Why will google not remove a manual penalty against us?

11 years ago

You haven't removed enough links yet - according to them.

When you do, you won't be able to rank anyways.

Is there some reason you can't just dump this domain and move on? I understand nostalgia and all, but there's nothing special about this particular domain that is worth saving.

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

Free Special Report on Mindset - Level Up with Positive Thinking

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054352].message }}

mediaben

11 years ago

Thanks PerformanceMan but that simply isnt true.

Firstly - we will rank when the manual is removed because we are being indexed and rank for certain KW.

Secondly - This website is a brand that has been built up for the last 10 years and we cant 'just dump it' because of its value and history.

They say we haven't removed enough links but they also say that they don't expect us to remove everything, just the ones we can actually get taken down whilst showing our effort.
Not only have we showed them our effort but we have disavowed any and all sites which have inorganic links!

Thanks
1 reply

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054392].message }}

PerformanceMan

11 years ago

Originally Posted by mediaben

Thanks PerformanceMan but that simply isnt true.

Firstly - we will rank when the manual is removed because we are being indexed and rank for certain KW.

Secondly - This website is a brand that has been built up for the last 10 years and we cant 'just dump it' because of its value and history.

They say we haven't removed enough links but they also say that they don't expect us to remove everything, just the ones we can actually get taken down whilst showing our effort.
Not only have we showed them our effort but we have disavowed any and all sites which have inorganic links!

I see you still rank for your domain name (brand name) and you still have sitelinks.

How is this penalty manifesting?

Generally with Google link penalties there's nothing sophisticated going on. The 'unnatural links' warning message seems to come from cases where there are too many occurrences of 'exact anchor matches.' When the "EMD update' went down I checked a bunch of sites that got penalties and almost all of them were at 80% exact match or over.

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

Free Special Report on Mindset - Level Up with Positive Thinking

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054420].message }}

mediaben

11 years ago

Originally Posted by PerformanceMan

I see you still rank for your domain name (brand name) and you still have sitelinks.

How is this penalty manifesting?

Generally with Google link penalties there's nothing sophisticated going on. The 'unnatural links' warning message seems to come from cases where there are too many occurrences of 'exact anchor matches.' When the "EMD update' went down I checked a bunch of sites that got penalties and almost all of them were at 80% exact match or over.

Yes after running back link checks and using WMT we have discovered seriously aggressive exact match anchor text such as 'personal injury claims' linking to us (presumably built by a company we hired over a year ago to do our SEO work).

I believe many webmasters received the 'unnatural links' message so while it is possible that we were penalized because of this, it may just be coincidence.

That aside, any suggestions on what can be done now?

Thanks
1 reply

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054618].message }}

PerformanceMan

11 years ago

Originally Posted by mediaben

Yes after running back link checks and using WMT we have discovered seriously aggressive exact match anchor text such as 'personal injury claims' linking to us (presumably built by a company we hired over a year ago to do our SEO work).

I believe many webmasters received the 'unnatural links' message so while it is possible that we were penalized because of this, it may just be coincidence.

That aside, any suggestions on what can be done now?

Google wants you to 'narc' on the SEO company. Throw them under the bus in your next reinclusion request and tell them that you had no idea this was going on.

Of course if there are new links with the same anchor text, they might not believe your story

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

Free Special Report on Mindset - Level Up with Positive Thinking

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054754].message }}

Mike Anthony 11 years ago

OP you might have one more option if Google will not remove them

Your link builder (doubt he was a real SEO) built alot of your links with the .aspx extension for your windows I presume website. If through programming your website developer changes this the links will go dead and show 404s. Normally its a last ditch option to 404 pages just for incoming links but in your case you wouldn't be doing much more than removing the aspx extension.

IF you have to and it works then you owe me a few hundred dollars.

Even if it does you need to get less obvious links. Downside is that it will axe all the links coming to the page with that extension.
- Thanks
Signature
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054811].message }}

Entrecon

11 years ago

So, to work on decreasing the number of links to your site, you go to a forum about marketing where "black hat" linking and discussions might occur and create another link to your site?

