Blackhat & Negative SEO Recovery

How to Submit a Reconsideration Request for manual Panalties Through Google Webmaster Tools.

Screenshot of page1.me messages received from Google about problems caused by BlackHat SEO attacks on our website.

If you are not sure if you are dealing with negative SEO, check any messages you may have received from Google, within your Google Webmaster tools portal. This is the only way you will know if you have fallen victim to blackhat SEO attacks. Because we are in the industry of reputation management, Page1.me is a natural target for these negative SEO attacks, launched by competitors who cannot compete on quality.

Unfortunately, there are times when  malicious competitors resort to illicit tactics in order to win. One such tactic is bombarding a competitor site with spammy links, causing a Google penalty– the kind of penalty that leaves a website with virtually no visibility on the web, due to lost rankings. Unfortunately, there are companies that actually specialize in negative SEO.

This is how you can check if your site has toxic backlinks. 

If you found your site has spammy backlinks, you need to be proactive about protecting your site, and disavowing links that could be toxic. Based upon the feedback that we receive from Google, primarily sample links provided when a reconsideration request is first denied, we have developed the following link classifications and related actions:

• Links not Found: No link could be located on the page. Disavow. An argument could be made that if the link isn’t there, there’s no need to disavow it. My view is that it’s better to be safe than sorry and prevent damage from a spam link that might somehow reappear.
• Page Offline: Links on pages that are no longer on the web. Disavow using the same rationale as above.
• SPAM TLDs: This one has geographic implications, but the most common one that we come across is .ru. It’s very rare that an English website would naturally attract massive numbers of links from Russia. Disavow
• Scrapers: Links on spam sites that copy their content from other websites. Disavow
• Spam Pages: Links on pages with PPC (Pornography, Pills, Casinos), spam blog comments, spam forum signatures, or otherwise unrelated or spammy. Disavow
• Domain 0, G: As long as Google keeps updating it, we’re using PageRank as an audit metric. If a link is on a gray bar page and the domain is PR0, unless the domain is new and related. Disavow
• Exact Match Anchor Text Manipulative: Exact match anchor text links built for the purpose of manipulating PageRank. These are the links that normally cause the biggest problems. If Spammy, disavow.
• Penalized Domains: Links pointing to your site that reside on a website that has been penalized algorithmically or manually. Disavow
• Link Network: Multiple links pointing to your site from websites that are part of a link network. Disavow
• Partner Sites: If you have a network of websites that are related, unique, and interlinked, use a nofollow attribute to avoid the appearance of a doorway page or link manipulation. Keep, once nofollowed. If you have multiple websites in the same niche, all selling the same products, pick the best and retire the rest.
• Social Media links: Most are nofollowed. Keep.
• Nofollow Links: Keep.
• Natural, organic links: Keep.

If you have been a victim of negative SEO or if you want to prevent your website from falling victim to negative SEO, then you are welcome to use the strategies outlined in an attempt to have Google reconsider the penalties they may have placed on your website, through Google Webmaster tools. If you do not have the time, or the expertise in-house contact us, today. We have several analysts who specialize in preparing and submitting reconsideration requests to Google using the strategies outlined above.

Thanks to Chuck Price for his insight