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Can you be hurt by the Links pointing to your site? Maybe after all??

by Mike Anthony
20 replies
  • SEO
    • |
The standard answer has always been that links pointing to your site can never hurt you. After all if they did then you could nuke you competitors. Now comes however this story

Google Sending Notifications Of Unnatural Links Pointing To Your Site

Essentially Google has been sending out emails to certain webmasters informing them that they were in violation of the guidelines not because they were linking to anyone but because of INCOMING links like buying links or link schemes (which just about covers all black hat links).

the real interesting part to me is this part of the letter Google sent out

"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."

Normally that kind of language is reserved for a site that has been penalized.

worse using that letter I was able to find webmasters who WERE penalized for link spam/ buying links

Penalty due to apparent sabotage--Please help - Webmaster Central Help
My websites rankings have completely vanished from Google. Please help! - Webmaster Central Help


Further research indicates they mostly likely were not deindexed but their rankings did suffer a penalty.


So what is Google up to now? Has anyone got one of those emails?

Anyway be careful out there.
#hurt #links #pointing #site
  • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
    Quick update I missed in the earlier post.

    The emails also seem to support that pagerank DOES indeed matter. The notices mention gaming pagerank specifically so if pagerank isn't so important to google why is it handing out penalties for people trying to game what isn't important?
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  • Profile picture of the author nicktyler
    That is not good news for alot of peopl. If you are spamming then fair enough but how does Google tell if you have bought a link, made it yourself or a third party has linked naturally??
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by nicktyler View Post

      That is not good news for alot of peopl. If you are spamming then fair enough but how does Google tell if you have bought a link, made it yourself or a third party has linked naturally??
      Incredibly it seems they can and do slap sites first and then have the webmaster write them for a reconsideration.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicktyler
    Good old fashioned shoot now ask questions later. As if we don't have enough to do??
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      I'm curious how Google is determining who to penalize. That is the scary part. Seems like they are using a guilty until proven innocent policy.

      I'm wondering if they are just doing this to a select few as a way to scare everyone else into doing what they want.
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    • Profile picture of the author JimmyWrex
      I'm not too surprised about this as Google has been extremely heavy handed in the past in other areas of business and SEO is by far the most prone to abuse.

      They must get thousands of spam complaints per day and now they need to do something about it.

      Unfortunately, it's us guys who have been gaming the system and making a small fortune who now need to evolve or we will be left out in the cold.

      Thankfully, there are other traffic methods besides SEO.

      Jimmy
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  • Profile picture of the author nicktyler
    That wouldn't surprise me as they aer definatly capable of it and seem to do what they want on a whim alot. But it's their playground so we must play nicely nad by their rules.

    I suppose it's just a case of don't try to spam anybody and hope that nobody spams you.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by nicktyler View Post

      That wouldn't surprise me as they aer definatly capable of it and seem to do what they want on a whim alot. But it's their playground so we must play nicely nad by their rules.
      Well think about it. Does google really care if a site that has never ranked before on good links and now ranks on bad links disappears from the radar? People have always had this idea that its one rule for everyone and if one site were to get destroyed by bad backlinks then you could destroy all your competition.

      theres no reason for that to be the case. google can look at a site and see that it ranked before the bad links you sent at it. The algo can say forget those links this is a trusted site. So blast away you won't hurt those sites.

      But if a site comes along with no respect from google and has no authority or ranking before the blast? Well why would Google even care if it was a competitor or not. its no skin of their backs. the sites that have authority and respect with reasonable content are safer to go with in their results.

      Google aint got your back. They have theirs.
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      • Profile picture of the author nicktyler
        Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

        theres no reason for that to be the case. google can look at a site and see that it ranked before the bad links you sent at it. The algo can say forget those links this is a trusted site. So blast away you won't hurt those sites.

        But if a site comes along with no respect from google and has no authority or ranking before the blast? Well why would Google even care if it was a competitor or not. its no skin of their backs. the sites that have authority and respect with reasonable content are safer to go with in their results.

        Google aint got your back. They have theirs.
        Now that is making sense. Good work!!
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      • Profile picture of the author Tuffy22
        Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

        Well think about it. Does google really care if a site that has never ranked before on good links and now ranks on bad links disappears from the radar? People have always had this idea that its one rule for everyone and if one site were to get destroyed by bad backlinks then you could destroy all your competition.

        theres no reason for that to be the case. google can look at a site and see that it ranked before the bad links you sent at it. The algo can say forget those links this is a trusted site. So blast away you won't hurt those sites.

        But if a site comes along with no respect from google and has no authority or ranking before the blast? Well why would Google even care if it was a competitor or not. its no skin of their backs. the sites that have authority and respect with reasonable content are safer to go with in their results.

        Google aint got your back. They have theirs.
        Your last line might just say all there is to say...
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        Chad Gookin
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      • Profile picture of the author adam westrop
        Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

        its no skin of their backs.
        LOL.

        'no skin off their nose' is I believe the saying you were looking for.

        You were close though
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  • Profile picture of the author Fraggler
    I wonder if this algorithmic or if they were dobbed in...
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by Fraggler View Post

      I wonder if this algorithmic or if they were dobbed in...
      Based on the first WF member to receive this notice I am getting the impression that Google may be using the internal data from webmaster tools
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  • Profile picture of the author jayjay4711
    I don't get it any more. We aer working with edu sites and other links...article links...bookmarks...forum links...original content and this morning my number one ranked site goes right off the radar and I have no idea why!!!!

    Can anyone tell me where I can get more info...or even if I can get more info about what the H#$% is going on. I only got one site to number one so far...made one sale...and its gone....
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by jayjay4711 View Post


      Can anyone tell me where I can get more info...or even if I can get more info about what the H#$% is going on. I only got one site to number one so far...made one sale...and its gone....
      NO one can tell you if you have been affected by the kind of thing that we are talking about in this thread. I've sent you a PM .
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  • Profile picture of the author Daedalus
    To be honest, I've never experienced Sandbox or any sort of penalization due to Backlink number.
    I do however know for a fact that duplicate content = penalization. Is it possible some of you guys made a mistake and posted original content from your website on sites such as ezinearticles before it was first indexed on your website?
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  • Profile picture of the author Charley Brown
    I honestly believe that it depends on whether or not the site has established some authority with Google prior to the influx of new junky backlinks. If a website is established as an authority of some sorts, then they are far less likely to be hurt by mass linking than a website that is just getting its feet wet.
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  • Profile picture of the author John A
    I honestly believe that it depends on whether or not the site has established some authority with Google prior to the influx of new junky backlinks. If a website is established as an authority of some sorts, then they are far less likely to be hurt by mass linking than a website that is just getting its feet wet.
    I absolutely agree with you. I always try to start with the "trust" factor, to show google I'm a good boy, and then start with the strong SEO backlinking. Link velocity is also very important.
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    • Profile picture of the author Charley Brown
      Originally Posted by John A View Post

      I absolutely agree with you. I always try to start with the "trust" factor, to show google I'm a good boy, and then start with the strong SEO backlinking. Link velocity is also very important.

      Definitely... it's best to put up some high quality content first... then look for places where you can secure relevant links. Only once you've established a decent amount of RECOGNIZED links will you be able to dabble into the gray areas without being penalized.
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