link audit and removal

Link Auditand RemovalEverything you need to know about Google link penalties – and how to recover lost rankings.

Includes:

guide6-step

to auditing

your link

profile.

Find out what we can do to grow your business. Call us on 0800 088 7486 or visit clickthrough-marketing.com

INTRODUCTION

LINK REPUTATIONMANAGEMENT: THE FACTS

Think you may have suffered as

a result of a Google penalty?

Worried your site might be

penalised in future? You’re not

alone.

you have already suffered a penalty, you

need to do everything you can to bring

your customers back.

I N THIS WHITEPAPER,YOU’LL LEARN

Over the last few years, Google has gottentough on low-quality links. In 2012, it created

the Penguin algorithm to penalise sites that

have poor-quality links pointing to them.

And it has consistently made changes to

its Webmaster Guidelines that have made

previously widespread SEO tactics non-compliant – or worse, harmful.

• The crucial difference between

algorithmic penalties and

manual actions.

• How to tell if you’ve been hit witha penalty or action.

• The non-compliant linking practices

and manual actions that might be

hurting your site.

Countless companies suffered as a result

of Google’s penalties. If you suspect

you’ve been hit with a penalty, you’ll know

how tough the consequences can be.

Lost rankings. Lost traffic. Lost revenue.

The good news is that your site can climbup the rankings again. You can resuscitate

your revenue and defend your business

from further penalties by carrying out a

comprehensive audit of your link profile – and

by taking steps to become compliant withGoogle’s guidelines.But it’s wise to act fast. If you know your

site has low-quality links pointing to it, you

risk being penalised at any point. And if

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DON’T MESS WITH GOOGLEMany firms have lost valuable rankings

online thanks to Google penalties. However,

some have seen more column inches than

others.You may be surprised to discover the kind of

things Google now considers non-compliant

with its guidelines. Things like placing

adverts in newspapers with links pointing

back to your business, and reaching out to

bloggers for links.

Here are two high-profile companies that

famously fell afoul of the search

engine’s webspam filters for these exact

reasons:

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COMPANY: INTERFLORA

Description: One of the world’s most

recognised brands, specialising in

flower delivery.

The crime: Interflora paid for links to be

placed and advertorials on newspaper

sites, as well as sending free products to

bloggers in exchange for links.

The consequences: Google slapped

Interflora with a link penalty in 2013,

resulting in an instant search blackout on

numerous crucial keywords. The affected

queries included [flowers], [florist], [flowers

online] and [flower delivery], as well as its

own brand name.

COMPANY: RAP GENIUS

Description: A popular lyrics site that

allows users to annotate specific lyrics with

interesting or explanatory information.

The crime: Rap Genius was quite openly

asking bloggers to link to them in return for

promotional tweets – in essence, they were

paying for links.

The consequences: In December 2013,

Rap Genius received the worst possible

Christmas gift from Google – complete

removal from its search results. The site

has since recovered, but only after swift link

management work had been carried out.


UNDERSTANDING LINK PENALTIES

GOOGLE PENALTIES: THE FACTSPerhaps the most famous Google

penalties are those dished out by Penguin

and Panda. These are algorithms built to

tackle bad content and link spam

respectively.However, though Penguin and Panda have

had the most coverage in SEO journals,

Google penalties are nothing new. In fact,

Google has provided systems for

webmasters to request penalty removal since

2005.If you have received an algorithmic penalty

because of bad links, it’s most likely a

result of Penguin. But it’s important to be

aware that there are a wide range of

algorithmic penalties, for example: the

‘Minus 950 penalty’ and the Payday Loan

Algorithm.Some of these penalties are publicly

announced and discussed by Google,

and some are not.automatically to sites that violate Google’s

guidelines. You won’t be notified if an

algorithmic penalty is applied to or

removed from your site.

ALGORITHMIC PENALTIESAND MANUAL ACTIONS

Google dishes out two types of penalties –

algorithmic penalties and manual actions.

Make sure you know which you’ve been

affected by, otherwise you could end up

spending hours working on a project that

leads to a dead end.

