Any need to worry about spammy links in Webmaster Tools from sites that no longer exist?
-
I own an ecommerce website that had some spammy stuff done on it by an SEO firm through SEOLinkVine a few years ago.
I'm working on removing all those links, but some of the sites no longer exist. I'm assuming I don't have to worry about disavowing those in Webmaster Tools?
Thanks!
-
Thanks, Tom! That's what I assumed, but very helpful to hear from someone more experienced.
-
Hi Colin
That's correct, you shouldn't have to worry about those. Webmaster tools can be notoriously slow to update when links have been removed and no longer exist, but you should be alright having faith in the fact that if the link doesn't exist, then Google has seen it and doesn't count it any more.
If you want to be ultrasafe, pop them in the disavow file anyway as it won't do any harm. Also, you can follow Google's advice and disavow the entire domain, rather than half a dozen or so URLs from the same domain, in order to save time. You can do that by adding this to the disavow file:
domain:example.com
Hope this helps.
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
-
Internal Links issue in webmaster
we implemented our website on the basis of WordPress, then we migrate our website to PHP (YII Framework). after a while, we found out an issue around internal links which they were increasing severely. when we check our landing pages in webmaster (for example Price list), in contains 300 internal links but the reality is that there are no href tags on this page. it seems that webmaster calculate most of our links with the links of a single page and show them to us. is it natural or a mis configuration has been happened? Yh1NzPl
Technical SEO | | jacelyn_wiren0 -
Webmaster tools question
Hi all. I have a question regarding http vs https. I have an https site and was wondering how to tell google in Webmaster tools to combine and use https. I have setup all sites in Webmaster tools. Both www and non www for both http and https. I see where to set up the www vs the non www but don't quite understand how to do the https part. I want all traffic to: https://www-creative -technology-solutions.com Thanks
Technical SEO | | twoacejr0 -
Webmasters tools - Need to update every time you add a new product/page to an ecommerce
Hi guys, I run an ecommere store and we are constantly receiving and uploading new products. Do we need to update the sitemap every time we upload a product? Google Webmasters tools shows that the number of URLs received is higher than the number of indexed URLs. They should match right? Thanks and regards
Technical SEO | | footd0 -
Can Silos and Exact Anchor Text In Links Hurt a Site Post Penguin?
Just got a client whose site dropped from a PR of 3 to zero. This happened shortly after the Penguin release, June, 2012. Examining the site, I couldn't find any significant duplicate content, and where I did find duplicate content (9%), a closer look revealed that the duplication was totally coincidental (common expressions). Looking deeper, I found no sign of purchased links or linking patterns that would hint at link schemes, no changes to site structure, no change of hosting environment or IP address. I also looked at other factors, too many to mention here, and found no evidence of black hat tactics or techniques. The site is structured in silos, "services", "about" and "blog". All page titles that fall under services are categorized (silo) under "services", all blog entries are categorized under "blogs", and all pages with company related information are categorized under "about". When exploring the site's links in Site Explorer (SE), I noticed that SE is identifying the "silo" section of links (i.e. services, about, blog, etc.) and labeling it as an anchor text. For example, domain.com/(services)/page-title, where the page title prefix (silo), "/services/", is labeled as an anchor text. The same is true for "blog" and "about". BTW, each silo has its own navigational menu appearing specifically for the content type it represents. Overall, though there's plenty of room for improvement, the site is structured logically. My question is, if Site Explorer is picking up the silo (services) and identifying it as an anchor text, is Google doing the same? That would mean that out of the 15 types of service offerings, all 15 links would show as having the same exact anchor text (services). Can this type of site structure (silo) hurt a website post Penguin?
Technical SEO | | UplinkSpyder0 -
Is it something really obvious or is off-site link building all thats missing?
I'm trying to get a client ranked for the keyword Quaich and its like pulling teeth 😞 This keyword performs brilliantly for adwords but I've never got it ranked at all in googles SERPs. Last November I created this page: http://kiltmakers.co.uk/quaich Which ranks as A with seo-moz but still nothing. I'm still a newbie to SEO work but can someone point me in the right direction? Is it just the domain authority that the issue - should I switch my focus to link building off-site?
Technical SEO | | sunscreem0 -
Webmaster Tools Links To Your Site
I logged onto webmaster tools today for my site and the section 'Links to Your Site' is showing no data. Also if I search using link:babskibaby.com it only shows 1 link. My site had been showing 500+ links previously. Does anyone know why this is?
Technical SEO | | babski0 -
My seo company has a footer link that links to my site by keyword will this effect my rankings
My old SEo company has a footer link by keyword to my site so it acts like a site wide link will this effect my rankings. My site was in the top 5 for many keywords now page 2 and 3 so I am trying to see what has effected it as we havent changed what we do
Technical SEO | | Casefun0 -
Best cross linking strategy for micro sites?
Hi Guys. I created a micro site (A design showcase gallery) away from the main website to attract a lot of links in my space from competitors. It works so well it has become a valuable resource in my industry and I believe I will keep it running and adding content to it. Is the best SEO strategy for the main site simply to link from each page to the main site? Or should I be looking at something else? Thanks, Alan
Technical SEO | | spoiltchild0