SEO spammy link and Google penalty

[bluebirdbob]

Hi

I have been a lurker for a little while and just decided to join up since i have hit an issue which i am hoping to get an unbiased answer.

I took on the services of an SEO company about 18 months or so ago, the first 10 months seemed fine until around April 2014 our Google ranking plummeted.

I was reassured that this was due to google updating the way in which site are ranked and that our url ought to start climbing again.

Since April last year our URL has simply been stuck in the doldrums, so last week i decide time for a new broom and terminated the SEO service and started to look elsewhere.

I logged into my google webmaster tools for the first time since taking on the SEO services to see that our url had a google penalty applied in April 2014 for "spammy" backlinks. When i confronted the SEO company about this they fobbed me off telling me that google is "cat and mouse" and they seemed to suggest that penalties like this can just be ignored and are normal.

When contacting new SEO companies i asked them for their opinion on the website, they all pretty much came back we the exact same reply, "too many spammy backlinks", one even suggested to bin the entire URL and get a new URL, copy the current site to the new URL, redirect old to new and carry on.

My question is this, when receiving a penalty from google for spammy backlinks is it something that a good SEO would deal with or can the penalty be ignored and carry on.

Also i would really like to know how many of these backlinks are spammy.

Anyway, good to be here.

Kind regards

 

[Andriusgr]

Get rid of bad back links first! Find a good seo specialist

 

[Andriusgr]

You can can remove bad backlinks using webmaster tools. I will post the article how to this soon, so if you want you can fallow me, cheers

 

[bluebirdbob]

Thank you for your responses, of course i will remove the spammy back links but should the google penalty have been dealt with when it first arose? or is it something that can be ignored and worked around?

I am aware of how to remove spammy backlinks using the disavow tool, i have started to do this myself, my site has many many many thousands of back links so this is going to take me a while to undo the damage, at the rate which i am going it could take weeks, although i would rather not and my time needs to be spent running the business so i have to find a good SEO company which will do it.

Also the other option is to just bin the current URL and start with a new URL as on SEO company suggested, what do you guys think?

 

[Annoying Donkey]

but should the google penalty have been dealt with when it first arose?

Yes.

or is it something that can be ignored and worked around?

No, unless you don't want search engine traffic...

A quality SEO probably wouldn't have got the penalty in the first place (it's always possible), but in the unlikely event, any SEO worth their salt would sort it IMHO...

 

[Carl Barlow]

It's hard to give the advice without seeing the URL. Happy to take a look if you want to PM the URL.

In general though sometimes it's worth starting again, however redirecting to the new domain will put you back to square one most of the time, as you're just telling google you moved domain.

Is this a manual penalty or an automatic one?

 

[searchangel]

Your SEO company should be taken to court. Bad links is one thing, seeing a penalty and not doing anything about it is a disgrace. Getting rid of the penalty should be the main priority.

Secondly, you mention the disavow tool, but this is not enough to remove a manual action penalty. You have to remove links, and show Google that you've spent time and effort getting rid of them.

I am in the business of exposing poor SEO companies. They will probably be doing the same thing for other companies, taking money from them and destroying their Google rankings in the process.

This type of agency give our industry a bad name. They need to be eradicated.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Hi

My question is this, when receiving a penalty from google for spammy backlinks is it something that a good SEO would deal with or can the penalty be ignored and carry on.

Also i would really like to know how many of these backlinks are spammy.

Yes, a good SEO will deal with a penalty quickly and efficiently by examining the links/Domains sorting the good from the bad, create a disavow list, and the MOST important part, write a properly worded reconsideration request, you MUST get this right.

You should be 100% honest. Ideally name the company that built the links, admit responsibility for the links, say you have removed the 'un-natural' links, and throw yourself on the floor telling them you have learned a harsh lesson and will never use these sort of tactics again, choosing to work within the Google guidelines that have been pointed out by your new SEO company who handled the penalty for you.

Do that and you should be successful quickly.

There IS an argument for starting with a fresh domain, and sometimes that is acceptable, but you STILL have to consider you have a site in your Google account that has been penalised. better to remove the penalty THEN start again! (if starting again is the choosen option based on more information)

@Carl Barlow Carl, only manual penalties shown in webmastertools, so safe to say this is manual. Algorithmic penalties (filters) just occur, no message.

 

[bluebirdbob]

First of all many thanks for all the advice.

Taking legal action is not something i want to consider, yes it is a huge problem for me but i want to get the problem sorted quickly.without taking onboard more issues

I don't want to name the company here on the forum, i am concerned about possible "negative SEO" on my current site or any new site from the company.