Manual actions are penalties appliedmanually by Google’s webspam team. The

only way to remove these penalties is to

apply to Google directly. You will be notifiedthrough Webmaster Tools if a manual penalty

is applied or removed.

Penguin and Panda are examples ofalgorithmic penalties. These are applied

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WHO IS THIS ‘PENGUIN’GUY ANYWAY?

Penguin is

Google’s webspam

algorithm that

focusses on low-

quality links. It was

introduced in

2012.

Ranking software

Use ranking software such as Moz to check

for a drop in rankings that correlates to the

time of a Penguin update. Be aware, though,

that you must have this software in place

before, during and after the penalty hits. You

can’t simply sign up after the fact and expect

to see historic rankings, as the data won’t be

available.

If Penguin detects that a site uses link

techniques that are non-compliant with

Google’s guidelines, it will penalise a specific

URL, a set of URLs, or an entire site.

Penalties take the form of ranking

decreases, or even complete removal from

Google’s search results.

SearchMetricsSearchMetrics is an SEO software suite

delivered on a subscription basis. One of

its key features is an ‘SEO visibility’ graph

– a very easy way to check if you’ve been

penalised by Penguin. Another big benefitof this software is that you can view historic

visibility as soon as you sign up.

HOW TO CHECK IF YOUR SITE HASBEEN AFFECTED BY PENGUIN Remember, Google doesn’t inform sites when

they are affected by algorithmic penaltiessuch as Penguin.

How do I know when anupdate has happened?

Moz’s Google Algorithm Change History is

regularly updated with the latest algorithm

updates and refreshes. You can view it

here: http://moz.com/google-algor

ithm-change

There are three ways to check if a site hasbeen hit by an algorithmic penalty like Penguin:

Google Analytics

Use Google Analytics or another analytics

suite to check for a drop in traffic that

correlates to the time of a Penguin

update.

SEO visibility graph in SearchMetrics, showing the effects of a possible Penguin penalty.

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http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change






How to check if your site has a manual action

To see if a manual action is in place on a website, you need to

have access to a verified Google Webmaster Tools account.

The Manual Actions section is located under ‘Search Traffic’ in theWebmaster Tools sidebar.

Google says: “[Penalties] can go prettyfar. […] For total horribleness, the penalty can stay until the domain expires.”

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means Google has detected a pattern of unnatural links, but has

mean Google has discovered auto-generated ‘spun’ content,

practice of sending users to a different URL to the one displayed in

to influence Google ranking by including an unnatural volume of

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MAKING SENSE OF MANUAL ACTIONSThere are two main categories of manual action, ‘site-wide matches’ and ‘partial matches.’ A site-wide match means the manual action impacts the entire site. A partial match means the manual

action impacts a URL, a set of URLs or a section of a website.

In addition, there are ten or more common messages that explain more about the type of manual action you’ve received. If you’ve used link building techniques that are now in violation of

Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, you are most likely to receive one of the first two manual actions below.

Source: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2604824Manual action messages

‘Unnatural links to your site’ This is the most serious of the unnatural link actions. If you see this message, it means Google has “detected a pattern of unnatural artificial, deceptive or manipulative links pointing to your site,” and as a result has applied a penalty to your entire site.

This means rankings for all pages on your site will be affected.

‘Unnatural links to your site – impacts links’

This is the ‘lesser’ of the unnatural links penalties. This message

only taken action on a particular set of links, meaning only certainURLs on your site will be affected.

‘Unnatural links from your site’ This action is similar to the above, but means Google has detected that your site has been unnaturally linking to other sites. This could happen if you have accepted payment or other incentives in return for a link.

‘Hacked site’ This means Google has detected that pages on your site appear to have been hacked. This could mean your site is labelled as such in search results, and may not rank as highly.

‘Thin content with little or no added value’

This is Google’s general warning for poor-quality content. It could

duplicate content, or any number of other problems.

‘Pure spam’ Google applies this action to sites that use “aggressive spam techniques”. You will receive this message if you use ‘black hat’ techniques on page, or as Google describes it: “repeated or egregious violations of Google’s quality guidelines.”

