Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      Track AI Overviews in Keyword Research
      Moz Pro

      Track AI Overviews in Keyword Research

      Try it free!
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Link Building
    4. How to remove backlinks?

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    How to remove backlinks?

    Link Building
    4
    5
    2934
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • nrv
      nrv last edited by

      Hey guys,

      With all this anti over optimization movement going around with Google, I decided to do a link building profile audit. I see some pages with PR 0 and some pages that expired.

      My websites are not penalized at this moment, however I do want to avoid this at all costs.

      • What can I do?
      • Could a backlink from an expired domain penalize my site?
      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • nrv
        nrv last edited by

        Thanks for the replies! Sometimes its harder to create great content when you are an agency and don't have control of what  your clients are doing all the time.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • RankSurge
          RankSurge last edited by

          Like Anthony said - create great content, and you'll never have to worry about linking penalties. Here's another item to consider - links are always going to be pointed to your site, and not all are going to be of high quality sites today. But, you never know that one blog that stays online and in 5 years from now has grown into an authority site.

          People are way over-reacting to this latest Google "penalty". If it was that easy to lose your rankings to just a few blog networks, why wouldn't I go out and get thousands of "bad" links pointed to my competitor to de-rank them?

          Look deeper at what Google is trying to accomplish.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • A_Q
            A_Q last edited by

            I would recommend you take action and remove poor back links wherever possible. Why run the risk of being penalised when these links are giving you next to no benefit?

            There are a few things you can do

            1. Contact the sites that you are worried about and request that the link is removed
            2. Sit tight and hope for the best
            3. Change the URL of the pages that have poor links pointing to them and remove the original page without redirecting (this has obvious implications for users

            I'd recommend you try and contact sites wherever possible, accepting that this is very difficult as I imagine many of the back links you may have will be automated.

            If a domain is expired there is no back link in place so you should not be penalised for it as Google should identify that the link is no longer present.

            Hope this helps.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • anthonydnelson
              anthonydnelson last edited by

              I wouldn't worry about removing these backlinks, unless you know they are paid or part of a network.

              Instead, focus on building some good strong natural links through creating amazing content. The stronger your overall backlink profile is, the less likely you will ever find yourself in trouble over a few bad links.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • 1 / 1
              • First post
                Last post

              Got a burning SEO question?

              Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


              Start my free trial


              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.

              • See all categories

              Related Questions

              • laurentjb

                Backlink builder (Professional)

                backlink profile backlinks

                If I wanted to hire a professional person to build high quality backlinks for me, where would I look? I'm asking here because I'd rather go on the recommendation of other businesses owners, than a google search. Does anyone have a person that they can recommend? It's for an insurance agency in Texas. Many thanks

                Link Building | | laurentjb
                2
              • mowafi

                How can i create backlinks from google redirect?

                backlinks link building domain authority

                I found some sites that make backlinks like this. How can I get it too?
                https://maps.google.com/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.ad/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.ae/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.af/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.ag/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.ai/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.al/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.am/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.co.ao/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.ar/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.as/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.at/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.au/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.az/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.ba/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.bd/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.be/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.bf/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.bg/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.bh/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.bi/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.bj/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.bn/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.bo/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.br/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.bs/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.bt/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.co.bw/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.by/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.bz/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.ca/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.cd/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.cf/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.cg/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.ch/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.ci/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.co.ck/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.cl/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.cm/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.cn/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.co/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.co.cr/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.cu/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.cv/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.cy/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.cz/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.de/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.dj/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.dk/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.dm/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.do/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.dz/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.ec/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.ee/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.eg/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.es/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.et/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.fi/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.fj/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.fm/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.fr/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.ga/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.ge/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.gg/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.gh/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.gi/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.gl/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.gm/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.gr/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.gt/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.gy/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com.hk/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.hn/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.hr/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.ht/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.hu/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.co.id/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://toolbarqueries.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://toolbarqueries.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://toolbarqueries.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://toolbarqueries.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://toolbarqueries.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://maps.google.com/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.de/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.co.uk/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.fr/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.it/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.ca/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.nl/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.ru/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.pl/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.cz/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.co.in/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.co.id/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.com.tw/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.co.th/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.com.mx/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.com.ua/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.com.ar/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://images.google.com/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.be/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.se/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.pt/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.ro/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.gr/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.hu/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.com.tr/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.at/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://images.google.com.co/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.ch/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.fi/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.dk/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.cl/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://images.google.com.pe/url?sa=t&url=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.com.vn/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.com.sg/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.no/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://clients1.google.co.il/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.ie/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com
                https://cse.google.co.kr/url?q=https://www.kokyworld.com

