Reciprocal linking penalty?
-
Hey,
I have a site with a possible excessive reciprocal linking penalty. It has had a -50 penalty since October. I sent a reconsideration request in December but there has been no change.
I actually dumped all the recip links from my site back in 2009, but there were thousands of them - it really was an excessive campaign that went on for years.
Would it be worth it to try and have the recip links removed, like what people do with a paid links penalty? I can get the email addresses of most of these sites but it will be a huge undertaking.
I haven't done anything else wrong with this site, but it does have a content problem that I've been working on. It was hit by the very first round of Panda, but I was working that out up until the penalty in October.
What would you do?
-
No problem, Hope it turns out well for you.
-
Oh good ideas, thank you so much!
-
My thinking is that during this time you would have rehabbed the main site enough that it might not be penalized but also might not be as strong as your new site with a squeaky clean profile. So my thinking is that it wouldn't hurt. Now if you didn't rehab the main site and did a 301 then I do think it might hurt your new site. I hope this helps in your decision. Good luck and keep me posted on how it goes.
-
Thank you for your ideas - the only thing that worries me is 301ing a penalized domain to a new site.
Is it possible that the penalty could transfer you think? I've heard both that it does and doesn't.
-
You might want to consider doing both at the same time. Rehab your main site while you simultaneously build a new site. My thinking is hypothetical here but I believe it is worth a shot. What happens if you keep your main site and try to rehab but nothing ever fixes it because so much damage has been done? Or what happens if you dump that site to start a new one and it takes you years to get to where you once were, or possibly you could lose so much ground to others that you might never catch up. Now by doing a simultaneous site campaign you can give yourself 6 months to a year of hard work on both to see which one has the best results and then reassess your situation. Now this only works by not interlinking your sites. Google will think you are trying to game them instead of your real goal of having a clean link profile with a legit site. Once the test is done and you've determined which site is the strongest you can then 301 redirect one to the other. Just a thought.
-
Okay. Thank you for the advice!
-
I agree, starting from scratch would be a quicker and easier option. However, by doing this the authority and value that has been built up on the domain will be lost. Ultimately I think it would be better in the long run to clean up the current site.
-
Thanks, I'm thinking about it, but this site is almost 14 years old and has a number of good links from libraries and universities...
I'm totally willing to try and contact all the sites I exchanged links with - but is that a dumb idea?
-
Yes if I were in your position I would contact all the sites that you created reciprocal links with and have them remove your link from their sites. It is not enough to just remove their links from your site. Once you have done this you can then concentrate on gaining good quality links to replace the links you've had removed.
Finally, you can prepare you reconsideration request to Google. Check this link for tips from Google on how to prepare your request:
Tips on requesting reconsideration
Adam
-
Is it going to take longer to clean the site up than to start a new one?
If so, I'd bite the bullet and start a new one.
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
-
Spam Links
Hi everyone, I've just joined the Moz community and after completing our first site crawl I've discovered that we have approximately 200 links with a spam score of over 50%. Should I just disavow all these links or is their a formula to deciding which links to disavow? Thanks in Advance Steve
Link Building | | StevenWalley0 -
Disavow links from legit sites but have spammy link profiles?
I'm currently doing a backlink audit for our site with a LOT of backlinks. Some of the linking sites are legitimate business websites in our industry who have linked to us for a totally legitimate reason (we have good content!). However, these businesses themselves have a spammy backlink profile—that is, the only sites linking to that site are obvious link farm sites. Here is an illustration: spammyseolinks.com; payforseo.xyz; blackhat.ru ==all link to==> legitbusiness.com ==links to==> mysite.com Should I disavow this backlink? I guess it's not really giving me much SEO worth since it surely been branded a spammy junk domain, but then again, it's a real website that we've earned a link from because we're doing stuff the right way. Is it hurting or helping me?
Link Building | | THandorf0 -
Link from a directory
Hi, im submitting a clients website to some directories. They are a dental practice and I'm adding them to this website http://goo.gl/Tvyabd Once i added the business to its directory it asked me to add a link (in so many words) back to its website from my clients website. Is this ok to do or is it seen as spam? Im confused about this as sometimes directories are free and sometimes they ask for a fee for it to be fast tracked to put it on the website. I always check the Domain authority of the websites and make sure they are relevant to the industry that I'm working in but again not sure if this would be seen as "paying" for links. Thanks Ade
Link Building | | popcreativeltd0 -
A website with a spam score of 5 is back linking to me. How important is to get that link removed?
There is a website that OSE has identified with a spam score of 5, it back links to me with a very specific key word. How important is it to have them remove those links?
Link Building | | absoauto0 -
Question about inbound links
Hi! Hi have a little doubt. I'm interested in getting higher positions for a landing page with a long tail keyword. Now the page (ecommerce product page) appears in position 5 and have a low authority domain site and page. My intention is to put more original text in the page and write a blog post with a link pointing to the product page. My doubt is: What is better? Building the blog into the same domain or build it into a high authority external domain (like wordpress), what link could be better for my objectives? Thanks! (And sorry for my English)
Link Building | | Empatica0 -
Why Links from Top Level Domains doesn't Pass Link Equity?
Hello, I have a doubt about Equity-Passing links report of OpensiteExplorer.org According to Sam Weber http://moz.com/community/users/432678 links which pass value from one page to another including followed 301 and Meta refresh links are under Equity-Passing links. I am surprising after looking at the links report generated by opensiteexplorer.org. Most of the article and directory links which have low DA and PA are under Equity-Passing links. Whereas websites like EzineArticle or Articlebase which have good DA and PA are not found in either Equity-passing links or under only nofollow category. Please suggest me if the report of Opensiteexplorer is not good enough or the links from the site like Ezine Article doesn’t pass the link equity. Thanks.
Link Building | | TopLeagueTechnologies0 -
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 -
New ways to get links (excluding on site link bait)?
Fellow SEOs, I’m looking for a new way to reach out to bloggers and site owners for links. There are quite a few link bait techniques to lure bloggers thanks to = amazing content, infographics,...but there are not so many articles on ways to contact bloggers/webmasters and ask for links... We all know that contacting site owners directly and politely asking then to place a link on their home page is as useful as a comb in Bruce willis’s hand. Link exchange is as dead as the Dodo and business partner links are usefull and easier to get but opportunities are often limited. I have been organizing contests for bloggers recently and it has been quite successful up to now, but I always like to have a spare trick up my sleeve. So if any of you have a decent method to reach out to bloggers/webmaster and get decent links please let me know, I will be forever thankful ; ) Cheers
Link Building | | ref.price0