‘User-generated spam’ This message means Google has detected webspam generated by users. This could include unnatural links in forum posts, comments or user profiles.

‘Cloaking and/or sneaky redirects’

Google uses the term ‘cloaking and sneaky redirects’ to refer to the

Google search results. This practice is against Google’s WebmasterGuidelines.

‘Hidden text and/or keyword stuffing’

Both of these techniques are considered spammy, as they attempt

keywords on page.

‘Spammy freehosts’ In some cases, Google may take action against all the sites hosted on a particular hosting service. This only happens whena “significant fraction of the pages on sites hosted on are service are spammy”.


AUDITING YOUR LINK PROFILE

WHAT IS A ‘LINK AUDIT’?Carrying out a link audit means reviewing

your site’s backlink profile, and making

changes to ensure it is compliant with

Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

Most commonly, a link audit involves

creating a list of links pointing to your site,

categorising these links as ‘compliant’ or

‘non-compliant,’ and making changes to the

non-compliant links to bring them in line withbest practice.

‘disavowing’ the link with Google’s Disavow

Links Tool. For more information on

the disavow process, see page 12.

LINK SCHEMESGoogle uses the term ‘link schemes’ to

describe linking methods that violate its

webmaster guidelines. Algorithms like

Penguin are designed to detect links that

fall under the definition of link schemes.

Understanding Google’s definition of ‘link

schemes’ is key to auditing your own

link profile.

These changes could involve modifying a linkin some way, asking for it to be removed, or

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9

Sid Type Google Webmaster Guidelines Description Is keyword rich anchor text a factor?

1 Paid Links “Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a ‘free’ product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link.”

2 Article Marketing “Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links.”

✔

3 Guest Posts “Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links.”

✔

4 Directories “Low-quality directory or bookmark site links.”

5 Bookmarks “Low-quality directory or bookmark site links.”

6 Press Releases “Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites.”

✔

7 ForumComments “Forum comments with optimized links in the

post or signature.”✔

8 Link Exchanges “Excessive link exchanges (‘Link to me and I’ll link to you’) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking.”

9 Automated Links “Using automated programs or services to create links to your site.”

10 Adverts “Text advertisements that pass PageRank.”

11 Advertorials “Advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass PageRank.”

12 Widget Spam “Keyword-rich, hidden or low-quality links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites.”

✔

13 Template Spam “Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites.”

14 Sitewide “Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites.”


LINK SCHEME FAQSWhat is ‘keyword rich anchor text’?

You’ll notice some of the link schemes

on the previous page make specific

mention of ‘keyword-rich anchor text.’ It’s

important to understand the distinction

between a keyword-rich link, and a

standard link.For context, using keyword-rich anchortext in links used to be a widespread SEO

technique, before certain keyword-rich links

from certain sources were ‘outlawed’ in

Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. By using

a keyword in anchor text – in an article, for

example – and pointing that link to a relevant

URL, it is possible to gain better rankings forthat keyword.

generating keyword within its anchor text.In other words, if the ranking boost you get

from a link’s anchor text is likely to helpyour business make money, it is considered

‘keyword rich.’

As is often the case, Google does not providea detailed explanation of what constitutes

‘keyword rich anchor text.’ But it’s generally

agreed that a keyword-rich anchor text link

is a link that features a high-value,

revenue-

It is also generally agreed that using yourbrand name as anchor text, or linking on a

‘naked URL’ (e.g. http://www.example.com/)

does not constitute ‘keyword-rich anchor text.’

This detail is important, and ignoring it

could mean you end up getting rid of links

that would otherwise be acceptable to

Google. For example, Google’s Webmaster

Guidelines never state that article

marketing is inherently bad, and only

advises against “large-scale article

marketing […] with keyword-rich anchor text

links”.What does Google mean by ‘low-qualitysites and ‘low-quality backlinks’?

Google doesn’t explain what it means by

‘low-quality’ sites or backlinks. However, a

good indicator is whether the site or link

itself follows Google’s Webmaster

Guidelines.

