Spam Links? -115 Domains Sharing the Same IP Address, to Remove or Not Remove Links

[Kingalan1]

Out of 250 domains that link to my site about 115 are from low quality directories that are published by the same company and hosted on the same ip address.

Examples of these directories are:

-www.keydirectory.net         -www.linkwind.com              -www.sitepassage.com

-www.ubdaily.com                -www.linkyard.org

A recent site audit from a reputable SEO firm identified 125 toxic links. I assume these are those toxic links. They also identified about another 80 suspicious domains linking to my site. They audit concluded that my site is suffering a partial Penguin penalty due to low quality links.

My question is whether it is safe to remove these 125 links from the low quality directories. I am concerned that removing this quantity of links all at once will cause a drop in ranking because the link profile will be thin with only about 125 domains remaining that point to the site. Granted those 125 domains should be of somewhat better quality.

I am playing with fire by having these removed. I URGENTLY NEED ADVICE AS THE WEBMASTER HAS INITIATED STEPS TO REMOVE THE 125 LINKS.

Thanks everyone!!!

Alan

[KeriMorgret]

Hi Alan,

Can you give us an update on how things are going? Do you have any more questions? Have you seen any changes recently?

[MarieHaynes]

I would definitely remove them.  They're probably a factor in the Penguin algorithm.  If for some reason Penguin hasn't picked up on these links then it probably will in the future as Google is constantly evolving the Penguin algorithm.

If your site is truly affected by Penguin then you're going to need to be really thorough with your disavowing and removing.  Removing just some of the links is not likely to make a huge difference.  The only sites that I have seen recover are ones that have removed and/or disavowed close to 100% of their unnatural links AND also have a good base of natural links.

[NBGnetworks]

Hey Alan,

I didn't realize how deep you had gone in your research already!  I definitely agree with removing them now that I understand how you found all of this.

I've seen a lot of people blame penguin and other google anti-blackhat methods for their lack of traffic but few have actual proof the way you do.  And its funny you mention blogging at the end.  I was just going to ask about your content and its freshness, etc.  I used to have a blog with a TON of content but some of it was poorly written.  I'm not the best at grammar apparently.. so I removed a bunch of articles I thought were a waste of time for anybody reading them.. bigmistake!  I lost almost half my traffic.

Best of luck,

-Nick

[Kingalan1]

Hi Nick:

Thanks for your perspective.

Our website traffic (my company is a commercial real estate brokerage firm in New York City) dropped 60% after the first Penguin update in April of 2012.  It recovered somewhat last October after the latest Penguin update after we eliminated repetitive, spammy footer links. The site was also redesigned last Summer.

The quality of the links was only reviewed last November by a SEO firm and a formal audit. The links were analyzed by Link Detox. About 55% are toxic. 40% suspicious and 5% OK. I have no stomach to risk my business with this terrible link profile. But I am trying to take a middle of the road approach. First step being to remove links from 113 domains deemed toxic by Link Detox. These domains all originate on the same IP address so they are mostly a link farm. The owner of the directories has agreed to remove them.

That will still leave me with some toxic links, suspicious link and a few good ones. So I am immediately going to hire an SEO firm for six months to build high quality links (monitoring their deliverables each month).  Only in a few months after we have obtained some high quality links will I start working on removing the other toxic and suspicious links. The objective will be to try to radically improve the link profile within a year.

I am also going to be adding blog content on a weekly basis and increase activity on social media to counter what I am realizing is an absolutely awful link profile.

In the last two years I spent more than $35,000 on web marketing and coding and ignored the link profile. BIG MISTAKE!!!

[Asjad]

Hi Alan,

You Should Delete all of these bad/low Quality backlinks. It will not effect your website but will help in Long term.

Also, did your Website Rankings Dropped ? If so then You have to delete all bad backlinks and Change Anchor text of the Good backlinks to something more Generic.

If your Website is Ranking well then how Can anyone tell that it has been hit by penguin ? Penguin effected website have lost their Rankings.

hope it helps.

[NBGnetworks]

Hi Alan,

Do you have any evidence that you are under any sort of penalty?  I agree with Morgan that these directories are playing with fire and could definitely burn you BUT I also know first hand my biggest competitor uses these directory sites for the majority of their back-links and they outrank me on most keywords I target.  If you feel like living dangerously don't mess with them but don't add more.  If you want to be 100% clean and straight edge than have them removed but it may hurt you.  This is sort of a damned if you do and damned if you don't scenario.

Just my .02

-Nick

[MorganChessman]

Hi Alan,

I would remove the links. If you're indeed suffering from a penguin penalty, your site will suffer as long as you have those links. Ask these directories/sites to remove their links to you, or disavow them. Keep a log of your backlinks, the ones you've identified as spammy, and the actions you've taken to clean up your link profile.

I know you're concerned about removing these links and how it will affect your search rankings. As long as you're under a penalty, your site won't do as well in SERPs. Cleaning up your link profile will get you out of the Google doghouse, and help you on your way to better SERP listings. Make sure you're working to get links from highly authoritative websites, and you'll be in a better position.

Good luck!

Morgan