Do you need a place to ditch bad links?
-
This is not a question as such, more a gift
I have registered a domain name to ditch bad links.
For example, let's pretend I have a page on my site:
and have never done any good SEO to promote this page, just a load of spammy directory links.
The page used to rank for Viagra but then Google took manual action and I lost my ranking. Booo!
Now the page is of no use to me until I get all these links removed and the manual action revoked. Even then, I'll be starting from scratch re-building good links to the page.
Here's another option, simply re-direct the url to badlinksbin.com and say goodbye to all those spammy links.
This bypasses the lengthy link removal process.
Warning: I wouldn't recommend using this method if you have some good links in the mix, unless you can contact the site owners and get the links changed.
And, don't forget to change the name of the url first so the Viagra page still exists on your site.
As I've already set this up, I thought no harm sharing it and letting you guys use it too.
I hope it helps some people.
-
I don't control the original site, it's a SEO directory. There are links from it to a page on my site that I want to remove, so I figure I'll 404 the page on my site and re-direct the url back to the directory site.
It is rhetorical given that you've already confirmed that it's enough to 404 the page.
-
I'm confused - why would you link out to another site and then 301-redirect that 3rd-party page back to the original site (especially to the home-page on the original site)? I honestly have no idea how Google would treat that - I think it would send a bit of a mixed signal, but it could be seen as an internal link. If you control the original site, though, this would have no benefits on search or users, so I'm just not clear on the motivation.
-
I don't follow, sorry.
In this scenario:
www.badlinksdirectory.com/pagewithmylink
links to
and re-directs to
Presuming I've changed the url of /targeturl so the content still exists on my site and /targeturl is effectively 404'd.
How are the links consolidated?
Wouldn't it become just an internal link but with a detour?
-
Redirecting to the root domain can preserve the link value, but it won't shake loose any penalties. You'd basically just consolidate those links.
-
Thanks for clarifying, I appreciate it.
Out of interest, what are your thoughts on re-directing the link back to the source? e.g. re-direct www.badlinksdirectory.com/pagewithmylink to www.badlinksdirectory.com
This is of course a somewhat moot point given your response, but I'm just curious what your opinion on this would be in a rhetorical scenario.
-
As best we know, 404s should kill the page as a link target, which essentially severs the links. I don't think Google views the link on a domain-wide level at that point. If they did, then honestly it's likely the same rules would apply to other HTTP headers, including 301s. If the page is dead, you're pretty safe at that point. I don't think 301-redirecting the bad page is going to have any additional positive impact.
Re: "breaking rules", the problem is that it's very subjective. Let's say that a bunch of SEOs realize that Penguin and other link-based penalties created an opportunity, and they start taking their own pages with bad links and 301-redirecting those to competitors (maliciously). If Google sees that pattern and then they see you 301-redirecting your links to a 3rd-party site, they may not be able to separate you from the pattern. In other words, they're going to assume bad behavior.
That's speculation, of course (in this specific case - I've definitely seen them mistake bad intent in other areas). I just don't see that you'd be gaining anything by taking on that risk, even if it's small.
-
Hey Dr. Peter, thanks for your reply. No need to apologise, I really appreciate your critical opinion. I'd like to explore this a little further if I may. If I 404 the page (which is something I've considered), the links are still pointing at my domain, so remain potentially harmful until removed, right?
Same applies if I meta noindex it, I'm still stuck with the links. And with link removal being a major part of SEO at the moment I'm seeing more and more webmasters applying a charge to remove links, so it's either costly or a stalemate.
Obviously, that's what the Disavow Links tools is there for, but I haven't seen much evidence of it working... not quickly anyway.
In your opinion would re-directing to badlinksbin.com move the links out of harms way?
I take your point about negative SEO and concede the activity may have the same hallmarks, but I'm not actually breaking any rules here, right?
-
It seems like you're trying to share something you believe is helpful, so I apologize if this comes off as overly critical, but that's really not a good tactic at all. First off, it's unnecessary. If you are fortunate enough to be able to isolate and redirect a page with bad links (as you said, assuming there aren't good links in the mix), then you'd do just as well to 404 that page entirely. There's no need to redirect it somewhere.
Second, it could actually look manipulative. Redirecting a page full of bad links to a 3rd-party site would look to me like negative SEO. I have no proof Google penalizes this particular behavior, but it seems like a red flag that could potentially cause risks for the site setting up the redirects.
