Odd Link Removal Request
-
Unless I'm missing something, having gotten into trouble... the company in question is not doing a great job at link removal.
Here's an email my client received:
Hi Webmaster,
I work for xxxxxxxxxxx and our site has recently been penalized by Google for an unnatural link profile that violates Google's Quality Guidelines. As part of an effort to get back in their graces, we are removing all links to our website so we can start fresh.
We are making changes to our site to build better content for our audience. I am contacting people who have linked to us in the past to remove any doubt that Google views the link or anchor text as overoptimzed or unnatural.
Therefore, I am respectfully requesting that you remove all links to our site on xxxxxxxxxxx including:
xxxxxxx That says xxxxxxxxxx and goes to xxxxxxxx.
I appreciate your past efforts to link to our content, and I am excited to launch our improved content very soon. We understand that this request takes time and effort, but we would sincerely appreciate your help.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. If you could be so kind as to respond that you have removed the link, it would really help out with my efforts. Thank you in advance!
Best Wishes,xxxxxx
All the details and URLS in the email were wrong. After much back and forth, we tracked down a single link from an infographic -- which I removed.
But is removing all links really the best strategy? Does it ever make sense?
-
We also lightly speculated it could be a competitor falsely claiming to be them and is trying to sabotage their link profile!
-
If they meant it - its probably due to them being frustrated with the reconsideration request. I went through the same thing before until i disavowed everything and the site was released from the penalty. So yeah, a lazy mistake on my part back then but i learned from it, and i wouldnt know any better if i didnt do it
-
I considered this possibility, but given the incompetence of the request (wrong URLs) and the some quick Google research on the person who sent the request (novelist/copywriter)....
...my guess is that sheer incompetence is a more likely explanation.
Looks like the company in question hired the wrong SEO....
...and then hired the wrong person to try to mitigate the damage.
-
Maybe they are telling the webmaster that they are removing "ALL" of their links instead of just the stinky links - like the one on his site.
I bet that is it.
-
Yeah they are absolutely confused, but good on you for taking time out of your busy schedule to try to help out somebody with a Google penalty! This person is clearly a bit misinformed, but it still makes me happy to know that webmasters like you exist!
That said, please don't let your friends send messed up link removal requests like these with incorrect URLs and such. That will just make it harder for all of us in the future. And that is my Public Service Announcement for the day.
-
Myself and Bill Slawski were having a conversation about this on Twitter just yesterday.
It strikes me as laziness - they don't want to navigate through the link profile to identify a good link or a bad link and have just gone "sod it - ask everyone to remove and then we'll disavow if they don't".
Yeah, will probably remove the penalty, but it would also put you so far behind SEO wise. Just laziness if you ask me.
I also don't see why they don't start on a fresh domain if they're doing this, unless they're really attached to their current domain and/or brand.
-
Removing all links is definitely not the way to go but many people are still unsure what constitutes to a good and bad link. That company have gone about it the wrong way 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
-
Does removing pages, so that they return 404, also remove any impact of spam links pointing to that page?
A site with numerous spam links pointing to an old forum. The forum is now removed so do I need any further action? thanks,
Link Building | | ElaineDesignLobby0 -
Requesting a Link from a major newspaper
Hi, One of my clients was interviewed by LA Times for an article that came out yesterday. The article is online with the company name but no link. Does anybody have any advice on the best way to get a major newspaper like that to add a follow link? I appreciate any advice! Thanks, Clay
Link Building | | clayknight1 -
Getting Links
Hi, Links from Directories are bad. Links for low quality sites are bad. Paid links are bad. Guest blogging is "maybe rumor has it" google's next big Penguin. Where and how is everybody getting all these great links from, is there anywhere left?? All advice welcomed as we really need good links quick! Thanks
Link Building | | Studio330 -
Are links with space considered to be the same as links with %20?
I wonder if Google would consider those three links to be the same? http://www.example.com/test page.html http://www.example.com/test page.html http://www.example.com/test+page.html
Link Building | | lucek0 -
To Remove or not to Remove?
Howdy! In the midst of communicating with Google because of a robots.txt issue, we had a bit of a backfire of sorts and received a notice of unnatural links. It's not a horror story or anything. It's seems more like, "Hey, before we address your other issues, here is something you should clean up" although I don't dare put words in Google's mouth. A few years ago we hired an SEO company which shall remain nameless who did some anchor text blog posts for us which at the time, we had no idea was an issue. There aren't an enormous number of these links hanging around, but checking our anchor text, in OSE, we saw that there are around 50 or so. We decided to use removeem.com as an easy way to request removal of these links. However, on first run, removeem returned a large number of anchor text links beyond just these obvious ones that are actually natural links from users, fans or those that sell their goods on our website. Examples of these anchor text links would be: "DEMO" or "Find My Products Here" or "Home Page" http://www.mysite.com/goodstuff/foryoutubuy/html We are a media selling site and we do have a lot of download sites that attempt to "share" content and link back to us via a DEMO link, etc. While these aren't the greatest sites in the world, they are nevertheless natural links. Heck, they are pirating our goods, shouldn't we at least garner the link juice from them?!!? 😉 So, questions: Should we remove all of these links as removem.com suggests or only remove the ones that are unnatural and clarify with google that these other links are natural? Thanks for your help! Craig
Link Building | | TheCraig0 -
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 -
Link building
What is the difference between External Followed Links and Total External Links, why are the numbers different? Should the numbers not be the same? I have a difference of 24 links can anyone explain why?
Link Building | | vendorshop0