Weird Backlinks on Webmaster Tools

[Breaking Good]

I've just had a look through all the links on our Webmaster Tools and I've found 6/7 odd websites about mattresses and plumbing. Definitely not anyone truly linking to us and most of these sites are shut down now. A couple of sites are running but don't look like genuine businesses and can't find our link. One site has the following message:

"The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later."

My question is whether these links are harmful to us from an SEO perspective? How do they come about and what should we do / how can we prevent this in the future?

I should also point out we've never bought links or hired anyone to build links etc

Thanks!

 

[Alby10]

They shouldn't be harmful, although you may want to check their profiles etc if possible. Use the wayback machine, archive org, and see if you can see the type of site it used to be and also check the backlink profile. If your concerned, use the disavow tool in Webmaster tools to get them taken off.

 

[GraemeL]

Webmaster Tools says:-

'We recommend that you disavow backlinks only if you believe you have a considerable number of spammy, artificial, or low-quality links pointing to your site, and if you are confident that the links are causing issues for you.'

How many would a'considerable number be? I have about 20 that are odd.

 

[japancool]

Have you used a dodgy "SEO expert" or SEO company?

 

[GraemeL]

Have you used a dodgy "SEO expert" or SEO company?

Me or the OP? I have used an e-commerce marketing expert, which is where I believe they originated from.

 

[japancool]

Sorry Graeme, the OP. We had one of these sorts of things when we used a certain SEO company that embedded a link to us in a totally unrelated website.

 

[Steve Alphabet]

If the OP hasn't used an 'expert', it may be a competitor doing it and trying to get the OP penalised...

 

[exciteseo]

If you have high competition in search results, bad things can happen. Competitors could use link exchange service to buy bad quality links as a spam. It can harm positions on SERP. So be careful with such things and take measures

 

[Breaking Good]

Thanks for the replies all

We haven't used an SEO company or bought links. Interesting point re competitors though!

@GraemeL I've tried to find the answer to that too but everything I've read on it is not definitive. I know Google say not to disavow needlessly but i think I will disavow our dodgy looking links!

 

[customlogoshop]

Thanks for the replies all

We haven't used an SEO company or bought links. Interesting point re competitors though!

@GraemeL I've tried to find the answer to that too but everything I've read on it is not definitive. I know Google say not to disavow needlessly but i think I will disavow our dodgy looking links!

Google only warns you of needlessly disavowing links because you won't be able to undo! In your case, it looks like a good idea to disavow. Good riddance!