The success of the internet and its search engine King, Google, is built on links. Links are what the ‘web’ is made of, and, without them navigation would be impossible. It is a search engine’s responsibility to stay on top of how these links work and what they are communicating about sites. Google’s PageRank is the most-famous system for link rating; it uses links to decipher which sites are more authoritative than others, making Google’s search listing an accurate and worthy place to be found.
However, what if Google takes a look at the links connected to your website and decides that they are not worthy? If the search engine finds a link they consider to be ‘spammy’ you’re increasing your chances of being penalized. This penalty will negatively affect your position in the search engine results and, in turn affect the number of users that will make their way to your website when searching relevant search terms. A Google penalty is a search marketers’ nightmare; SEO efforts require long-term attention and penalization can undo months of work.
Been penalized? Don’t try a quick fix
If you have been hit with a Google penalty, set a firm marketing objective – clean your site link profile. Try fighting Google’s latest algorithm with a quick fix and things will only get more complicated for you. It is rarely worth trying shortcuts; if a penalty has been given, there is a high probability your site has other frowned-upon backlinks that are soon to be acknowledged. Plus, the traffic you will be missing out on due to a Google penalty is far too valuable to waste on risky shortcuts.
Show Google you are doing everything you can to cleanse bad backlinks and you will be on your way back into their favor.
Bad backlink removal requires a methodical and structured approach, with lots of research. Here is an in-depth approach that has worked for us:
Identify your penalization
Is it a manual penalty?
A manual penalty will be straightforward to identify. In your Google Webmaster Tools account, you will receive an ‘Unnatural Link Warning.’ If you do not receive this notice, but your traffic has fallen with no clear reason, check under the Webmaster Tools “Search Traffic” tab – here you can see if you have any Manual Actions. The typical manual action warnings are:
- warning against your site’s performance in organic search
- warning against inbound links, rather than on your site
It is worth recognizing that manual action penalties used to have a fixed duration (30, 60,or 90 days were common) but, now manual penalties are likely to be continuous, which means if you do not work to remove the penalty; your site is not likely to ever recover its previous Google ranking.
Manual penalties can impact on your site in the following ways:
- One or more of your site’s pages disappear from Google’s search results
- Your whole website has a drop in organic impressions across all search terms
- Your site disappears from Google’s search results when searching your brand-related terms, including brand name
- You receive a fixed demotion of a certain number of places (50 places is common)
- Your site is removed from Google’s index (de-indexation)
The resolution for manual penalties is to submit your site for reconsideration when you can outline exactly which steps you have taken to rectify the issues.
Is it an algorithmic penalty?
Google makes a staggering number of changes to its search algorithm each year and, with algorithmic changes, algorithmic penalties are inevitable. We find that following a major Google algorithm update – such as the introduction of Google Penguin in 2012 – a site is affected for specific keywords or landing page.
Unfortunately, algorithmic penalties last indefinitely. You will need to look closer at your Google Analytics data to understand your penalty in full.
Find and review link data
To get the most-comprehensive understanding of your link data, there are three data sources we’d recommend:
Majestic SEO – This should be your starting point. It has crawled over four trillion unique URLs so far. You can choose from the Historic Index or the Fresh Index (the best choice following a Penguin penalty).
Webmaster Tools – Next, download any links showing in your Google Webmaster tools account. It will rarely show all links in Google’s index and it is often out of date, however it will show a large proportion of your ‘bad’ links and it is possible that Majestic can miss some of these. Add this missed data to your Majestic list.
Moz – Though Moz has a smaller database than Majestic, there are times when Majestic will miss links, and Moz is another source to consider.
When you’ve used all three sources, carry out the de-duplication so that each link is listed just once.
Have you been working on your link building with an SEO agency? If so, now is the time to dig out any link reports they have produced for your site. If you do not have a record of their link building activity, get in touch and ask if they can assist.
When you have your link data available, next it is time to review your links and find out which ones are the spammy culprits. This is the hardest part of backlink removal and, it can be extremely long-winded. So, sit tight. You need to have some technical know-how and a good understanding of Google’s guidelines. If not, it is worth investing in professional help. If you are doing it alone, here’s what you are looking for:
- links that serve no other purpose than for the passing of ‘page rank’
- links that have been paid for and were not using the ‘Nofollow’ tag
- too many links that contain identical anchor text
- links to sites that host malware or adult content
Keep in mind that some links are considered ‘low quality’ but are not breaking any of Google’s guidelines and are not responsible for your penalization. You only want to remove truly ‘bad’ links.
Remove/change links that violate Google’s policies
When you have made a list of all the links that are violating Google’s policies, you need to contact the site owner and ask them to change or remove the link.
As you approach webmasters, you should stress that bad links can be damaging to their site as well as yours. Provide details of the link/s or ask that all links to your site are removed from their site.
Keep details of all communications with webmasters, you’ll need these records when submitting a reconsideration request. You may need to make contact a few times before you receive a response. Don’t be disheartened by low response or link removal rates. On average, we find that we only have removal by one-third of the webmasters we contact.
When it is not possible to remove offending links, you will need to use the Google Disavow tool – which will nullify unwanted links. It can take up to six weeks for this re-crawl to take effect.
If applicable, submit a reconsideration request
For those whose site has been hit by a manual penalty, you will want to submit a reconsideration request. In this request, you must recognize you have broken Google’s guidelines. Create a document that details exactly what you have done to rectify the issue;
- project overview & summary of activity
- all links found
- all links you have tried to remove
- all links successfully removed
- all relevant email communications
- a list of links you could not remove and have added to the disavow tool
Upload this document to Google docs and make it available to “anyone with the link.”
Then include this link with your covering letter explaining your penalty and the action you have tried to take, along with a request for reconsideration.
Finally, wait. The response time can vary from a few days to several weeks but, if you have worked meticulously, the chances are you’ll have your penalty lifted and, your extensive efforts to remove bad backlinks will be rewarded.
For more in-depth advice on removing any penaltyand getting back into Google, I recommend reading the Receptional guide to removing a Google link penalty.
No comments:
Post a Comment