Even if the risk of that happening is <5%, it's a risk on top of doing something completely unnecessary. Just kill the page (404 or Meta-Noindex if it still has user value) - it's a clear signal to Google. If you start getting weird with 301-redirects, you could raise alarms.
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
-
Link Exchange
Is link exchange always bad? What if I want to add a link for other related products on my site which I do not offer, and the other site does the same for me? Will it be better to rather an article for each other product and link to somebody, than have one page with a list of other products to other sites. For example. We do training. Lets say we offer computer training. We search companies that does health and safety training offer to put their course on our site with a link to them, if they do the same.
Link Building | | Heinwest0 -
When pitching a whitepaper as Push Content for Link Building, is it ok to give the person I'm pitching a link to a landing page with a form on it?
When pitching a whitepaper as Push Content for Link Building (i.e. pushing out content that my client has created), is it ok to give the person I'm pitching a link to a landing page with a form on it? Or should I create a landing page with the whitepaper included on it? I’m not sure if the client will be ok with this b/c I know they use the whitepaper for sales purposes to gain leads.  For example, my pitch email would include a line such as this, "the whitepaper can be found at LINK and I'd love if you could share it with your readers." I think it may be weird/a little wrong to ask a webmaster to include a link on his site to a landing page with a form to get the whitepaper. Does this make sense? What have others done with whitepapers as Push Content for link building?
Link Building | | ArketiGroup1 -
Link or Ad
I recently requested a link back from a site that is ranking 2nd for a term that i'm working on and they said they would gladly give me the link and remove my competitors but would also like me to have an ad on the same page for an annual fee that i could link to a landing page. I know that paying for links is no good and google can penalize you. so do i pay them and do a no follow to the landing page from the ad and call it a day? and how does google differentiate an ad from a link?
Link Building | | CHiP_RuN0 -
When placing content on external sites, what are some best practices for back links?
Hi there, I am working on a content strategy that includes placing content (i.e. bylined articles, how-to's, guest blogs, etc.) on other web sites and embedding links back to our site. Â In some cases we're very limited to what we can do with our bank links (i.e. just a company url), and in other cases we are free to place multiple anchor links within the content. In cases where we have no limitations, what are some best practices for implementing back links? Â I understand it's important to link to deep pages (not just our home page), have diverse anchor text, and make the anchor links relevant to the surrounding content. Are there other things I should be thinking about in order to maximize the SEO value of such placements? Â For example, is it better to have just one anchor link per placement? Â Or should I aim to embed multiple anchor links within a single placement? Any advice would be much appreciated! Sincerely, Debra
Link Building | | Cherwell-Software0 -
How can a not so passionate subject get links? Need ideas?
Our client owns a very big pest control site. They are competing with pestmall, orkin, terminex to name a few. Almost all of there competitors are spamming like crazy. For some of their competitors it is working. They get natural links very slowly.  Maybe 1 natural link every week. How can a not so passionate subject get links? Here was my ideas. Offer a tool to pest control sites for a link in return. The flaw is most pest control company owners are not tech savy and if they are they have hired it out. I just really need some ideas. Thank you.
Link Building | | OxzenMedia0 -
Advice needed
Hi Guys, We are trying to increase our rankings for the term "natural beauty products" for our home page.... I have created an article all about natural beauty products with the url as... domain/natural-beauty-products.html what I am worried about is this... because this page has more information all about the key word phrase & the url is the keyword phrase, will it out do my root domain ranking? I created the page to try and give the home page some weight for that key phrase, now I am wondering if I should have had the url as something like "why we love natural beauty products" then in that page included the keyword phrase link back to the home page! Hope this makes sense. Thanks Daniel
Link Building | | LushDuck0 -
Are you careful about linking back to sites that link to you?
Suppose that a trusted website added you to their recommended links page. Do you worry that linking back to them from a page on your site will diminish the value of the original link?
Link Building | | Charlessipe0 -
Link exchange with nofollow bad for ranking?
Hi, I wanted to give my EMD (Exact match domain) some more links and added it to some general start pages, just as my competitors did. The disadvantage of such link sites is that you have to add a link back to them. So I created a new page in my footer "links" and added a link back to those who requested that. However, I made all links a nofollow because I don't want them to benefit from my rankings. Those sites really have nothing to do with my subject and are just interested in a link to give them some boost I guess. I'm sure not everybody like my approach, but my question is. Will those nofollow links on my page back to the ones that requested it affect my rankings?
Link Building | | severtservice
Or should I remove the nofollow? Thanks!
Dennis0