Webmaster Tools Manual Actions - Should I Disavow Spammy Links??
-
My website has a manual action against it in webmaster tools stating;
Unnatural links to your site—impacts links
Google has detected a pattern of unnatural artificial, deceptive, or manipulative links pointing to pages on this site. Some links may be outside of the webmaster’s control, so for this incident we are taking targeted action on the unnatural links instead of on the site’s ranking as a whole
I have checked the link profile of my site and there are over 4,000 spammy links from one particular website which I am guessing this manual action refers to. There is no way that I will be able to get these links removed so should I be using Google's Disavow Tool or is there no need? Any ideas would be appreciated!!
-
Hi Rich,
This is a manual action, which means your site has been penalized. You DO need to take action to get this penalty lifted, especially if you have noticed a decrease in traffic/rankings.In general, the Google Webspam team likes to see ample evidence that you did everything in your power to remove links BEFORE using the disavow. If you submit a reconsideration request after skipping this step, your request will likely be rejected.
This process has been well-documented by several webmasters. I highly recommend reading these posts for more background and advice:
-
Technically you don't need to, I don't personally see the harm in doing so however. It's really up to you.
-
Thanks - I see what you are saying but I can't see them removing these links. Would you recommend I use the disavow tool even though Google are saying they are discounting these links???????????
-
Yes, for your part the theory is you don't need to take any action, those links won't affect you
However it's almost a per-warning and there is no harm in attempting to remove the links. You wouldn't need to resubmit though it won't hurt to drop and email and make sure you've taken some action.
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2604772?ctx=MAC
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/manual-actions-viewer.html
"If you don't control the links pointing to your site, no action is required on your part. From Google's perspective, the links already won't count in ranking. However, if possible, you may wish to remove any artificial links to your site and, if you're able to get the artificial links removed, submit a reconsideration request. If we determine that the links to your site are no longer in violation of our guidelines, we’ll revoke the manual action."
-
Are you sure on this as Google has stated in the manual action "Some links may be outside of the webmaster’s control, so for this incident we are taking targeted action on the unnatural links instead of on the site’s ranking as a whole".
Doesn't this mean that they have 'disavowed' them already??
-
Google likes to see you try, its a good idea to attempt contact with the website asking them to remove the links, if you don't try don't expect Google to try either, I recommend send an email to them (try postmaster or webmaster @ )
No response then you can use the disavow tool then when you request your site to be reconsidered you have proof that you've tried.
Good luck.
-
Hi,
A pretty simple answer this time: you should use the Google Disavow Tool to do this. As, as you say you won't be able to have the links removed by yourself. And this is your way of telling Google that you want them to ignore these links.
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
-
Sudden data lost of links in Webmaster tools & search clicks too decreased to zero
Hi guys please help me to solve this webmaster tools issue and downfall of clicks and impressions. What is the Issue : I have managed hills self storage site since long time, but recently ( since few weeks ) in webmaster what I noticed is that, there is a constant reduction in clicks which reached zero thereafter it has been continuously stuck to zero, however impressions too started decreasing from the same time period and that too reached gradually to zero. What I have tested : I have tested Analytics Traffic which is increasing gradually Keywords ranking in Google Australia is also increasing gradually Before October 2014 Total links are 200+, In mid October 2014 it has started decreasing gradually & now it is showing “No Data Available”. 301 redirection is perfect, google fetching is also ok. What Enhancement we did : Site moved to a new server in October 2014 We switched our site pages from “http” to “https” in October 2014 Kindly reply to my above queries so that I can get back to my “Total Links”, “correct impressions” and “clicks” as previously in the webmaster tools ? Regards, Dave 2eevhoj.jpg zxpro5.jpg
Technical SEO | | akshaydesai0 -
What do I need to do for HTTPS switch in Webmaster Tools?
My site is currently verified using a meta tag for both Google and Bing. Will I need to recreate the meta tag or will I be able to use the same one?