The penalty was a manual one.

So moving domain would work? what about if i just started with a new domain no redirects, keep the old site running along side the new site, we are still visible on Google on some search terms with the current site which i do not want to lose.

Would there be an issue with running two sites with the same content?

Regarding the Disavow list do i have to list every single spammy backlink url or just the url of the domain, i can't post example links just yet

Many thanks for all the advice, it really does put my mind at ease when now talking to SEO providers.

 

[fisicx]

Regarding the Disavow list do i have to list every single spammy backlink url or just the url of the domain.

It really depends on the links.
If they are all on different pages you need to list each link - the less work you make for Google the better. But you also need to get these links removed - while they exist they will always remain to haunt your profile. If you can't remove them then the case to start all over with a new domain becomes more and more attractive.

 

[searchangel]

First of all many thanks for all the advice.

Taking legal action is not something i want to consider, yes it is a huge problem for me but i want to get the problem sorted quickly.without taking onboard more issues

I don't want to name the company here on the forum, i am concerned about possible "negative SEO" on my current site or any new site from the company.

The penalty was a manual one.

So moving domain would work? what about if i just started with a new domain no redirects, keep the old site running along side the new site, we are still visible on Google on some search terms with the current site which i do not want to lose.

Would there be an issue with running two sites with the same content?

Regarding the Disavow list do i have to list every single spammy backlink url or just the url of the domain, i can't post example links just yet

Many thanks for all the advice, it really does put my mind at ease when now talking to SEO providers.

Why are you not considering taking legal action? This company who say they do SEO have got you a penalty by their methods, and even though they knew about it, they did nothing. That's the equivalent to a Doctor diagnosing cancer and just leaving it. This company have stolen from you and their negligence has caused a loss in income for you - at least ask for your money back. Not doing anything means you're happy for them to carry on doing the same thing to other people. Stand up for yourself!

If you want to move domains, I would suggest using 302 redirect so no authority is passed from the old site. But you're going to need a new SEO company to build new links which will take a while. Can I urge you to thoroughly check the company out first to make sure they are decent. In fact, this is not a dig at you but you should have checked the old ones out more thoroughly before paying them.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

In fairness @searchangel we can''t be absolutely certain the penalty WAS caused by the last company, as penalties now cover the entire history of a site not just recent history.

I completely agree that the first step was to remove that penalty however. I can't see what they could possibly do to SEO a penalised site, other than deal with the penalty.

I wouldn't recommend a redirection of any kind between old and new site however. If you are starting again then it needs to be clean, with the old sirte completely removed from Google.

Regarding the disavow, you can disavow at domain level (and should) because you can't be certain all links have been picked up and reported.

This isn't a DIY task being honest, as you need to know the criteria of what makes a good link, in which case you would have picked that up while they were building them.

 

[bluebirdbob]

Why are you not considering taking legal action? This company who say they do SEO have got you a penalty by their methods, and even though they knew about it, they did nothing. That's the equivalent to a Doctor diagnosing cancer and just leaving it. This company have stolen from you and their negligence has caused a loss in income for you - at least ask for your money back. Not doing anything means you're happy for them to carry on doing the same thing to other people. Stand up for yourself!

If you want to move domains, I would suggest using 302 redirect so no authority is passed from the old site. But you're going to need a new SEO company to build new links which will take a while. Can I urge you to thoroughly check the company out first to make sure they are decent. In fact, this is not a dig at you but you should have checked the old ones out more thoroughly before paying them.

More trouble than it is worth to take legal action. I don't need the stress to pursue them i simply want to focus on getting the problem fixed and more on.

I have been looking at a few SEO companies last week but of course a little reticent to jump into bed with another company.

I take your advice about the 302 redirect, i will bear this in mind if we go down the new URL path.

The new URL has one advantage and that it a clean sheet with no SEO tinkering history.

In fairness @searchangel we can''t be absolutely certain the penalty WAS caused by the last company, as penalties now cover the entire history of a site not just recent history.

I completely agree that the first step was to remove that penalty however. I can't see what they could possibly do to SEO a penalised site, other than deal with the penalty.

I wouldn't recommend a redirection of any kind between old and new site however. If you are starting again then it needs to be clean, with the old sirte completely removed from Google.

Regarding the disavow, you can disavow at domain level (and should) because you can't be certain all links have been picked up and reported.

This isn't a DIY task being honest, as you need to know the criteria of what makes a good link, in which case you would have picked that up while they were building them.

