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Unnatural links message, no mention of penalty...

by problemchild
12 replies
  • SEO
    • |
What does that mean? I got the message today for about 20 of my sites, which, by the way, don't have any unnatural links. I've made them all myself on relevant sites.

I got this message:

We've detected that some of your site's pages may be using techniques that are outside Google's Webmaster Guidelines. Specifically, look for possibly artificial or unnatural links pointing to your site that could be intended to manipulate PageRank. Examples of unnatural linking could include buying links to pass PageRank or participating in link schemes. 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. If you have any questions about how to resolve this issue, please see our Webmaster Help Forum for support. Sincerely, Google Search Quality Team

None of my rankings have dropped yet. In fact, they've skyrocketed over the past few weeks.

What is going to happen now? Am I de-indexed? Will my rankings drop like a rock? What is to expect next? And when?

Thank you for your help, panicking.
#links #mention #message #penalty #unnatural
  • Profile picture of the author DizenSounds
    I've made them all myself on relevant sites.

    Guess what, this may blow your mind, but this is an UNNATURAL LINK. If you build links yourself, you are creating unnatural links. Google doesn't want that, and has caught you.

    In the next two weeks your site(s) will plummet in the rankings. You won't be deindexed but you will see a sharp decline in rankings.

    YOu need to clean up and remove all the links that you created and file a reconsideration request. Otherwise you won't regain rankings. Trust me I know. I listened to a lot of the advice here and was told to "build more high quality backlinks". Guess what, it didn't work. It created more problems for me.

    It wasn't until I tried cleaning up my link profile until I was able to overcome my link warning via Google and regain my rankings. You may want to check out services like LinkDelete.com. THey manage the link removal process for you and help you with kick ass advice when filing for a reconsideration request.
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  • Profile picture of the author DeskCoder
    My site plummeted the day I got the notice ... I was #1, and now I go between 45 and 75. Good luck ... @DizenSounds advice is pretty sound. Remove links. I would also try to add some relevant content, and make sure your pages aren't over-optimized.
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  • Profile picture of the author problemchild
    But no, my links aren't spam. They're product links on social media sites, like, a link on my FB fan page showcasing a product. Or showcasing products on Pinterest. They aren't bad links. Or are these links actually bad? I'm not doing articles, no spinning, no forum sigs, no blog comments, nothing like that. Just building a brand via social media postings on my own brand's social media pages. These links aren't spam links either, maybe one post a week may highlight a product, and the rest of my social media posts are just informative articles about trends in my industry.

    How can these be bad links?
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    • Profile picture of the author DizenSounds
      Originally Posted by problemchild View Post

      But no, my links aren't spam. They're product links on social media sites, like, a link on my FB fan page showcasing a product. Or showcasing products on Pinterest. They aren't bad links. Or are these links actually bad? I'm not doing articles, no spinning, no forum sigs, no blog comments, nothing like that. Just building a brand via social media postings on my own brand's social media pages. These links aren't spam links either, maybe one post a week may highlight a product, and the rest of my social media posts are just informative articles about trends in my industry.

      How can these be bad links?
      Your are missing the point. Google doesn't want you to build links at all. Any linkbuilding designed to manipulate pagerank and rankings is against their TOS. Regardless of how white hat we all think our linkbuilding is, it really isn't and we are all breaking the rules.

      Sounds like you got caught for not doing too bad of stuff, which is a shame. But guess what? Google is still gonna penalize you unless you do something about it.
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      • Profile picture of the author goindeep
        As per the guy above.

        The only types of links you can adopt that are paid or driven for the sole purpose of traffic and search engine results manipulation are quality sponsored links. Like the types in banners on relevant sites.

        Google wants to see you naturally linking out to stuff you like and recommend and it wants to see the same come back to your site.

        Google doesnt care if you pay for links so long as they are not spammy, so long as they are sponsor/advert style and so long as they are relevant e.g. plumbing links or a builders forum etc.

        All this said, I think google does make mistakes sometimes.

        Without seeing your incoming links and the strategy it is hard to say.

        Your site looks as if it may be de-indexed very soon. Sorry to hear that.

        Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author DeskCoder
    Have you confirmed your links in Google Webmaster Tools? Check your links on there to make sure the links you said you built are the only links that Google registers. I have a feeling there might be a ton more you don't know about.
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  • Profile picture of the author DizenSounds
    Yep mike doens't make sense really! there is more to this story for sure.

    You built some other links for sure...
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  • Profile picture of the author boxoun
    I think he's trolling. All 20 sites?
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    • Profile picture of the author DizenSounds
      Originally Posted by boxoun View Post

      I think he's trolling. All 20 sites?
      Why would he be trolling? All 20 sites is likely if they are under the same WMT and used the same linkbuilding methods (which is extremely likely)
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  • Profile picture of the author SEO4hire
    Yeah...doesn't sound good. From my experience and reading the experience of others, it is just a matter of time before your site(s) get slapped. It sucks that Google doesn't take the time to be more specific about the issue they have with your sites so you can fix the problem, but it is their game, and we are just the pawns trying to play it. Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author retsek
    OP needs to be more honest. What links are appearing when you go to Webmaster Tools > "Traffic" > "Links to your site" ?

    Also, are you interlinking these 20 sites ?
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  • Profile picture of the author WildGale
    Cutts posted on G+ today saying a whole new batch of messages went out and not all are for sites that will be penalized. (Just to make it all a bit more complicated...)
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