12 replies
  • SEO
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Being a small business I thought it was a good idea to create a few blogs and write (genuinely helpful!) content for designers and also link back to my own sites as my reward if you like, not just for SEO, but to try to get work too.

Using this penalty checker tool I was horrified to discover all 3 blogs had been (possibly) penalised for unnatural links within a very short period of time - thinking about it I can see why, but it leaves me wondering what on earth can a small biz do?

Even Google Plus, previously a good thing to use, has now made all their links "no follow".

What do others do?
#back links #blogs #no follow #penalised #seo
  • Profile picture of the author SEOWizard417
    Not sure what that online tool checks to see if you've been penalised. Assuming it searches Google for your domain name. In any case, it doesn't mean your site has been sandboxes or penalised though. Do you track your rankings at all? If you saw some sudden drops recently, could be due to the panda refresh that rolled out last week.

    Were there any footprints between the blogs you created and your site? If you host them on the same IP or same who is information and so on, could be you got a penalty for unnatural link building. You can check through WMT if you have any sort of manual penalty placed on your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author netanel23
    Kinda strange, your first post is linking to a tool I've never heard of before. Spam?
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    That tool is an inaccurate piece of crap.
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  • Profile picture of the author beelzebomb
    If it's inaccurate, anything else out there better to check sites with? The tool successfully flagged a couple of sites I knew- (as best I could ever know - to have been penalised as a pre-using-check and 90% of sites pass as would be expected.

    The blogs were wordpress, blogger and tumblr to keep them apart from my site.

    But mainly I want to know how others promote their sites these days, Google seems to be closing all avenues for small businesses down.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by beelzebomb View Post

      If it's inaccurate, anything else out there better to check sites with? The tool successfully flagged a couple of sites I knew- (as best I could ever know - to have been penalised as a pre-using-check and 90% of sites pass as would be expected.
      From what I can tell, all the tool is doing is checking rankings and then making a guess. If a page is not ranking, it is guessing that it is penalized.


      Originally Posted by beelzebomb View Post

      But mainly I want to know how others promote their sites these days, Google seems to be closing all avenues for small businesses down.
      For a small business, I would be looking for quality business directories. I would be doing outreach to sites within the niche and similar niches. If it is a competitive marketplace, I would consider developing a small network of sites to boost the rankings as well.
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      • Profile picture of the author beelzebomb
        Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

        I would consider developing a small network of sites to boost the rankings as well.
        But isn't that the same thing that I was trying with the blogging, or do you mean other types sites that link back?
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        • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
          Originally Posted by beelzebomb View Post

          But isn't that the same thing that I was trying with the blogging, or do you mean other types sites that link back?
          Except you are blogging on sites like Tumblr. Those pages you are creating have no real value on their own.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Sandbox checker?

    Do they have a reality checker?

    Try:
    • site:domain.com
    • site:domain.com/internal-page-url
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  • Profile picture of the author godoveryou
    I agree, that tool is horrible.

    Why would anyone even consider using it?

    And yes, a bit spammy
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  • Profile picture of the author SEO Power
    Lol, why do you think they are penalised?Just because a useless tool told you so? Did your traffic drop? Such tools are pointless and shouldn't be used at all.

    If you want to know whether your blogs have been penalised or not, view their impressions over the last couple of days/weeks. You can get this information from your Google webmaster tools account. If the number of daily impressions they are receiving per day has dropped steeply, then the tool is correct. If not, it isn't.

    That kind of tool can never be correct anyway as it doesn't have access to the data needed to produce accurate results.
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  • Profile picture of the author Roopatg
    I guess that tool is not showing the right result, I checked my site in that tool, (ticketgoose.com),one time its shown as penalized, second time as it looks OK. I suggest you not believe in these tools, check out your traffic volume of the blog, is there any sudden drop? OR did you get any message in your Google webmaster tools regarding any manual penalty?
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  • Profile picture of the author sonamathews
    I have checked online tools and seen that many of them give inaccurate results. So just make sure that what link you build they are quality links. Submit to quality and verified directories.
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