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How to block spammy links/ negative SEO?

by customapp
19 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi,

I need advice from SEO gurus out there on a really serious issue. Now, my site has been in top position in google for major keywords related to the niche of my site. All backlinks were built by me over time manually using only white hat techniques. There were roughly 20 high quality backlinks until last week. Coming to the issue....

Issue: Today, i saw a sudden drop in rankings. When i checked my Webmaster account, I was shocked to see hundreds of spammy backlinks to my site built over last one week. Now, obviously this was done by a competitor to topple my SERP rankings.

I've already started preparing the disavow file for all these spammy links as it's not possible to contact every single webmaster to remove spammy link. But, am skeptical about effectiveness of disavow tool as i've not used it before.

Question: I'm aware that you can't control what your competitor can do but there must be a way to thwart such dirty tactics from competitors. I'm sure some of you must have been in this situation before, can you please advice on what can be done to prevent this from happening again in future?

TIA
#backlinks #block #links or #negative #negative seo #seo #spammy #spammy links
  • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
    Originally Posted by customapp View Post

    Hi,

    I need advice from SEO gurus out there on a really serious issue. Now, my site has been in top position in google for major keywords related to the niche of my site. All backlinks were built by me over time manually using only white hat techniques. There were roughly 20 high quality backlinks until last week. Coming to the issue....

    Issue: Today, i saw a sudden drop in rankings. When i checked my Webmaster account, I was shocked to see hundreds of spammy backlinks to my site built over last one week. Now, obviously this was done by a competitor to topple my SERP rankings.

    I've already started preparing the disavow file for all these spammy links as it's not possible to contact every single webmaster to remove spammy link. But, am skeptical about effectiveness of disavow tool as i've not used it before.

    Question: I'm aware that you can't control what your competitor can do but there must be a way to thwart such dirty tactics from competitors. I'm sure some of you must have been in this situation before, can you please advice on what can be done to prevent this from happening again in future?

    TIA
    I had this recently, here's what I did:

    Submitted disavow tool for all of the bad links.
    Bought a new .com domain
    Redirected old domain to new domain

    About 1-2 weeks later, all rankings came back.
    Signature

    Just got back from a #BrightonSEO. I was given room 404 in the hotel I stayed at. Couldn’t find it anywhere!

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    • Profile picture of the author customapp
      Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

      I had this recently, here's what I did:

      Submitted disavow tool for all of the bad links.
      Bought a new .com domain
      Redirected old domain to new domain

      About 1-2 weeks later, all rankings came back.
      Thanks Icematikx, sounds like a good option...
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      • Profile picture of the author danparks
        Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

        I had this recently, here's what I did:

        Submitted disavow tool for all of the bad links.
        Bought a new .com domain
        Redirected old domain to new domain

        About 1-2 weeks later, all rankings came back.
        Originally Posted by customapp View Post

        Thanks Icematikx, sounds like a good option...
        And then the competitor does it again....
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        • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
          Originally Posted by danparks View Post

          And then the competitor does it again....
          Yep unless he is brain dead. Only way to protect yourself from negative SEO is to have good existing authority links.
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          • Profile picture of the author TotalWebsiteControl
            Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

            Yep unless he is brain dead. Only way to protect yourself from negative SEO is to have good existing authority links.
            Mike is right. You need to build some STRONG authority links so when ever the negative SEO attacks happen again it will have minimal effect if any effect at all.
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          • Profile picture of the author SEO Power
            Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

            Yep unless he is brain dead. Only way to protect yourself from negative SEO is to have good existing authority links.
            This, and you have to build strong links or attract them and increase the authority of your site rapidly if you want to offset the effects of negative SEO attacks. Apart from that, there's almost nothing you can do.

            Obviously, you should disavow the links and hope nothing happens to your site.
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            ONE HOUR INDEXING - STOP WASTING MONEY ON LINKS GOOGLE NEVER FINDS
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    • Profile picture of the author patco
      Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

      I had this recently, here's what I did:

      Submitted disavow tool for all of the bad links.
      Bought a new .com domain
      Redirected old domain to new domain

      About 1-2 weeks later, all rankings came back.
      He forgot to say that a 301 redirection is what you should do and also... be sure that the new domain is not already blacklisted! Also another thing to check is if your OLD website it not already blacklisted too as you should try something further
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      A blog that will show you How to Lose Weight with a cool Quick Weight Loss guide...
      Also enjoy some of my favorite Funny pictures and photos that will make you smile :)

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  • Profile picture of the author tranhiep116
    first you should tell google that not your buiding link. Then usting google webmaster tool find link and stop get link from that site by webmaster
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOWizard417
    Yep, nothing you can really do except monitor and disavow. It's a cycle that can continue indefinitely, one of the major flaws with the penguin algo.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sage SEO
    As a practice, it's certainly on the increase as well. Nothing you can do to stop it.

