Do "big" SEO companies remove links after termination of service?
-
Or worded differently:
Has anyone heard of "big" SEO companies removing links after termination of service?
I have a client who isn't particularly happy with the SEO he's getting from a big Aussie SEO firm, and he wants to terminate, however they've built thousands of links for him and he's a little concerned they might all get pulled.
Has anyone heard of this happening, or;
Do you think this is a legitimate concern?
I think its physically possible to remove backlinks like this because it seems the SEO firm in question is building links by using other client's websites.
I also wonder if they might have large content farm style sites where they place links for clients which might be quite easy to take down.
Please discuss!
-
Have I heard of this? Yes.
Is it a legitimate concern? Yes, but the impact of the links being removed depends on whether those links are "being counted by Google." If these "rented links" aren't being counted (or contributing very little), then their removal won't really matter.
Are the links indexed? Are they on domains that rank? What are the PA's & DA's for these links?
-
In my ten years, I have definitely heard of this happening. It's a bigger risk when your SEO provider has a private network of sites.Heck, I have even heard of people holding this over their clients; "If you quit you will lose all your traffic/rankings."
It's really no different than people paying YP for a directory listing, they are billed for "Search Engine Marketing" monthly and when they stop, the link is removed.
I view SEO similar to web design/creative -- if you pay us, it is yours, you retain ownership and that is the way it should be.
-
Has anyone heard of "big" SEO companies removing links after termination of service?
Some companies own or have partnerships with large numbers of websites and place links out there for clients. They control these links and can modify or remove them easily - with programs or with low-cost workers.
The monthly fee for SEO services is often a payment for paid links. The links are actually "rented" by the month.
Do you think this is a legitimate concern?
Yes.
I think its physically possible to remove backlinks like this because it seems the SEO firm in question is building links by using other client's websites.
That is really sleezy to use the sites of other clients. My bet is that they have bought a large number of websites that owners have gotten tired of for a couple hundred dollars each. Its pretty easy to buy websites that owners have not touched in a long time. They might have also grabbed expiring domains.
I also wonder if they might have large content farm style sites where they place links for clients which might be quite easy to take down.
There you have it!
-
If there is something in the contract that will affect the client negatively or if the old firm is suspected of being likely to cause problems then it may be that the clients best interest is suited by employing a reputable SEO firm to work on link building to strengthen the link profile before cutting ties with the old firm.
There will obviosuly be additional cost by following this approach however this would need to be weighed up against the possible rankings fall / traffic fall that might occur if the contract doesn't protect the client from the sort of situation described.
-
It depends. What's written into the agreement?
If they've built links on other people's sites then it will probably be too much of a hassle to contact all of them and ask them to remove it, so it will either naturally run out (if it's paid and you're not given the contact details) or remain there for the rest of it's natural life.
Alternatively if they run the sites they've been building links on (and it is the easiest way to guarantee clients will get links on sites) then they may remove them to make way for new clients links. I've certainly seen this happen.
It's important to note that Google doesn't overly care how quickly you get links, but it will certainly notice if you lose a lot quickly! Aa it means you've either bought them and they've expired or something has happened to make people lose trust in your site, either way it's going to raise some flags and possibly have someone look a little bit closer into your link profile.
Double check what's been agreed, find out who owns the sites the links have been built on and speak with the agency before you do it. If they're reputable I doubt they'll try and screw you over.
-
One would think that they have paid for those links to be built and thus own them, but I guess it's all down to what it says in the contract at the end of the day. I won't even touch on the ethical aspect of the whole question.
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
-
Local SEO issue
Hello, I have a client that is located just outside of Baltimore, MD. Their zip code is 21236, which is seen as sometimes Nottingham and sometimes Overlea. Their competitors come up for Baltimore with the same zip. This client seems to be having some problems, and I think it is because of this geo confusion? Is this so, and if so, how can I make location more clear to Google? Thanks
Industry News | | lfrazer0 -
What is the most current advice on editing your company Wikipedia page?
I've noticed a lot of incorrect and misleading information on our company Wikipedia page. Should we, as a company, be actively monitoring and updating this page when we spot factual errors. I realize wikipedia doesn't want marketeze or heavy PR on company pages, but those are the people that generally pay attention to wikipedia entries. Also, we certainly don't want to get penalized or cause any undue media attention from our edits. If possible can you also offer links to other sources rather than just opinion or personal experience, I'm having to present this to a large corporate board and want to be as detailed as possible. Thank you,
Industry News | | kerplow
Kerplow0 -
Anyone used an SEO company they are happy with and would recommend to others?
I have been researching SEO companies. Some are not willing to provide references, while others have references with lukewarm recommendations. Any e-commerce owners/managers here that have used an SEO company that they would recommend? I am about to give up and stick to doing it in-house!
Industry News | | inhouseseo0 -
Seo is dead?