When we took the SEO company on it was due our rankings dropping, before hand i had taken care of the SEO and to be honest i did a pretty decent job in getting the site up to the first page but it took a little time but we got there. I then posted an advert on an industry forum in 2013, google saw that in an instant we had many thousands of back links in one go this was the cause for the sudden drop, the advert was removed and the penalty was removed by this SEO company, i was not told if it was a manual or automatic penalty but once the advert ran out the problem seemed to be resolved

This original penalty came about in April/May 2013, this was sorted and our rankings went back to normal until a year later in April 2014 we were hit again.

Could this original penalty (Although i am not at all sure if it was the same sort of penalty as the spammy links penalty) have contributed to the second penalty even though it was dealt with a year earlier?

Many thanks once again for all your advice.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Yes absolutely it could have resulted in it. I have seen a company get an 'un-natural' link penalty after they were featured in a national newspaper and people linked to them. Google's link algorithm is rubbish at distinguishing between natural and un-natural links. Pretty much if you have a weak link profile, and you get a rush of links that include a couple of sitewide blog roll links, then you will get slapped by Google. We tried to sort it but sadly algorithmic penalties are the worse to handle as the Google people have no way of removing it.

There is every possibility that if the original links were still in place, and the company built some more 'iffy' ones, then Google will look at the ENTIRE link signature/footprint and not just recent acquisitions.

 

[Alan]

Focus on getting the penalty removed. Good SEO's can manage this for you, but read up on it so you know how to work out whether the SEO is good or not - google "how to remove a manual google penalty" there are tons of 'how we went about it' articles on trusted sites.

 

[william04]

Redirection of old penalized website on new domain is not any smart idea to revoke bad links. You just focus to get rid of bad links. Disavow bad links in bulk and wait for couple of weeks to see improvements. Meanwhile optimize your website according to the advised format by Google and continue adding valuable content for your end users. I am pretty sure that bad links are not the end of world. Its upto webmasters how we deal with it.

 

[searchangel]

Redirection of old penalized website on new domain is not any smart idea to revoke bad links. You just focus to get rid of bad links. Disavow bad links in bulk and wait for couple of weeks to see improvements. Meanwhile optimize your website according to the advised format by Google and continue adding valuable content for your end users. I am pretty sure that bad links are not the end of world. Its upto webmasters how we deal with it.

A disavow on it's own will not get rid of the penalty.

One little cheat you could do is go to AHREFS, check all the lost links in the past month. Download your Webmaster tools links, and if there are some in both lists, you can add them to the reconsideration request and tell Google you manually had them deleted.

 

[searchangel]

More trouble than it is worth to take legal action. I don't need the stress to pursue them i simply want to focus on getting the problem fixed and more on..

What about the stress that other people will be caused from this company's practices? Do you not care about that?

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Don't rely on WMT backlinks alone, you need to get backlinks from all the backlink sources, then merge them, then check them, then disavow the bad ones. and present your findings to google on that basis.

 

[searchangel]

Don't rely on WMT backlinks alone, you need to get backlinks from all the backlink sources, then merge them, then check them, then disavow the bad ones. and present your findings to google on that basis.

A disavow on it's own will not work. You need to make this more clear as you don't seem to mention it.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

A disavow on it's own will not work. You need to make this more clear as you don't seem to mention it.

With respect, I suggest you read entire threads before attacking individual posts for correction

had you done so you would have seen in an earlier reply I stated the following:-

Yes, a good SEO will deal with a penalty quickly and efficiently by examining the links/Domains sorting the good from the bad, create a disavow list, and the MOST important part, write a properly worded reconsideration request, you MUST get this right.

 

[searchangel]

I have read the entire post, and even in this, you say that disavowing links and submitting a properly worded request is all that's needed. In my experience, you also have to manually remove a number of links as well.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Again with respect, there will be links that HAVE been removed. a full link breakdown covers this.
The full link breakdown is uploaded to Google docs and a link is included in the reconsideration request.

I honestly am not sure why you feel the need to try and prove others wrong constantly. I guess some get the buzz by lifting and helping, while others get the buzz from knocking things down. Such is life

Oh and I have handled 200+ penalty removal cases, and only failed on two (when we gave up trying to work with google after the sites had no backlinks left to disavow, we had sent removal emails to all the sites we could track down contact details for so we moved to a new domain).

YES, I also advocate sending out emails requesting removal, but didn't mention that because that is stage two if attempt 1 fails (which in 90% of the cases it doesn't)