301 redirect from an unwanted non-affiliated domain
-
Hey everyone,
Our site was hit with an unnatural link penalty a few weeks ago, and it looks very much like a malicious link attack.
We've never participated in any link schemes or anything resembling black hat link building. In fact, we've barely even done any link building.
Reviewing our backlink profile, there are hundreds of links from just a few (very dodgy) domains that we have no control over, and we've have had no luck when contacting webmasters to get them removed.
More importantly, we've seen several domains which 301 redirect straight to our domain. We don't know who they are and they're not contactable. I believe that the redirect means they're passing link value from all of their terrible links to us?
How can we get the redirects removed, as at worst they're really harming us, and at best, they're adding no value.
Thanks
-
Blocking the links in .htaccess won't work, as that's not how Google crawls. If you have the webmaster information, you could maybe send a cease and desist order. I'd also submit a reinclusion request and show them the domains that are redirecting to your site and show them that you do not own these sites. I would also show them the drop that has occurred because of it.
Be totally transparent with the reinclusion team.
-
I can't say if this will work (hopefully someone else can), but i guess you could try blocking ALL requests coming from those malicious links (even google). Hopefully google would pick up on this.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is new domian redirection to old domain make risk for my site ?
i have site with Da about 30 and i have many project on it if i register a domain for each project and after that redirect to my site is that bad for my site and my site seo ? for ex: my project is : mysite.com/helloword i register helloworld.com or domain like that helllo-world.com and redirctet to mysite.com/helloworld
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | MidnightShop791 -
Canonical cross domain Linkjuice
I know that back few years ago, rel=canonical used on cross-domain was passing link juice. As I've read based on many experts (case studies), the canonical cross-domain was working like implementing a 301. Is it still the case ? Does anyone tried to implement it recently and it worked ?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | manoman880 -
Sub Domain rel=canonical to Main Domain
Just a quick one, i have the following example scenario. Main Domain: http://www.test.com Sub Domain: http://sub.test.com What I am wondering is I can add onto the sub domain a rel=canonical to the main domain. I dont want to de-index the whole sub domain just a few pages are duplicated from the main site. Is it easier to de-index the individual sub domain pages or add the rel=canonical back to the main domain. Much appreciated Joseph
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Joseph-Vodafone0 -
Meta tags for international domains
Hi Mozers I have 3 top level domains co.nz com.au and com each meta tag for the home page is unique for each country and I have tried to figure this out for the last 3 months, but unfortunately I can't seem to pin point why all 3 meta tags are showing up exactly the same. It seems all meta tags are showing up for the co.nz domain. In the attachments you can see all urls are showing up correctly for each country specific domain, however the meta tag description defaults to the NZ Any help around this would be much appreciated! Thanks all
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | edward-may0 -
Should I 301 redirect my old site are just add a link to my new site
I used to offer design and web services on a site that is current blank (no content, no links). My questions is should I add a little bit of content, maybe a brief explanation with a link to my new site. Or should I just add 301 redirect. This is purely a question of what is better for SEO and ranking for my new site (not a branding question).
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Tyrell0 -
Purchasing Expired Domains for SEO Value?
While doing competitive research for a client I have stumbled on a "site developed by" footer link for a fairly established business that points to an expired domain. I'm inclined to notify the business in question that the link is expired BUT I was curious to get some thoughts on if purchasing this domain and redirecting it to my site or another would be a good purely "SEO tactic" as it would seemingly pass "juice"??? Thanks, Dave
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | DavidGadarian0 -
Owning multiple domains across similar fields
We have a printing website specializing in a single field but had added other products to it along the way, we are looking at adding a second site (redesigned from the ground up) that with cover everything (so will inevitably cover some of the same keywords) is this ok. We are considering some of the other things such as putting both sites on different IP's and also wondered about the registration details (would it be ok to have them under the same company?). Just to make it clear they will not be used for cross link or any other such things so just wanting to know if they could end up on page one for some of the same keywords and Google would be ok with this. Thank you for your time.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | BobAnderson0 -
Unique businesses - unique domain names?
A client of mine owns a studio space where he teaches yoga and martial arts. It's a new business and we're deciding how to create the website(s) and which domain(s) to buy. The idea right now is to have 3 websites for each side of the business, and I'm looking for validation of this idea. I haven't been able to find an answer in the Q&A forum that quite applies to our situation. Website 1: for the studio itself. The audience is other yoga teachers, martial arts teachers, or personal trainers. He will rent out the studio space to them and they bring in their own clients. Content and keywords will relate to this. Website 2: yoga classes. The audience is members of the public who want to take yoga classes. Content and keywords will relate to this. Website 3: martial arts. The audience is members of the public who want to take martial arts classes. Content and keywords will relate to this. We will make certain there's no duplicate content on the sites, but it makes sense for them to link to each other because they're similar in nature (personal health and fitness at the studio), and the latter 2 services are offered at the studio, of course. Question 1: (a) is it a good idea to get a separate domain for each site? for example: www.city-studio.com, www.unique-name-yoga.com, www.unique-name-martial-arts.com (b) Or would it be better to keep it all under city-studio.com and use subdomains like yoga.city-studio.com and martial-arts.city-studio.com? In either case, the keywords "yoga" and "martial arts" would be in the domain name, which has benefit. Does that still apply for subdomains? (c) Or would these services even be considered similar enough that I just use www.city-studio.com/yoga.php and www.city-studio.com/martial-arts..php There will of course be several pages on yoga and several on martial arts. Question 2: if registering multiple domains, they will interlink as much as possible. (a) what do we consider when buying the domains? (b) use a different address for WHOIS of each domain? (c) can technical contact be the same address (mine, the consultant)? (d) use a different credit card for each? (e) ok if the name on the credit card is the same? (f) can we register them all the same day? (h) same domain registrar? (i) same host? we don't want to appear black hat by having multiple sites, but I think it's very legitimate to have the business split into 3 sites like this just because they're separate sides of the business with different audiences, content, keywords. Question 3: when the domains come up for renewal in 1 year (or more), would it be safe to switch them all over to one credit card then, for convenience to the owner? Question 4: is there anything important I haven't mentioned here? I appreciate any input and discussion.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Kenoshi0