Is Brand name anchor text on a widget Spam
-
We have partial match penalty in WMT on one of our smaller sites.
There are a few (less than 10) instances of widgets linking to us using our Brand Name as the anchor text. Would this fail a reconsideration request do you think?
The widget links without the no-follow attribute.
-
Thank you Tom - I like it - if in doubt, take it out.
We will contact the businesses with the widget and ask them to remove. If we can't get hold of them, do you think disavow will be satisfactory before filing a reconsideration?
Additionally, I have read recently there is an option to remove URLs from within WMT (a section called "optimisation.") But I cannot see this - and wonder if I have misunderstand.. (It looks to me the only section in WMT regarding link removal is an option to remove pages from within your own website from the index?) Is there a section in WMT to remove inbound links from third party websites?
Thanks indeed for your help
-
Hey Simon
So, the anchor text itself won't be seen as spam, as it's a brand name. So there won't be any "anchor-text" trigger here.
Having a follow link in an embeddable widget has been identified in the past as an unnatural link scheme by Google. Of course, that doesn't mean that it doesn't work - in fact it continues to do so for big websites who abuse it on a much bigger scale than just 10 times.
However, that doesn't mean that it would not trigger a penalty for you. If your question is implying that you are filing a reconsideration request because you currently have a penalty, I am quite confident that Google would want you to remove those widget links (and for you to testify that you have done). When it comes to reconsideration requests and link audits - if in doubt, take it out.
I feel any frustrations that you may have as it can often seem to be one rule for the big boys and another for everyone else. But my advice here would be to remove those links, as much as it pains me to say.
Hope this helps.
Tom
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
-
Do You Add City Name & Key Word For Every Page?
Hello, I'm new to SEO but feel I have a decent grasp on it. However, I had a question pertaining to key words and using my city name in it. For instance, if I am using the key word "herniated disc treatment" do I need to put in my city name behind it or does google recognize that I am already in my city area because of my geo tagging and having it listed on the footer of my site? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! -Scott
On-Page Optimization | | slgray0 -
Ideal number of keywords for a text
Hi there! I am trying to figure out what the ideal number of my queries per copy (400 words) would be. My queries are: lg dryer repair (volume search: 851-1k)
On-Page Optimization | | kirupa
lg washer repair (volume search: 851-1k)
lg appliance repair (volume search: 851-1k)
lg repair service (volume search: 501-850)
lg washing machine repair (volume search: 501-850)
lg dishwasher repair (volume search: 201-500)
lg appliance repair (volume search: 851-1k) How many times do you think I might use each of those quires? Is there any algorithm to figure that out? I would appreciate very much any thought you could share with me.0 -
One Main Brand Domain - One EMD which Ranks Better
Hello SEO MOZers! We have one one main ecommerce site and I have just discovered we have an EMD sitting on a .co.uk, for one of our premium product ranges, and it actually outranks our main website. It appears on page one. My question is how do I handle the EMD? I don't want to start building authority to this site, as we are currently developing the main brand site, however I can't ignore that it is ranking. There is relatively little content. There are links on the page (it's only one page) that go through to the product section on the main site. But should I 301 redirect it? What would be your advise? I want to capitalise on any traffic we could benefit from, and ultimately I want the main site to rank better for this product's keywords. Any help would much appreciated.
On-Page Optimization | | CarlaAction1 -
Background Images and ALT text
We pretty much exclusively use background images for our sites. How do I add in alt text? I tried a Google search for this issue and the best answer I could find was "Use the 'title' tag in the containing div", but that was from 2010. Is there a better way to do it? And no, we're not going to switch to using standard images, because background images are way more slick for UX.
On-Page Optimization | | MichaelGregory0 -
Changed Blog Name - Duplicate Title Tags - Wordpress
Hi friends, I changed my blog name url from "german-shepherd-blog" to "dog-blog." Now I am getting a large amount of duplicate title tags. How do I tell google I made the change? Is there something on my site I need to change?
On-Page Optimization | | Joshlaska0 -
Is Googlebot seeing text in my 'Read More' bar and could they even be penalising me for it?
Hi guys. Our web developers have put a read more bar that contains the on page SEO text for our webpage. By default, the read more bar is not expanded and you cannot see the text within. If you click 'Read More', the box expands and the text is shown on the page. I was wondering if googlebot is seeing this text at all - it's really important that it does because it contains all the on-page SEO text. I also wondered if this type of approach is still considered 'white hat'? If it's not, could google be penalising us for it? Thanks,
On-Page Optimization | | CarlDarby0 -
Apache Rewrite to remove page name extensions
If I use Apache Rewrite to remove my file extensions from my pages will Google view those pages as new? Do I have to also 301 redirect from the "page-name.htm" to "page-name"? I'd like to change my pages from html to php to make my life a little easier but I'm worried about losing link juice if I were to 301 on every page. Thanks -Brandon
On-Page Optimization | | TRICORSystems0 -
Why DoFollow & NoFollow Attributes on Same Internal Text Links?
I want to know that, why SEOmoz have defined DoFollow & NoFollow attributes on same internal text links? Please, find out attachment to know more. Left bar have On-Page / Site Optimization link with dofollow attribute but, right section have nofollow. So, why should they have apply on DoFollow or NoFollow attribute on same text links? 6806571615_138b8765fd_b.jpg
On-Page Optimization | | CommercePundit0