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http://www.example.com/












You can read the full guidelines here:https://support.google.com/webmasters/

answer/35769

How often does Google update Penguin?Google ‘updates’ Penguin in two ways

– sometimes it genuinely updates the

algorithm, but most of the time its updates

are actually ‘refreshes.’

When an algorithm update occurs, it means

Google has substantially rewritten the

algorithm to fundamentally change the way it

works. Updates happen infrequently – in

2014, there was only one confirmed Penguin

update.

don’t know exactly how often they happen,

as Google hasn’t always announced

them. In 2013, Google’s John Mueller

said: “We re-run [Penguin] regularly - it’s

not quite weekly or daily”When an algorithm is ‘refreshed’ it means

Google has ‘re-run’ the algorithm to

evaluate which sites should be penalised,

and which sites that have previously been

hit should have their penalty removed.

When an algorithm is updated, it is alsorefreshed. So you can recover from a

Penguin penalty in either instance.

Refreshes, historically, have happened morefrequently than genuine updates, but we I f you want to stop

spam, the most straight forward way to do it isto deny people money,because they care about the money and thatshould be their end goal. But if you really want tostop spam, it is a littlebit mean, but what you want to do, is sort ofbreak their spirits.”Matt Cutts

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https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769




















3STEP BY STEP GUIDE Step three: Classify links

Manually classify your links as ‘compliant’ or

’non-compliant,’ based on the link

schemes table on page 9.

4 Step four: Contact webmasters

For every non-compliant link, make everyeffort to obtain the webmaster’s details for the

offending site. Reach out to the webmaster

and ask for the link to be removed ormodified. You should always do this before

considering disavowing a link.

5 Step five: Disavow links

If you don’t hear back from a webmaster, or

receive a negative response, add that link

to a disavow list. At the end of the link

auditing process, you should upload this

disavow list in Google Webmaster Tools.

When a link is disavowed, it means that

Google no longer recognises the link

as passing Pagerank.

1 6Step one: Identify penalties Step six: Repeat!

Identify whether your site has suffered an

algorithmic penalty or manual action (or

both). See page 4 for details.

Carry out this process for every link.

Obviously if you have thousands

upon thousands of links, this can be

a time- consuming process!2 Step two: Download links

You will need a list of links to your site that

is as up-to-date and complete as possible.

Links can be downloaded through Google

Webmaster Tools, but we recommend

using specialist SEO software to

supplement this list. Otherwise, you may

end up with an incomplete picture of your

link profile, and risk wasting time auditing

links that won’t make a difference.

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NEXT STEPS

WHEN WILL I RECOVERFROM MY PENALTY?

Algorithmic penalties

If your link auditing, management and

removal processes have been extensive

enough, you should regain rankings in

due course. This will happen

automatically, and requires no further

action from you.Manual actions

If you have a manual action applied to your

site, you will have to apply to Google directly

to have it removed. You do this by

submitting a reconsideration request

through Webmaster Tools.a 100% success rate for reconsiderationrequests and manual action removal.

Google demands extensive documentation,

detailing the links you’ve found and the links

you’ve modified, removed or disavowed. It

also requires assurance that you

understand the severity of your actions, and

will not use similar link building tactics in

future.

We’ve built our Link Reputation Management

service on decades of SEO experience.

That’s why we’re a trusted SEO partner

for some of the UK’s biggest brands.

This can be difficult. Even with extensive

documentation, Google has still been known

to reject applications for manual action

removal.

Need help removing apenalty or protecting your site from future updates? Call one of our experts now for an easy, cost-effective solution – 0800 088 7486.

IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE?ClickThrough Marketing has helped many

household names and growing brands

recover rankings after Google penalties. Our

Link Reputation Management service has

seen

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ABOUT CLICKTHROUGH

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Since 2004, ClickThrough has helpedseveral companies from big brands to small start-ups grow Google rankings, boost conversions, increase return on digital marketing investment, and stretch Internet marketing budgets to get value for money.

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; Find out what we can do to grow yourbusiness. Call us on 0800 088 7486 or visit www.clickthrough-marketing.com

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