...

Based on the first WF member to receive this notice I am getting the impression that Google may be using the internal data from webmaster tools

[jayjay4711]

I don't get it any more. We aer working with edu sites and other links...article links...bookmarks...forum links...original content and this morning my number one ranked site goes right off the radar and I have no idea why!!!!

Can anyone tell me where I can get more info...or even if I can get more info about what the H#$% is going on. I only got one site to number one so far...made one sale...and its gone....

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by jayjay4711

Can anyone tell me where I can get more info...or even if I can get more info about what the H#$% is going on. I only got one site to number one so far...made one sale...and its gone....

NO one can tell you if you have been affected by the kind of thing that we are talking about in this thread. I've sent you a PM .

[adam westrop]

Originally Posted by Mike Anthony

its no skin of their backs.

LOL.

'no skin off their nose' is I believe the saying you were looking for.

You were close though

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by adam westrop

LOL.

'no skin off their nose' is I believe the saying you were looking for.

You were close though

http://word-ancestry.livejournal.com/30930.html
Urban Dictionary: no skin off my back

You brits. Always behind the times in language.

[Domsa]

To be honest, I've never experienced Sandbox or any sort of penalization due to Backlink number.
I do however know for a fact that duplicate content = penalization. Is it possible some of you guys made a mistake and posted original content from your website on sites such as ezinearticles before it was first indexed on your website?

[Charley Brown]

I honestly believe that it depends on whether or not the site has established some authority with Google prior to the influx of new junky backlinks. If a website is established as an authority of some sorts, then they are far less likely to be hurt by mass linking than a website that is just getting its feet wet.

[John A]

I honestly believe that it depends on whether or not the site has established some authority with Google prior to the influx of new junky backlinks. If a website is established as an authority of some sorts, then they are far less likely to be hurt by mass linking than a website that is just getting its feet wet.

I absolutely agree with you. I always try to start with the "trust" factor, to show google I'm a good boy, and then start with the strong SEO backlinking. Link velocity is also very important.

[Charley Brown]

Originally Posted by John A

I absolutely agree with you. I always try to start with the "trust" factor, to show google I'm a good boy, and then start with the strong SEO backlinking. Link velocity is also very important.

Definitely... it's best to put up some high quality content first... then look for places where you can secure relevant links. Only once you've established a decent amount of RECOGNIZED links will you be able to dabble into the gray areas without being penalized.