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Negative SEO: I actually have been targeted!

by satrap
17 replies
  • SEO
    • |
So, tonight while checking things on one of my sites, I noticed a huge number of new backlinks to one of my posts which currently rank 2 for its main keyword. Whats funny is that I am not building any links to this site ( but just a few bookmarks here and there).

I opened up ahrefs and I see over 400 unique linking domains to this page all made within the last few days. And almost all of them are pingback links with my ranking keyword as their anchor text.

And whats more is that most of these page where these ping back links are also include other ping back links with exact match anchors to hundred of other (all different niches) sites.

I am waiting for the post to lose its ranking any minuet now. I was thinking about getting in touch with somebody as Google webmaster forum.


What would you guys suggest me to do at this point? Do you think I should go ahead and disavow them? Though I don't want them to think I made the links.


At the same time I am wondering if there is any technical glitch from my end. But I can't think of anything that would cause such an issue. And no I am not actually linking to any of the sites that have my links on them as pingbacks.

Has anyone seen anything like this?...


Just to give you an idea, here is one of the pages where those ping back links (including mine) exist: hxxp://www.isonline.in/business/are-vintage-toys-valuable


Any advice, thought or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.
#negative #seo #targeted
  • Profile picture of the author satrap
    Actually, it is a negative SEO attack. Looking deeper I found comment spam as well all with the exact keyword as anchor text. Some of these were even made within the last few hours. Seems like somebody has fired up a software and is going to town on this.

    This is just sad that people are now resorting to this to try to out rank you.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Wow, what a pile of dung site.

    I would be interested to hear what the Google forum had to say about that site/page (link in OP) even though those are nofollow links. The site needs to be removed form the SERPs (11,000 pages indexed).
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    • Profile picture of the author satrap
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      Wow, what a pile of dung site.

      I would be interested to hear what the Google forum had to say about that site/page (link in OP) even though those are nofollow links. The site needs to be removed form the SERPs (11,000 pages indexed).
      Hey Yukon,

      Other sites don't look any better either.

      Yeah, I just checked with Majestic SEO and found lots more (see image for the spike).



      I am very pissed about this. I just posted a thread over on G webmaster forum. I was reading other similar threads there and boy some of these people have their head in the sand. They all try to blame the site owner for anything they can find, ignoring the hundred thousand links that were built by negative SEO, telling them its their own fault and that they didn't get penalized because of the Neg SEO, but because of the "spam" they did themselves in the past.

      And if the site owner says I didn't even build a link in the past, they then shift the blame to content and how it's not good. They basically do anything to shift the blame towards the webmaster.

      So, I am not really hoping for anything constructive coming out of there. Though there are some helpful people there.

      I think I am going to wait a few days to see what happens. I think I may g in and disavow them, although I read a thread where the guy said as soon as he disavowed his links, his site was actually penalized.

      So, I don't know if disavowing links would actually bring attention to the site or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    I imagine the folks on that Google forum might get all mental If you start posting screenshots of link profiles. The last time I browsed that forum it reminded me of the emergency room at the hospital.

    I was just curious what some of the head honchos on that forum would say about that site/link in OP considering it's total junk.

    BTW, that page/URL you posted in OP isn't indexed in Google SERPs yet.
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    • Profile picture of the author satrap
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      I imagine the folks on that Google forum might get all mental If you start posting screenshots of link profiles. The last time I browsed that forum it reminded me of the emergency room at the hospital.

      I was just curious what some of the head honchos on that forum would say about that site/link in OP considering it's total junk.

      BTW, that page/URL you posted in OP isn't indexed in Google SERPs yet.
      I just got a reply form one of the guys over who says "if your hands are clean, dont worry about it. Nothing will happen". But I have seen few cases where negative SEO did have a negative effect, especially on a small and new site like mine.

      As for the link, yeah, there are tons of them and they were made within the last week or so, so some of them are not yet indexed on Google, though aherf and Majestic have them picked up.
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      • Profile picture of the author squadron
        Originally Posted by satrap View Post

        I just got a reply form one of the guys over who says "if your hands are clean, dont worry about it. Nothing will happen". But I have seen few cases where negative SEO did have a negative effect, especially on a small and new site like mine.
        Unfortunately negative SEO is a reality. For $10 your can buy a couple of pingback and blog comment gigs that will do a lot of damage to a new site.

