Unnatural Linking Using Webdsite Themes
-
I am working on a website that last year received an email from Google via webmaster tools talking about the linking profile. The email suggested that the website had unnatural activity (links) and that the webmaster needed to investigate before filing for a reconsideration.
After having looked at the link profile using OSE, it was easy to see the problem. Thousands of inbound links with the exact anchor text.
Here is the BIG problem.
The tactics used by the unamed SEO agency prior to me were to embed links in to the footer of web themes? At this stage it is unclear as to where you can downlaod or purchase the web themes but it's obvious that the problem is simply going to escalate.
The domain in question is www.teamtactics.co.uk
Any thoughts on the above would be much appreciated - at this point I am trying to find the place were the themes are available for download.
Any ideas much appreciated.
shivun
-
This is a tough one. I would attack it initially like any other unnatural links project. Contact each of the sites linking to you via the footer code and ask them to remove or nofollow it. Then, document your attempts and communicate your efforts to Google.
But, the problem is that if the free templates are still available for download then you'll get more of these and could get penalized again.
I don't think it would be that hard to find these sites offering the free downloads though. According to ahrefs you've got 850 domains linking to you. If you know the anchor text used in these footers, you can narrow it down even more. Provided the sites hosting the free downloads have a demo version of the site then they'll be on that backlink list. If they don't have a demo version, there still has to be a way to do a Google search for the name of the template to find these hosts.
Then, get them to remove the template. If they don't, file a DMCA takedown request or speak to a lawyer about getting a letter written to get them to remove it.
-
HI William
Unfortunetly the website has links coming inbound from many websites now so its a problem that is only going to grow. In terms of SEO and tactics, this is a really bad strategy that has been conducted by a well known SEO agency who I won't name.
The objective is to find the source of the word press theme. Ive already contacted many of the website owners that are using the theme and are awaiting a call back.
-
Getting backlinks from sponsoring templates/themes is not the right way of doing it. People pay theme creators to include a link to their website. Other people use those themes, so you'll end up with thousands of backlinks with the same anchor text.
A good link is a link from one single page, preferably on the same niche.
What you can do at this point, is to remove all those "sponsored by", "created by" links.
Use Opensiteexplorer to analyze your website and check out who's linking to you using site wide links.
Eg.:
This theme is brought to you by Corporate Team Building Events, Fixed rate bonds rates on: http://vanzandtnews.com/
-
Wow... I'm not sure what the SEO strategy for this is, if there even is one.
If they were all coming from one domain (such as the web theme was being sold for use on their hosted sites), you could edit .htaccess to block links from that domain, but I doubt if that's the case.
As far as I know, the solution to this might be legal. If you can verifiably show that these links are damaging to your client's business, a competent lawyer could probably force them to make a reasonable effort to remove the links (provide an update web theme without the links to anyone who purchased that theme). Might not help, though.
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
-
Unnatural link Manual Penalty by Google
Hi, Our product Quiz Maker help users to create quizzes and can share, embed etc. We have a link in our embed code which was DoFollow and we've got many doFollow links from the websites on which our quizzes got shared but these links are too old like 2009, 2012 etc. After that, to complying with Google policies, we've changed the dofollow link to nofollow in embed code. Here are two scenarios: 1.) We've too many dofollow links which are too old and we don't have control over it as these are the natural links, given by our users before we changed the embed code link. 2.) Now, we are getting nofollow links from the widget as the embed code consists of nofollow link. Our embed code is editable and user can change it to dofollow or nofollow as per their requirement. Moreover, some people shared quizzes on their website (without using embed code) with dofollow link. But, now, google is taking manual action penalty against us. How we can resolve it as it seriously affects the overall performance of our website. Thanks
Link Building | | SameerBhatia2 -
Reddit LInks
Are Reddit links worthwhile? I hear they are sometimes follow and sometimes not follow. Also what about links verses self links? I'm pretty handy with reddit so I can probably make content that would actually be upvoted a lot. Let me know, thanks.
Link Building | | RafeTLouis1 -
What is the process of link earning to avoid link building?
Hi All, I want process to earning links for new SEO 2014. Can anybody explain? Thanks, Akhilesh
Link Building | | dotlineseo0 -
Old links
I am looking to remove some old directory links that now look spammy. Some years ago the site was redesigned. The links are all to the old pages url, which is 301 redirected to the new. If we remove the 301 and let the page 404, will that suffice in Googles eyes?
Link Building | | cottamg0 -
Google Link Disavow and sites with extremely heavy but poor link metrics
Need help/opinions from the SEO's out there. I am working with a site that in the past hired an SEO company out of India. Over the course of their time together, this company submitted the clients url to tens of thousands of link exchanges and directories. Around the time of Penguin, the owners told me their inquiries dried up. Literally that same week they had a new website launched (designed by a local competitor) that really butchered the site. They were convinced the reduction in traffic/inquiries was due to the new site but I am convinced otherwise (suspect Penguin). Not only does the site need to be re-structured but their link portfolio needs to be diversified. Now on the plus side, the company caters and sponsors a number of events that earns them organic, relevant links. These are overshadowed by the tons of poor, irrelevant ones though. I read a few posts recently on the Google Link Disavow tool and to proceed slowly due to the unknown nature surrounding it. I have a good idea of what links are problematic and which ones are well served. However, the number of problematic links in my estimation is quite high (thousands). I am very hesitant to dive into Google Disavow and submit such a large number of requests. What are your thoughts? How would you proceed?
Link Building | | mattylac1 -
Are you careful about linking back to sites that link to you?
Suppose that a trusted website added you to their recommended links page. Do you worry that linking back to them from a page on your site will diminish the value of the original link?
Link Building | | Charlessipe0 -
Link building
i want to ask a question. i am sure this is kind black hat seo. look at this web site http://www.199999dollars.com/ if we also create website like this and put a banner as domain for sale and in the footer put back links to our domain ? thanks
Link Building | | idreams0