Spam links in webmaster tools?

19 replies
  • SEO
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Hi everyone, I was looking through my webmaster tools in the backlinks section and I noticed a huge amount of backlinks from some health related websites ending in ".xyz".

There are 5 different domain names that show almost a total of 3500 backlinks to my site.

Now, when I follow these links to check where my link is at, they automatically redirect to other websites (and my link isnt there at all).

I googled the urls and visited the cached versions of these websites and my site is/was indeed on them. I'm not sure what the deal is with the redirection.

Any advice on the course of action I should be taking?

Many thanks!
#links #spam #tools #webmaster
  • Profile picture of the author itos
    You can disavow the links in your Google Webmasters tools if you think they are spam. If someone tried to spam your site it's better to get rid of all those links. You can upload a .txt file with all those links.

    Look in the manual actions and see if they is any advice or warning for your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author vishwa
    You simply disavow those links. Few months back I had also faced this type of issue. By disavowing these links can sort out your problem.
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    • Profile picture of the author AboutTown
      I've seen a lot of spam referrals like this in my Google Analytics Reports also. The hits are just so their so that the reviewer will visit those sites to boost the spammers traffic. Or worse they could be full of malware.
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  • Profile picture of the author pororo
    Use the disavow tool, but be careful on the links that you're going to include.

    https://support.google.com/webmaster.../2648487?hl=en
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  • Profile picture of the author Supramax
    Thanks to all for your responses! There are no manual actions or warnings from google. It seems most of these links are dead or no follow towards my site, so I might let it be for now.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Forget the disavow tool. I can't believe you people come up with that line.

      Disavow has nothing to do with this crap.

      Google reports those crap links because, well, they're links.

      It does mean google counts them. I'd say they ignore 99.999999% of these idiotic links.

      Now, here's YOUR problem.

      Most likely these sites are trying to hack you someway.
      They go all over the internet looking for links that are being "spammed"
      in various places. That is, users are allowed to post links any way they
      choose for various reasons. Like craigslist. They think if you are a spammer,
      you don't know anything. Maybe your site is easy.

      Wouldn't it be a kick if some did that to the WF sigs?

      You might want to stop spamming your link, even if you think it's not spam.

      Paul
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      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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      • Profile picture of the author Supramax
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post


        You might want to stop spamming your link, even if you think it's not spam.

        Paul
        Hi Paul, I've never spammed my link anywhere...so I'm unsure how this applies to my situation.

        As I said, the links are on sites/pages ending in ".xyz" as shown in the backlinks google report. But the problem is, all of these urls are redirected to a sales letter. The sales letter page does not include my link.
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        • Profile picture of the author paulgl
          Disavow has NOTHING to do with these links.

          I just can't believe the brainless things that people just keep
          repeating.

          They are idiotic, useless links. Period. Google knows
          that. Google is not as dumb as people think. You get
          google to show you links, they show you.

          If you toss your link out there, willy nilly, there are bots that scrape.

          Some would call that spam, some would not.

          These sites don't just imagine your site out of thin air.

          Paul
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          If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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          • Profile picture of the author mivid
            Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

            Disavow has NOTHING to do with these links.

            I just can't believe the brainless things that people just keep
            repeating.

            They are idiotic, useless links. Period. Google knows
            that. Google is not as dumb as people think. You get
            google to show you links, they show you.

            If you toss your link out there, willy nilly, there are bots that scrape.

            Some would call that spam, some would not.

            These sites don't just imagine your site out of thin air.

            Paul
            Dear Paul

            I also faced a similar problem and has tried disavowing and after 2-3 months the number of spammy back links decreased. It was 1900 or above at first. And the back links were from porn sites, while clicking on it it shows an exact copy of my website with similar images but the text was replaced with porn language. So even if i don't disavow it it wont harm me? and if the disavow wont work how did the number of spammy links reduced? I would really like to hear your thoughts.
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  • Profile picture of the author krestup
    I have similar issue but in my case the links are got are from blog I made a comment on and I got over 1000 backlinks, just wondering how this happened?
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    • Profile picture of the author Supramax
      Originally Posted by krestup View Post

      I have similar issue but in my case the links are got are from blog I made a comment on and I got over 1000 backlinks, just wondering how this happened?
      I think even though it shows as 1000 links, google only counts it as 1 if it's from the same blog. Not 100% sure though.
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  • Profile picture of the author vithobaaseo
    If you found any irrelevant links in webmaster tool, you can disavow those link.. Try the following method

    Download links

    1)On the Webmaster Tools home page, click the site you want.
    2)On the Dashboard, click Search Traffic, and then click Links to Your Site.
    3)Under Who links the most, click More.
    4)Click Download more sample links. If you click Download latest links, you'll see dates as well.


    Upload a list of links to disavow

    1)Go to the disavow links tool page (https://www.google.com/webmasters/to...nks-main?pli=1)
    2)Select your website.
    3)Click Disavow links.
    4)Click Choose file.

    done

    Note:
    1)you can upload only a txt file
    2)Uploading a new file will replace all previously uploaded ones.
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  • Profile picture of the author chrisjohn93
    You can disavow the links in your Google Webmasters tools if you think they are spam. Disavow domain also. This will solve your problem
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  • Profile picture of the author jasminemartin
    Yes a simple and easy solution is to disavow the spam link.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Originally Posted by jasminemartin View Post

      Yes a simple and easy solution is to disavow the spam link.
      To all of you seo wannabes: Disavow has nothing to do with these links. Period.

      You people just parrot crap that makes no sense.

      A fool says the same false thing, over and over, and then eventually believes it.

      Rock on, people. Rock on.

      Paul
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      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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      • Profile picture of the author mivid
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        To all of you seo wannabes: Disavow has nothing to do with these links. Period.

        You people just parrot crap that makes no sense.

        A fool says the same false thing, over and over, and then eventually believes it.

        Rock on, people. Rock on.

        Paul
        I was looking for a technical answer. I dint mean that i believe in disavowing links. If you dont mind could you please explain the technical side. I thought you are an expert in this field and you can give me a technical answer. Consider it as a doubt of a curious learner.

        regards mivid.
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  • Profile picture of the author Normann
    Is it possible to disavow all .xyz domains? Not each domain but all domains on .xyz
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by Normann View Post

      Is it possible to disavow all .xyz domains? Not each domain but all domains on .xyz
      no You can't disavow links of a tld that you haven't even got in your link profile.
      Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
    i'll have to agree with Paul On this one. Theres nothing from the OP that indicates the links are hurting the site. To be honest i am not even sure what the op means when he says he found them when he looked at that cached version.

    disallow is no magic pill and google doesn't always act on it. So its better to know what is what before going down that route.
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