Technical SEO | | EcommerceSite1 -
What do I do with these back links?
In the last two weeks, I've got 10 pingbacks from this http://caraccidentlawyer.cc/coroner-ids-berkeley-bodies-who-were-killed-in-recent-car-accident/ and sites like it. The featured attorney is a competitor of ours and, since the links aren't sex/drugs/rock&roll related, (and he's linked too) I doubt this is a negative SEO campaign, but I want it to stop. These blogs are basically pure spam. Any suggestions?
Technical SEO | | KempRugeLawGroup1 -
Is it possible to export Inbound Links in a CSV file categorized by Linking Root Domains ?
Hi, I am performing an analysis of the total inbound links to my homepage and I would like to have the total amount of inbound links categorized by the Linking root domains. For example, the Open Site explorer does offer the feature to show you the Linking Root Domains to your page. Then when you click on the first Linking Root Domain, it also shows you the Top Linking Pages ( Which means all the pages that link to your page from this particular top level domain) Now I would like to export this data to a CSV file, but open site explorer only exports the total amount of top level linking domains. Does anyone has a solution to this problem ? Thank you very much for the help in advance!
Technical SEO | | Feweb0 -
Tool to search relative vs absolute internal links
I'm preparing for a site migration from a .co.uk to a .com and I want to ensure all internal links are updated to point to the new primary domain. What tool can I use to check internal links as some are relative and others are absolute so I need to update them all to relative.
Technical SEO | | Lindsay_D0 -
Persistent Unnatural Links in Webmaster tools
We recently were notified about unnatural links from two websites (totalling a few thousands links each). We went to the websites and asked them to remove the links, which they apparently did. After this we applied for reconsideration to Google, explaining the situation, however they came back and said we still have links. We noticed there were still links, however there were less than before, and so we once again asked the sites to remove all the links. Now we are sure all the links are gone as when we click a random link and view the page source there is no reference to our site, however WebMaster tools is not updating the link list, claiming we still have thousands of links. Do we have to apply for another reconsideration request to get them to re-crawl the sites to get rid of the links, or should it happen automatically?
Technical SEO | | eXia0 -
Linking from and to pages
My website, www.kamperen-bij-de-boer.com, tells people what campingssites can be found in The Netherlands for recreational purposes. In order for a campingsite to be mentioned on our website we ask them to place a link to our website (either using a text link or image link) and then we make a page for that campsite on our website with in the end a link to ther website, e.g. http://www.kamperen-bij-de-boer.com/Minicamping-In-t-Oldambt.html -> they in return link back to us. Since this comes natural will this or won't this be penalized by Google and so on for linkfarming. At this moment we have about 600 camping sites on our website alone linking to us (not all of them) and we are linking to them. Since this can be explained as link trading which is not as good for your ranking as one-way-linking what should be wise? Should i include a nofollow? I already have many links from other sites linking to mine without having to link back, is there anything else i can do with linking to ensure better ranking?
Technical SEO | | JarnoNijzing0 -
Add to Cart Link
We have shopping cart links (<a href's,="" not="" input="" buttons)="" that="" link="" to="" a="" url="" along="" the="" lines="" of="" cart="" add="" 123&return="/product/123. </p"></a> <a href's,="" not="" input="" buttons)="" that="" link="" to="" a="" url="" along="" the="" lines="" of="" cart="" add="" 123&return="/product/123. </p">The SEOMoz site crawls are flagging these as a massive number of 302 redirects and I also wonder what sort of effect this is having on linkjuice flowing around the site. </a> <a href's,="" not="" input="" buttons)="" that="" link="" to="" a="" url="" along="" the="" lines="" of="" cart="" add="" 123&return="/product/123. </p">I can see several possible solutions: Make the links nofollow Make the links input buttons Block /cart/add with robots.txt Make the links 301 instead of 302 Make the links javascript (probably worst care) All of these would result in an identical outcome for the UX, but are very different solutions. What would you suggest?</a>
Technical SEO | | Aspedia0