                Link Building | | mowafi
                3
              • MarketAPeel

                Backlinks on Moz not on Google Search Console

                google search console backlinks

                Moz is showing thousands of backlinks to my site that are not showing up on Google Search Console - which is good because those links were created by some spammer in Pakistan somewhere. I haven't yet submitted a disavow report to Google of well over 10K links because the list keeps growing every day with new backlinks that have been rerouted to a 404 page. I have asked Google to clarify and they put my question on their forum for an answer, which I'm still waiting for - so I thought I'd try my luck here. My question... If Moz does not match Google Search Console, and backlinks are important to results, how valid is the ranking that Moz creates to let me know how I'm doing in this competition and if I'm improving or not. If the goal is to get Google to pay attention and I use Moz to help me figure out how to do this, how can I do that if the backlink information isn't the same - by literally over 10 000 backlinks created by some spammer doing odd things... They've included the url from their deleted profile on my site with 100s of other urls, including Moz.com and are posting them everywhere with their preferred anchor text. Moz ranking considers the thousands of spam backlinks I can't get rid of and Google ignores them or disavows them. So isn't the rankings, data, and graphs apples and bananas? How can I know what my site's strength really is and if I'm improving or not if the data doesn't match? Complete SEO Novice Shannon Peel
                Brand Storyteller
                MarketAPeel

                Link Building | | MarketAPeel
                0
              • JCN-SBWD

                Blog post outreach for backlinks

                blog post outreach blog post backlinks guest blog posting in context link building content marketing

                Hi all, My understanding of obtaining backlinks by way of blogpost outreach is that it's best to include several outbound links to related high domain websites within blog post copy (as well as a link to the website you're marketing, obviously) such as this post https://www.scoopearth.com/why-should-you-use-royalty-free-music-for-youtube-videos/ or this one https://small-bizsense.com/how-to-create-quality-content-for-your-business/. However, I've recently read a few articles that suggest that from a human perspective only having one clear link in the copy, such as this post https://www.clichemag.com/entertainment/movies/the-benefits-of-royalty-free-cinematic-music-for-your-videos/, increases the chance of the reader visiting the site in question. I guess the thinking is that if there's only one link to be clicked on it increases the chances of click-thru, as opposed to the reader possibly clicking on another external link that's only there because of current SEO advice. So is it best to follow SEO guidelines and include several outbound links within guest blog posts, or is it better to only have the one link to your client's site (to focus the readers attention on it)?

                Link Building | | JCN-SBWD
                0
              • sbrault74

                Backlinks From Scraper Sites - Should I Disavow Them?

                I'm going through all the links (hopefully) to my website and I've found so many links from site scrapers. For instance: http://www.fzccg.com/cmsteam/dvbbs/boke.asp?zkhod76681.showtopic.148760.html ... which links to my site with anchor text "abercrombie uk How To Change Your Wiper Blades" It is surely not realistic to think that I can contact all the scraper site owners. So what should I do with this kind of links?

                Link Building | | sbrault74
                0
              • treeoflife

                How Many Backlinks Per Day

                I am starting to do some manual back-linking for a medium competition word with high traffic.  I plan to start back linking with like niche blogs with non spam comments, like niche directories, like niche forums, and guest blogging. My domain is over 3 years old and ranks for multiple keywords, but I'm going to concentrate specifically on this keyword, but need to know how many links to back-link a day.  Again none of these will be spam, but will be of real quality. I was thinking 10-20 a day, but unsure.

                Link Building | | treeoflife
                0
              • brianmcc

                Should I Just Copy A Competitor's Backlinks?

                Forgive the newbie question, but now that I have found SeoMoz and OpenSiteExplorer, should I just piggy back on my competitors backlinks? What would be the downside? By way of explanation, I've never had the need to explore SEO before. Our site, Widgets.com has always ranked highly for all Widgets keywords because we have the keyword in our domain and our site has been around since 1998. But out of the blue this summer, a site, let's call them WidgetsCircus.com suddenly began outranking us on widgets keywords, and pretty much every keyword we can imagine in our little widget universe. Now that I have run OpenSiteExplorer, I can see how they've done it. They've pretty much spent the last year commenting on blog posts all over the place, editing wiki pages, etc., and built thousands of links for all these widget keywords. So, I'm wondering: why shouldn't I just go down the list of links and do exactly what they've done? Where they commented on a blog, why don't I just comment right along side them. Obviously, this has worked for them! Wouldn't it work for us too? Or is that too simple?

                Link Building | | brianmcc
                0
              • casper434

                How important are edu and gov backlinks?

                I have heard that edu and gov backlinks are important but how so in a niche area like mine - real estate? Perhaps I am missing the point but I do not see how either type of site would ever backlink to a commercial real estate entity. If these are that important in theory, are they obtainable in practice?

                Link Building | | casper434
                0

              Get started with Moz Pro!

              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

              Start my free trial
              Products
              • Moz Pro
              • Moz Local
              • Moz API
              • Moz Data
              • STAT
              • Product Updates
              Moz Solutions
              • SMB Solutions
              • Agency Solutions
              • Enterprise Solutions
              • Digital Marketers
              Free SEO Tools
              • Domain Authority Checker
              • Link Explorer
              • Keyword Explorer
              • Competitive Research
              • Brand Authority Checker
              • Local Citation Checker
              • MozBar Extension
              • MozCast
              Resources
              • Blog
              • SEO Learning Center
              • Help Hub
              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
              • How-to Guides
              • Moz Academy
              • API Docs
              About Moz
              • About
              • Team
              • Careers
              • Contact
              Why Moz
              • Case Studies
              • Testimonials
              Get Involved
              • Become an Affiliate
              • MozCon
              • Webinars
              • Practical Marketer Series
              • MozPod
              Connect with us

              Contact the Help team

              Join our newsletter
              Moz logo
              © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
              • Accessibility
              • Terms of Use
              • Privacy

              Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.