Hi there, I see a lot of conversations about the term "seo is dead" because some people speak that seo are dead because of google plus and facebook. Is it true? What do you think? What do you think that is the future of our business? We will stay uneployed or we still continue to work? Me personally I hate facebook. Is just so much stupid (like most of people, I guess thats why is so popular) but what about google plus? Is a serious and worthy social profile.This will kill us? I read in SEL or SEW ,I dont remember which of them that this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farhad_Manjoo said that seo is dead and some are even supporting him.Also he said that "Google just broke its search engine" with the creation of Google plus. Me I think search msrketing,seo will live for long time yet,Me personally and my friends NEVER EVER CLICK on Facebook ads(if we do it , is just curiosity, and after we never visit again that page,this guys what I was reading their articles before they said that they see a lot of traffick from facebook.me also but the taffic from facebook dont do nothing,even in adsense they dont click on my sites,not to convert to buyers).I have 20 close friends and none of them cares what kind of content they find from facebook.Is our mentality (I am from CYprus)? Or is just a fact?That facebook ads are just some crap? Or general the acebook is a crap?Me i think that is.Is made for some people who are boaring and need something to kill time.so the traffick what you get is some boaring people who dont care about nothing, just some more things to watch and comment with their friends.So practically you have them on the site and after BAM, new hot site so bye bye.Never visit again your site.Why is so much importand?Their likes etc?The difference with google adsense is that all from our company are clicking on the ads and on the results. (much more on the results, because we think that is the best.Including me that I know that SERP can be manipulated.But we still prefer that.Why all speak about that SEO are dead? Are paid from facebook? WTF? Why I never hear somebody from SEOMOZ to say this?My result is that they are some bunch of I@@@TS and they dont know what they speak or are on the other side.I am sorry for my bad english but like this I can express my fealings.If you dont understand something please ask.
Industry News | | nyanainc0 -
Is using Turkish characters like ş, ğ , ü in the URLs better for SEO?
My web site is Turkish. And my keyword is "yurtdışı üniversite" I want to know, using Turkish characters like ş, ğ , ü in my URLs better for SEO? http://www.studyzone.com.tr/haber-detay/2011/06/21/yurtdışı-üniversite-kayıtları-için-acele-edin! OR http://www.studyzone.com.tr/haber-detay/2011/06/21/yurtdisi-universite-kayitlari-icin-acele-edin!
Industry News | | apesteli0 -
What is the best method for getting pure Javascript/Ajax pages Indeded by Google for SEO?
I am in the process of researching this further, and wanted to share some of what I have found below. Anyone who can confirm or deny these assumptions or add some insight would be appreciated. Option: 1 If you're starting from scratch, a good approach is to build your site's structure and navigation using only HTML. Then, once you have the site's pages, links, and content in place, you can spice up the appearance and interface with AJAX. Googlebot will be happy looking at the HTML, while users with modern browsers can enjoy your AJAX bonuses. You can use Hijax to help ajax and html links coexist. You can use Meta NoFollow tags etc to prevent the crawlers from accessing the javascript versions of the page. Currently, webmasters create a "parallel universe" of content. Users of JavaScript-enabled browsers will see content that is created dynamically, whereas users of non-JavaScript-enabled browsers as well as crawlers will see content that is static and created offline. In current practice, "progressive enhancement" in the form of Hijax-links are often used. Option: 2
Industry News | | webbroi
In order to make your AJAX application crawlable, your site needs to abide by a new agreement. This agreement rests on the following: The site adopts the AJAX crawling scheme. For each URL that has dynamically produced content, your server provides an HTML snapshot, which is the content a user (with a browser) sees. Often, such URLs will be AJAX URLs, that is, URLs containing a hash fragment, for example www.example.com/index.html#key=value, where #key=value is the hash fragment. An HTML snapshot is all the content that appears on the page after the JavaScript has been executed. The search engine indexes the HTML snapshot and serves your original AJAX URLs in search results. In order to make this work, the application must use a specific syntax in the AJAX URLs (let's call them "pretty URLs;" you'll see why in the following sections). The search engine crawler will temporarily modify these "pretty URLs" into "ugly URLs" and request those from your server. This request of an "ugly URL" indicates to the server that it should not return the regular web page it would give to a browser, but instead an HTML snapshot. When the crawler has obtained the content for the modified ugly URL, it indexes its content, then displays the original pretty URL in the search results. In other words, end users will always see the pretty URL containing a hash fragment. The following diagram summarizes the agreement:
See more in the....... Getting Started Guide. Make sure you avoid this:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66355
Here is a few example Pages that have mostly Javascrip/AJAX : http://catchfree.com/listen-to-music#&tab=top-free-apps-tab https://www.pivotaltracker.com/public_projects This is what the spiders see: view-source:http://catchfree.com/listen-to-music#&tab=top-free-apps-tab This is the best resources I have found regarding Google and Javascript http://code.google.com/web/ajaxcrawling/ - This is step by step instructions.
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=81766
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-allow-google-to-crawl-ajax-content
Some additional Resources: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/10/proposal-for-making-ajax-crawlable.html
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-allow-google-to-crawl-ajax-content
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=357690 -
Which one is THE BEST seo book
For you guys which one is the best SEO BOOK?? Maybe this one? http://www.amazon.com/Ranking-Number-One-Essential-Results/dp/1452849900/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1309247497&sr=8-4 Thanks in advance!
Industry News | | augustos1 -
What is the best SEO Seminar/Training option in the US?
I have 3 years of SEO experience and am an SEO Manager. I am well versed, though much room for growth and education. I want to find an SEO Seminar or training program that best suits my needs. It seems most are a one size fits all seminars. Any recommendations, thoughts or ideas?
Industry News | | dkamen0