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
-
Using one domain for email and another domain for your website, but redirects...
We are rebranding and our new name is fairly lengthy. We own all main domain versions of our brand name - .com, .new and .org - There is a very high search volume for the new brand name as it is a merger of 2 popular existing brands so want to take advantage of that and use our full name within our website domain name. However, since the name is a little long as mentioned - 25 characters - we also own the 3 character acronym of the new brand so we are debating on using the acronym for our new email addresses. ie name@abc.com so it is user friendly. We would obviously redirect the acronym email domain to point to the longer website domain. Are there any negative SEO effects if we do that? Use the longer domain for the website and shorter acronym for our email? Thank you
Content Development | | shpala1 -
Using different sections from all over your site to compile a blog post, bad idea or ok to do?
I have a large site that sells various products, I have been on a kick creating new content relating to the many aspects of upkeep with these products after purchase, I wanted to create a blog post combining all the info for the group of products, but will be reusing some of the FAQs and even tips, since I'm more or less relocating the info. Since this blog post is using many different sources on our site, using a rel=canonical isn't possible. Is there anything I should watch out for, Will rewording / phrasing here and there be enough or should I steer clear of this as a whole?
Content Development | | Deacyde0 -
Translated text: should I use canonical link?
Hello everybody, I'm writing an article in Danish, which I have translated into English on a Danish blog. But I'm not sure if I have to use the canonical link from the English version to the Danish, or whether I should just publish both without using canonical link. What is your recommendation for this? Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks & regards, Jonathan
Content Development | | JoLinda910 -
Does using Articlebase articles on your site push your rank down?
Hello All, I launched a website (www.hrpayrollsystems.net) last year. I'm very new to the SEO world so I'm still seeing what works and what doesn't. We recently republished some articles from articlebase.com that I think may have hurt us in SEO. Does Google see our site as having duplicate content and then penalize us? Our top keyword isn't even ranking anymore when I put it in the sites that tell you where you show up. Help!
Content Development | | HRISGuy0 -
I deleted an EzineArticle to reuse somewhere more useful, but...
I deleted an EzineArticle to reuse somewhere more useful, but now I find it has been copied (and links to competitors added). Anyway, that's not really the main point. What I am wondering is, as they have been reproduced 2 or 3 times, are they any use to me at all, or would they just be seen as duplicate content. They were good articles too. Much too good for an article directory.....
Content Development | | Cornwall0 -
Duplicate external links?
I have been guest posting at a variety of reputable blogs in my niche. I generally write once or twice a month and have a bio link with a link to my blog. I'm wondering if multiple links from the same domain (but different pages) helps, or if there are some diminishing returns here. Should I only be writing one post for them? Of course, there are other non-SEO benefits too, because these are reputable sites. But I'm wondering how this helps my SEO? Thanks in advance!
Content Development | | JodiFTM0 -
Too many links on page?
Hello, Can my rankings suffer if some of my inner pages have too many links/anchor text? Or would link juice just stop being passed after X amount of links? I have content on these inner pages, and it all flows. Thanks!
Content Development | | TP_Marketing0 -
Separating words in URLS using hyphens vs. "no separator"
Does it matter if I use hyphens in URL versus. "no separation". Ex www.mysite.com/someproducts or
Content Development | | clolsen
www.mysite.com/SomeProducts vs.
www.mysite.com/some-products The last is perhaps more readable by humans, but does it make any SEO difference using one or the other?1