    You'll notice that sites with authority don't have to worry about this though.
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  • Profile picture of the author accessted
    I just send my spammy links to junk mail....


    J/K I had to do that..

    Yeah what others said. Disavow them. Not much you can do.. Although the disavow thing is questionable, but not much of a choice with negative SEO..

    I am currently waiting on on a disavow from Google. I will let you know how it turns out.. Although it may be a few months
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    • Profile picture of the author TotalWebsiteControl
      Originally Posted by accessted View Post

      I just send my spammy links to junk mail....


      J/K I had to do that..

      Yeah what others said. Disavow them. Not much you can do.. Although the disavow thing is questionable, but not much of a choice with negative SEO..

      I am currently waiting on on a disavow from Google. I will let you know how it turns out.. Although it may be a few months

      You should be fine though. Some people think using the disavow tool actually does more harm then good. These people have tin foil hats
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  • Profile picture of the author claytonwood
    ShoeNickle is right, great backlinks keep you protected often times. I've seen this happen with a few websites and the rankings don't get effected.

    I'm new to posting here, but not new to the warrior content. Love it, figured I'd jump in here with some extra info on how to find out if someone's attacking you so you can know immediately.

    Email alerts on Google Webmaster Tools
    use MonitorBacklinks.com
    Communicate on backlinks ONLY with your email address and tell the webmaster that.
    Use the WordPress plug in Google Authenticator Plug in
    Check consistently for duplicate content from your site

    Hope this helps.

    Clayton
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  • Profile picture of the author alexjames212
    Initially, you can consider contacting the owners of the websites from which your site has been linked to for the cause of requesting them to take down the links. If this does not work, you can use disavow tool in GWT. thereafter, make it a point to track your backlinks on a daily basis with GWT and Google Analytics.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rank Watch
    Well, the only option you have is to have an authoritative site so that these dirty links don't affect your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author npoint
    The only one who can fight with it is Google, but it seems they have no clue how to do it (:
    So, the others can burn you easily if they want, it`s stupid but it`s something Google can`t handle cos if they do something with it they must have to permit on rank with spam backlinks, it`s hard to do something with it ...
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    PM me if you need a DF backlinks from high traffic websites
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  • Profile picture of the author EmilyJacob
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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  • Profile picture of the author sweezeter
    Originally Posted by customapp View Post

    spammy links as it's not possible to contact every single webmaster to remove spammy link. But, am skeptical about effectiveness of disavow tool as i've not used it before.
    Why isn't it possible? Maybe you just don't know the best way to get in contact? Getting in contact is possible as long as you go through the right avenues. I suggest hiring a service to help you if you can't do it. I'm sure you have better things to do with your time anyhow.

    Disavow will not help you any, it doesn't work.

    The only course is to take action and attempt to remove the links at this stage. Waiting could be risky with penguin update right around the corner.
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    • Profile picture of the author danparks
      Originally Posted by sweezeter View Post

      Why isn't it possible? Maybe you just don't know the best way to get in contact? Getting in contact is possible as long as you go through the right avenues. I suggest hiring a service to help you if you can't do it. I'm sure you have better things to do with your time anyhow.

      Disavow will not help you any, it doesn't work.

      The only course is to take action and attempt to remove the links at this stage. Waiting could be risky with penguin update right around the corner.
      He said he has hundreds of spammy links. Some people get tens of thousands of spammy links. Those links are almost always blog comments, usually on pages that have hundreds or thousands of comments. If a blog owner doesn't care or know to turn off comments or moderate comments, do you think the blog owner will be interested in going in and deleting a comment upon request? Do you think hundreds of blog owners will do that? Do you think it's practical to try to contact hundreds or thousands of blog owners to make the requests? Knowing "the best way to get in contact" isn't going to matter.
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