        I guess the only solution is to disavow the links in Webmaster tools as soon as you see them. Please update this post to tell us what happens.
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  • Profile picture of the author crazymatt
    I don't believe negative SEO exists if you have really good natural links.

    My tech site has been attacked with spams, but it doesn't affect my ranking, possibly makes it higher.
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    • Profile picture of the author cbpayne
      Originally Posted by crazymatt View Post

      I don't believe negative SEO exists if you have really good natural links.

      My tech site has been attacked with spams, but it doesn't affect my ranking, possibly makes it higher.
      That has been my observation. Those with solid natural backlinks profiles seem to be imune to NSEO. Those already with crap profiles seem to be affected.
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  • Profile picture of the author hipeopo02
    Hahaha....yall aint ready for SEO in 2014
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by hipeopo02 View Post

      Hahaha....yall aint ready for SEO in 2014
      It's not like it's anything new.

      Anyone that's ever built links should already know junk links impact ranked pages.

      There's another new thread asking If fiverr is good for SEO (lol), welcome to 2010.
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      • Profile picture of the author hipeopo02
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        It's not like it's anything new.

        Anyone that's ever built links should already know junk links impact ranked pages.

        There's another new thread asking If fiverr is good for SEO (lol), welcome to 2010.
        The concept of it is not new.

        As a mainstream practice? That's new.

        The illusion that we are "all in this game together" is finally shattered. It's a competition.

        I would gladly attack anyone's website for my own gain at this point.
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        • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
          Originally Posted by hipeopo02 View Post

          The concept of it is not new.

          As a mainstream practice? That's new.

          The illusion that we are "all in this game together" is finally shattered. It's a competition.

          I would gladly attack anyone's website for my own gain at this point.
          That will only create a game show called "Everyone's a Loser".

          Matt Cutts will be host, it will be his job to share out all the internet traffic between the major corporations. And only those sites who currently dominate the web with mega sized link profiles.

          Anything that shows any sign of being future online competitor will be nuked before they get a glimpse of search traffic. And it won't be any small timer like you doing the nuking. You will be long gone with the rest of the "would be" SEO crowd.

          It will be the "current" leading sites of the internet doing the nuking. It's a wonderful race to self perpetuated destruction your running.
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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by hipeopo02 View Post

          The concept of it is not new.

          As a mainstream practice? That's new.

          The illusion that we are "all in this game together" is finally shattered. It's a competition.

          I would gladly attack anyone's website for my own gain at this point.
          You've been hanging out at the BH forums too long, lol.
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          • Profile picture of the author hipeopo02
            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            You've been hanging out at the BH forums too long, lol.
            the world one? ugh it's so nauseating with that black background and the threads lol..."Made a million dollars last year but need some help with some things" type stuff lol

            "Now I want a small $20 a day method for a friend of mine and since I don't mess with the small stuff I figure I would come the forum for some help" lol

            Just tools and kids over there.
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  • Profile picture of the author online only
    I've been hit 2 times with neg. SEO in the past 12 months. (over 600 links from spammy domains).

    Fortunately, nothing happened. I didn't report Google, I didn't disavow anything although I was about to...

    6 months post "neg. seo attack" and those sites are still ranking well. I guess that if you have somewhat legit links already, then you've nothing to worry about. If it's a new site without legit links, then you are most likely in trouble.

    I would first wait until you fall off the serp (this can happen, but not for 100%). Then it's time to ask help from Google and/or disavow the links.
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  • Profile picture of the author DizenSounds
    Good luck with disavow mate, I haven't seen any evidence of this working on any of my sites. Maybe it will for you but again I have disavowed for what seems like forever on a couple of my sites and it doesn't do much at all.

    I would suggest get your link removal campaign underway, that way you can proactively target and get these links removed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Anton
    While negative attacks work, their ability to impact your website can be mitigated if you diversify your anchor text, not just a handful of keywords but hundreds, even thousands if you are engaging in a large scale offpage SEO campaign.

    Also, social network signals help your website appear to be an authority in the eyes of the search engines as the most popular sites are commonly shared on popular social media sites.

    If you have both in place, an "attack" would simply add to your link profile and be very hard to hurt you, and would most likely help at some level.
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