Odd Link Removal Request

[DanielFreedman]

Unless I'm missing something, having gotten into trouble... the company in question is not doing a great job at link removal.

Here's an email my client received:

Hi Webmaster,

I work for xxxxxxxxxxx and our site has recently been penalized by Google for an unnatural link profile that violates Google's Quality Guidelines.  As part of an effort to get back in their graces, we are removing all links to our website so we can start fresh.

We are making changes to our site to build better content for our audience. I am contacting people who have linked to us in the past to remove any doubt that Google views the link or anchor text as overoptimzed or unnatural.

Therefore, I am respectfully requesting that you remove all links to our site on xxxxxxxxxxx including:

xxxxxxx That says xxxxxxxxxx and goes to xxxxxxxx.

I appreciate your past efforts to link to our content, and I am excited to launch our improved content very soon. We understand that this request takes time and effort, but we would sincerely appreciate your help.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.  If you could be so kind as to respond that you have removed the link, it would really help out with my efforts. Thank you in advance!
Best Wishes,

xxxxxx

All the details and URLS in the email were wrong. After much back and forth, we tracked down a single link from an infographic -- which I removed.

But is removing all links really the best strategy? Does it ever make sense?

[TomRayner]

We also lightly speculated it could be a competitor falsely claiming to be them and is trying to sabotage their link profile!

[DennisSeymour]

If they meant it - its probably due to them being frustrated with the reconsideration request. I went through the same thing before until i disavowed everything and the site was released from the penalty. So yeah, a lazy mistake on my part back then but i learned from it, and i wouldnt know any better if i didnt do it

[DanielFreedman]

I considered this possibility, but given the incompetence of the request (wrong URLs) and the some quick Google research on the person who sent the request (novelist/copywriter)....

...my guess is that sheer incompetence is a more likely explanation.

Looks like the company in question hired the wrong SEO....

...and then hired the wrong person to try to mitigate the damage.

[EGOL]

Maybe they are telling the webmaster that they are removing "ALL" of their links instead of just the stinky links - like the one on his site.

I bet that is it.

[jesse-landry]

Yeah they are absolutely confused, but good on you for taking time out of your busy schedule to try to help out somebody with a Google penalty! This person is clearly a bit misinformed, but it still makes me happy to know that webmasters like you exist!

That said, please don't let your friends send messed up link removal requests like these with incorrect URLs and such. That will just make it harder for all of us in the future. And that is my Public Service Announcement for the day.

[TomRayner]

Myself and Bill Slawski were having a conversation about this on Twitter just yesterday.

It strikes me as laziness - they don't want to navigate through the link profile to identify a good link or a bad link and have just gone "sod it - ask everyone to remove and then we'll disavow if they don't".

Yeah, will probably remove the penalty, but it would also put you so far behind SEO wise.  Just laziness if you ask me.

I also don't see why they don't start on a fresh domain if they're doing this, unless they're really attached to their current domain and/or brand.

[KarlBantleman]

Removing all links is definitely not the way to go but many people are still unsure what constitutes to a good and bad link. That company have gone about it the wrong way though!