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My understanding is that you've now corrected your 'violation' (although you weren't in control of it) and therefore you can submit a reconsideration request. Google is unlikely to decline your reconsideration request based on the fact it might happen again, especially if it's your first warning.

I wouldn't build backlinks to just one set anchor term, this isn't good in modern SEO as it doesn't look natural. That said, yes you should try and focus on the long tail as you will almost certainly rank easier and building back links to your pages will still have a positive effect on ranking for other terms.

Use a range of anchor terms and a mix of follow/nofollow.

As a side note, I'd say you're much more likely to get clicks onto your website for the long tail term too as people will actually be looking for discount codes rather than the ASOS website.

Not the most helpful answer, but it's the best anyone can probably give at the same time...the truth is, no-one really knows an exact answer. Some people report it taking a few weeks, some a few months; it just varies and can also be affected by algorithmic penalties too.

It's important to note that with these algorithmic penalties you won't be informed about them, so if there has been any poor SEO methods used in the past then it's probably worth correcting ASAP.

Have you ever purchased links, participated in link schemes or used an SEO company? You have over 62,000 links from only 235 domains, this looks suspect to me and it probably does to Google too.

If I was you, I'd track down all of the bad links that point to your website - Moz's Open Site Explorer is a good start to find these - and use Google's disavow tool to get rid of them. If you log into Webmaster Tools do you have any warnings/penalties in there?

You may be looking at a few months before your site starts to recoup but these are the steps I'd take. I'd be more than happy to discuss in further detail if you wish to message me or contact me on social media.

Thanks! Stability and success go hand-in-hand. It's all about the long-term goal.

You're correct with that finding - 33% of people will only click a link in Google's top three organic results.

What William has said is spot on. I'd like to add something that I tell my clients, which is if they expect results tomorrow then don't expect to have results next year.

It is vital to build up a foundation of high quality content with an interested audience, this is the key to modern day SEO. Linkbacks need to look natural, not paid for, software generated or anything similar. Google will be able to tell when you have an unnatural influx of links and they will penalise your site for it. You might see some instant results, but you can be sure they won't be long lasting. Explain to your client that it's vital to only use futureproof techniques.

1. The amount of time can and will vary from site-to-site. Using Google's disavow tool will have an effect on the links being removed over a short, staggered period of time (they may then be recrawled by Google's spiders) but the amount of time taken for the effect of the removal of these links to have an impact on your site can take a different amount of time from site to site. Usually, things will start to pick up slightly after a few weeks but it may take a few months to see the results completely kick in.

2. I'm sure that despite having your penalty removed, removing extra low quality links will have a positive impact on your site in the future. This may not be anything noticeable immediately, but it will certainly do no harm to remove or disavow extra low quality links.