12 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
12 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Will the process of removing the exact anchor keyword help bring back rankings?

by Keep Trying
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi, my site was hit by Penguin like many others, and rather than sulking about it to Google or what not, I'm starting to think of ways to bring it back, or basically look at my situation as of where it is right now and find a solution to the problem.

My situation is I have about 1,000 manual links with the "exact anchor keyword" text pointing to my website. These links were hand-made done by me using things like social bookmarking, forum signatures, PAD software directories, article directories, etc. and took me all summer of last year to do.

I admit I only used one keyword and it ranked well. So now I'm thinking of diversifying the keywords, but before I do so I think it might be better to remove my previous keyword links. It might take an entire summer to do, but I think it might be worth it for the traffic and wanted to ask anyone who could help...

Do you think if I started removing these links one-by-one, that it will help my website rank back for the original exact anchor keyword?
#anchor #back #bring #exact #keyword #process #rankings #removing
  • Profile picture of the author troybh
    No one but the elitest at G knows this and they are not saying.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6178216].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author TheProgrammer
    Don't waste your time on removing one by one all the previous links. try to get some authority links with varies keywords to cover out the past work.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6178275].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Carl Brown
      That's what I'm doing. I'll just add more backlinks but I'll add variety this time. I put too much focus on the one keyword per page.

      My new sites, I won't be doing backlinks though. Just going after the longtail keywords without competition
      Signature

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6178404].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author tompk242
    Use that time to make a new one.....
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6178383].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author plsearch
    I disagree with everyone else, remove the links if u can. You spent all this time and money making them and making a money making site (i hope). I for one am not throwing in the towel. Though I have a back up site in the works too.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6178969].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author cooler1
      Originally Posted by plsearch View Post

      I disagree with everyone else, remove the links if u can. You spent all this time and money making them and making a money making site (i hope). I for one am not throwing in the towel. Though I have a back up site in the works too.
      If the links have been devalued by Google then what is the point of removing them or changing the anchor text? You might be suggesting the OP to waste a whole load of time for nothing.

      After all, this isn't the same as the penalty where Google are sending the Webmaster a message to tell them to remove unnatural backlinks and submit a reconsideration request.
      Signature

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6185807].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Keep Trying
    Thanks everyone.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6184953].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author stevo235
      new backlinks don't use that old anchor text at all and dilute the over optimization eventually.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6185168].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mike Grant
    Dilute the % by throwing other anchors at them.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6185815].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author FraserC
    @Keeptrying

    You've got three options right now. All of which take time and have no guarantee of success. And nobody knows which of these solutions is going to work. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

    In general, I think you're going to want to figure out a blend of the three options. Remove some links, improve some content, keep on carrying on.

    1. Remove bad links. You might want to take a quick look through your Google Webmaster Tools profile and see if there some spammy, off-niche links and footer links pointing at your website. Especially if they're on sites that you control.

    You might discover that this is a tipping point. You don't have to remove them all, just remove enough to right the ship again.

    2. Move the content to a new website, abandon the old site, don't forward the links. If your backlink profile is just too extensive, and your content is really great, you might want to consider pulling up and moving the content to a new location. Shut the old one down and don't forward the links over. Or contact the webmasters with the good links and get those ones specifically pointed at the new locations.

    3. Just keep building. Assume that this is a temporary situation, and more high quality content and good links is going to get things working again. It might be that Google has permanently penalized your site, but more likely, the more good things you do, the more it dilutes the bad things you've done.
    Signature

    I'm the publisher of Universe Today and co-founder of the Keyword Strategy content marketing tool.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6185876].message }}

Trending Topics