We used to sell links ...
-
We used to sell text links on our site WebDesign.org , I told about that via Twitter in public, Google penalized us and here’s the history of the issue in more detail. I write it here to ask if you guys know how to sort out this issue coz I’m not exactly sure at this point.
Before I tackle the issue itself, here's some background.
OUTBOUND LINKS ISSUE
Jun 22, 2013
We received an Unnatural outbound links penalty (Manual spam action message in our Google Webmaster Tools account) from Google
July 1, 2013
We nofollowed all homepage links and submitted a reconsideration request
July 10, 2013
Google replied that we still violate their quality guidelines
July 15, 2013
We removed links to low quality and irrelevant sites (such as Chinese stores, etc) and submitted another reconsideration request
July 22, 2013
Manual Spam Action revoked
INBOUND LINKS ISSUE
November 8, 2013
We got a message from Google about Unnatural links to your site - impacts links (Message in our Google Webmaster Tools account)
November 27, 2013
We Submitted a Disavow file with Deadly Risky links (found via generating a LinkDetox report) and submitted a reconsideration request
December 15, 2013
Manual Action revoked (main keyword ranking got from 41 to 4)
February 6, 014
And here's the actual issue:
OUTBOUND LINKS ISSUE (Again)
I told via Twitter in public that our site sells links. Matt Cutts noticed that and we got another Unnatural outbound links penalty (Manual action). Main keyword ranking decreased from 9 to 65. We removed all outbound links on the homepage and submitted a reconsideration request.
April 15, 2014
Google replied that we still violate their quality guidelines. We nofollowd all outbound links with JavaScript (wrong move because Google did not take it as nofollowed) and submitted another reconsideration request.
April 19, 2014
Google rejected our reconsideration request and said that we still violate their quality guidelines.
April 23, 2014
We nofollowed properly this time (with PHP) and submitted another reconsideration request.
May 4, 2014
Google replies that we still violate their quality guidelines.
So, at this point I’m kinda lost in terms of what to do next because we've nofollowed all our outbound links (both paid and natural ones).
What would you recommend?
-
Woot! Congrats! And thanks for letting us know.
-
Brilliant, glad to hear it!
-
Thanks a lot you guys. We've have it revoked !!!
-
Thanks Marie, I can't believe that I overlooked it
Taking care of tht now
-
I'm still seeing followed links coming from your author bios in guest posts. For example:
http://www.webdesign.org/5-web-design-trends-to-remember-fall-winter-2013.22364.html
http://www.webdesign.org/the-most-popular-psd-to-html-services.22404.html
-
Hi Vince,
Being publicly outed for selling links (or buying them) can result in harsh sanctions that seem to go above and beyond fair, although every case of this happening is anecdotal. Google has been known to suspend or ban people's entire networks for publicly flouting their guidelines. They're certainly not above making an example, and being publicly noticed on Twitter is a tough way to go.
If all outbound links that could be considered commercial have been nofollowed, I see no reason why you need to worry about outbound linking anymore. Andy may have a good point about ads on the page, but the ads I see are fairly nonintrusive. You may want to try serving them as banner ads with JavaScript, like the "links" created by ad networks (was this how you did it before, when it wasn't good enough for Google?).
-
Hi Vince,
The page layout algorithm is more about ads and placement than no-following of links. The first thing someone sees when this come to your page, is an ad for someone else.
Also, I think we are looking at different pages - the example you gave me was this page:
http://www.webdesign.org/web-design-fails.22423.htmlOn this page, there is a Wix banner at the top. This could be the problem from an algorithm point. However, there is definitely no nofollow attached to this.
The second is the Bluehost banner on the left of the page at the bottom. This is another ad that is has no no-follow.
-Andy
-
Thanks for your assistance Andy.
Do you mean to say that even if links are nofollow, the page layout can still impact us?
I'm not exactly sure what you by by a wix banner, but the "Get Domain!" button is nofollow. At least, that's what I can see in my browser. Please see for yourself.
-
I wonder if this could be the page layout algorithm? You can read more about that here. This effectively goes after sites / pages and "downgrades the ranking of a web page with too many ads at the top or if the ads are deemed too distracting for users."
The problem might now not be to do with links, but could be something else - or a combination. The Wix banner doesn't appears to be no-followed either.
Bluehost at the bottom left (image link) also doesn't appear to be no-followed.
-Andy
-
Sure, here's one of my pages:
http://www.webdesign.org/web-design-fails.22423.html
Yes, it has the rel="nofollow" attribute and you can see is as red in seo-browser.com:
-
Hey Vince,
I remember reading that when it was posted.
Do you have an example if a page with an outbound link that has been nofollowed? I would like to take a look at this myself. Do you have a rel=nofollow tag on the outbound links at all?
-Andy
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
-
Bottom top or footer for internal linking
ı am trying to improve internal linking in one of my projects. I wonder if there is any difference in bottom top and footer linking on a website. You can check the website here https://www.mngturizm.com/, ı added my main pages in menu and others in bottom top. İs there any evidence that it is usefull or not. I did not see short term evidence.
Content Development | | OmerYoluk2 -
Blogging , do I create a huge blog which links to all my sites
Blogging , do I create a huge blog which links to all my sites or do i create a blog on each site, or do i guest blog to each site from other peoples blogs 😞 which is best ?
Content Development | | SocialAssist1 -
Blog Posts: 1 link per 125 words?
I've seen this "1 link per 125 words" for blog posts suggestion pop up a variety of places. I wanted to know if that's "correct" or a best practice? In my posts, I generally write between 800 to 1200 words with about 4 to 6 links in the body of the post. However, (and this may be a problem) I add about 13 links in my closing paragraph, "if you have any legal questions, etc etc, click here for your "Tampa personal injury attorney, Clearwater Personal Injury Attorney, etc etc for all the areas we practice in related to that blog post." Should I stop doing that? Does that come off as spammy? (The blog is hosted on our site, if that matters for this question at all). Thanks, Ruben
Content Development | | KempRugeLawGroup1 -
Does anyone use rss feeds to attract more visitors
Hi, i am wondering if anyone uses rss feeds to bring visitors to their site. My site is www.in2town.co.uk and i am not sure if it would be worthwhile in using rss feeds to bring visitors to my site. I must admit i have never subscribed to any rss feeds so this has got me thinking, do many people subscribe to them these days.
Content Development | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Can you use creative commons non-commercial images on a company blog?
Does anyone know if it is okay to use creative commons images on your company blog if they are under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license. Technically you are using it on a commercial site, but you are not directly making money from the image or selling it.
Content Development | | ProjectLabs0 -
Posting youtube videos on your site-use irframe or "old embed code"
If you choose "embed" now, youtube gives you the choice of using an iframe: <iframe width="430" height="352" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0-nKXALtHWs?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> or, the old embed code: <object width="430" height="352"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0-nKXALtHWs?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0-nKXALtHWs?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="430" height="352" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></object> Is either better when it comes to seo?
Content Development | | MarieHaynes0