Bad Links to New Domain - Do I Disavow?
-
About 2 months ago a new client of mine bought a domain and we built him a nice new site; however, it appears the previous owner of the domain used some spammy SEO tactics. I've had to redirect about 30 pages and now I've found some spammy links. I've only discovered a few of them, but he doesn't have that many links yet so I'm wondering what kind of impact this will have. Is it worth disavowing a half dozen links? The sites are in Chinese and appear to be unmanaged link farms so getting the webmaster to remove them is unlikely. Also wondering what else is lurking out there that I haven't discovered yet...
I suggested to the client we consider a different domain since the site is new, but he's become pretty attached to it. Any ideas?
-
There is really nothing to say about the mistakes made by SMB owners who believe that they've contracted with a great SEO firm - and find out later that is not so true...
Which gets me to the real value of a referral. Look for - always look for an SEO firm that has the 'added value' of offering up a set of referral clients for you to check on yourownself. That is so important in that a real live SEO firm will always be able to supply that list- long or short - but that you can call on the phone or email to the CEO and ask "...hey, the XYZ SEO firm said you're a client...tell me about your experiences with using them...." type of contact.
Without that - on what core values are you really buying an SEO contractor?
Oh - the "recommended" list of companies can also be a great starting place too - use that list to drill down on, visit each of your final candidates from and THEN call/email their list of referral clients....
Anything else I'm afraid is just "burning" your money....sad to say...
-
Thanks JV. The problem is, I actually spent a good bit of money. That is the sad part.
-
Veebs..you should really start a brand new thread so others can join in on this topic...
But as you've explained things - it boils down to you need a brand new SEO who can delive serps that are solid and reliable without using tactics like you've outlined.
Small point but when we get a new client, and we do the same checking you appear to have done, what we find is that with these kind of tell-tale bloody awful SEO we learn that the client readily admits that yes they went to the cheapest SEO package they could find -- reinforcing the old adage that you do "get what you pay for!"
Do a google for "googel disavow" and you'll see they years ago now set up a way for any SMB site owner or SEO to lit the links you want Google to toss in the bin!
-
Not to sabotage the thread but I have a site that gets pretty good traffic and I I have hired an SEO who has been using a lot of directory linking and he swears it works and I feel like it doesn't. I have been dabbling with seo for about 6 years so I know a pretty good amount and know that many of these directory links are not worth having. Just checking some of the anchor texts, I have noticed some don't even have my respective keywords spelled correctly. The site has too many visitors to just start with a new slate. Any suggestions? Lastly, what does disavow mean? Is there a way to go on google and do that?
-
Yes, I think you are right. Thanks for the response.
-
Me? I'd do a full web audit...find all those IBLs....then disavow 'em all....incl the ones you've yet to find when you do!
Best to start with a completely new slate IMHO....
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
-
I am looking for a software to keep track of the back links or link building
Hi Guys, I am very new hear. I just joined. I have a few websites that I need to manage. I am looking for a software that will allow me to manually add the links that I have been able to acquire. It would also be a bonus if it could search for the links to my site and to see if its still active. Because I have a freelancer working a few hours a week on link building and I need to keep track of the links. I am looking for something simple and good. Any suggestions? By the way, I used Raven Tools many years ago, and it had this feature. But since joining Moz, I don't want to be paying for 2 subscriptions. And I don't know if Raven still has this feature. Your suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you. Ryan
Link Building | | RyanNewman0 -
Once you have cleaned up links / disavowed them how to get google to take notice quicker
Once we have contact webmasters and had some links removed / changed from money anchor text to brand anchor text. Or failing that once we have submitted spam URLs to our disavow file, should we just wait and keep and eye on the how quickly google re caches the URLs or should we try and force google to recrawl the urls quicker by submitting them to Google's submit url tool ?
Link Building | | jpeg800 -
Links
Hi, im wondering if links that is not exact anchor links gives any boost for rankings? Example if lets say somebody links to my site http://domain.com/category/article with anchor: domainname or url link.
Link Building | | Rob_I0 -
What is the difference between external followed links and internal followed links.
I have almost 3,000 external links followed and only a tiny amount of internal followed links. My website is doing really badly on google at the mo. I am also an SEO beginner and learning new stuff every day, but am not sure exactly what the difference is! Thanks!
Link Building | | heleni0 -
Paying someone to get me links-bad idea?
By this i dont mean paying for links as such...I mean the people that advertise on websites like Fiverr saying they will get you links to your site from edu/gov domains...or angela/paul style links etc. I'm doing all the proper link building stuff like blogging/guest blogs/articles etc etc but am up against competitiors with thousands of links...Is this a way to 'catch up' or should it be avoided. I'm new to all of this so be gentle lol...grateful for any replies
Link Building | | bridaldesigns0 -
Is there a tool to show you new links to your site?
Are there any tools that show you new backlinks that you have recently gained?
Link Building | | MarieHaynes0 -
Panda Update: Isn't a link still a link?
I was doing some link building and some SEO's said that the Panda update affected many websites. I am going to use eZineArticles.com as my example. EzineArticles was affected by the Panda update and does not show up in the SERPs as much as before. But they still have doFollow Links coming from the articles I am submitting. QUESTION: Regardless if EzineArticles was affected by the Panda Update, isn't a "Follow Link" still a "Follow Link" OR am I completely wasting my time on this devalued website? Edit: Yes I know a PR 0 page is not as valuable as a PR 9 page. I am asking from the standpoint of the affected Panda Update domains overall.
Link Building | | Francisco_Meza0 -
Domain position on site:domain.com search
Hi, After the last week Google algotithm update, my web site index appears on 4th position when I search for site:www.domain.com If I make a simple search for domain or domain.com it ranks on first position. Is this a sign of a penalty ? What would be the cause ? Thanks
Link Building | | tranquilito0