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

Visit My website http://kipferguson.com

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054456].message }}

mediaben

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Entrecon

So, to work on decreasing the number of links to your site, you go to a forum about marketing where "black hat" linking and discussions might occur and create another link to your site?

Actually - as i am sure you are aware this forum is for paid members only. Therefore drastically reducing the likelihood of spam on this thread. And to be honest i don't think one more forum link will do much hurt.

Anyway i don't see why anyone would purposefully spam us like that.

We have worked incredibly hard at removing links and i would appreciate it if you did not reply with unhelpful comments like that.

Thanks
1 reply

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054607].message }}

pasik 11 years ago

Originally Posted by mediaben

Actually - as i am sure you are aware this forum is for paid members only.

Where did you get the idea that this is for paid members only? I'm not paid member.:rolleyes:
- [ 1 ] Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054662].message }}

Backlinko

11 years ago

I think the issue is that you're assuming the disavow tool makes a difference in a reconsideration request.

It doesn't.

Google wants to see that you've made an effort to actually remove the inorganic links. Disavowing them (unfortunately) doesn't count for much.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Tell them that you hired an SEO firm and you didn't know what they were doing (which is the truth in this case).

2. Show them spreadsheets and email documentation as proof that you've reached out to hundreds of site owners to ask them to get rid of the links. Also show them any links that you've had successfully taken down. Obviously, you need to actually do that.

Unless you've done those two things they're not going to lift the penalty.

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

Find Awesome Keywords...Without ANY Tools

Watch this free video to see how (no opt-in required)

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054728].message }}

Mike Anthony

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Backlinko

Unless you've done those two things they're not going to lift the penalty.

Plus people completely misunderstand the use of that tool. You can disavow all you want but if Google sees clear evidence that you have been manipulating results and nothing else they can choose to not disavow them.

Links i saw should be removable - on web 2.0 accounts, blogger comments and some directories. As you said simply disavowing them is no guarantee of anything.

[ 1 ] Thanks
1 reply

Signature

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054752].message }}

paulgl

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Mike Anthony

Plus people completely misunderstand the use of that tool. You can disavow all you want but if Google sees clear evidence that you have been manipulating results and nothing else they can choose to not disavow them.

Translation: The disavow tool is useless but gives webmasters a good
feeling.

Paul

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

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

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054878].message }}

PerformanceMan 11 years ago

Originally Posted by paulgl

Translation: The disavow tool is useless but gives webmasters a good
feeling.

Paul

Of course it's useless. Google won't ever give belligerent and unrepentant webmasters a 'get out jail free' card.

It's too much power
- Thanks
Signature

Free Special Report on Mindset - Level Up with Positive Thinking
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054957].message }}

Mike Anthony

11 years ago

From the few links I saw (didn't have the time for a full audit) my guess would be that Google thinks that you are buying links. I do. add that to the directory links, web 2.0, and blog comments that all look pretty obvious and unnatural and you are not going to be given the benefit of the doubt.

Do you even have a SEO working on your site? IF you do then he needs to learn a bit more.

Thanks

Signature

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054741].message }}

online only

11 years ago

Google discovers "private" networks, paid links n more stuff with disallow tools. Nothing else. #illuminati

In fact, I have never heard that anyone has recovered from any sort of penalty using disallow tool.

Thanks
1 reply

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8054968].message }}

Mike Anthony

11 years ago

Originally Posted by online only

In fact, I have never heard that anyone has recovered from any sort of penalty using disallow tool.

Google's Disavow Tool Works - Penalty Removal - YouMoz | SEOmoz

Penalty Lifted: How To Use Google’s Disavow Tool Case Study

The Disavow Tool Works! Real Sites, Real Recoveries!

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8055068].message }}

online only

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Mike Anthony

Google's Disavow Tool Works - Penalty Removal - YouMoz | SEOmoz

Penalty Lifted: How To Use Google’s Disavow Tool Case Study

The Disavow Tool Works! Real Sites, Real Recoveries!

Uhm, all of those "casestudies" included manual outreaching and manual link removal + reconsideration request. Yes, they used disavow tool as well, but you can't really be 100% sure that it helped.