This week’s Ask an SEO question comes from Bethel’s Marlin, who asks:
“I paid over $5,000 for SEO link building.
At first, traffic increased.
However, we lost rankings for these keywords and our traffic disappeared! what happened? “
Marin, without seeing your backlink profile, I suspect your rankings have dropped because Google has flagged new links as unnatural.
In other words, those low quality link.
As you mentioned, it’s not uncommon to see a boost at first and then a drop.
For example, a link builder might start off with good, relevant links, but then move on to lower quality links as the link opportunities dwindle.
Google provides examples of “unnatural links” in its guidelines, including:
- Bookmark website links.
- Low-quality catalogs.
- Forum comments with optimized links.
- Keyword-rich anchor text in articles and press releases published on sites other than your own.
You can see the full list here: link scheme.
Google generally ignores these types of low-quality or spammy links.
John Mueller confirmed this in this Twitter thread in January 2022:
You should ignore it. Some tools make incorrect assumptions about Google.
— 🦙 johnmu.xml (personal) 🦙 (@JohnMu) January 6, 2022
Rewind a few months to a October 2021 SEO Office Hours When Mueller was asked:
“Is Penguin Penalty still relevant, or are ranking algorithms more or less ignoring relevance/spam/toxic backlinks these days?”
His answer sheds further light on what can happen to your site.
Mueller explained that Google generally recognizes certain problems (i.e. spam links) and tries to ignore it, similar to a January 2022 tweet.
However, he went on to say:
“If we see a very strong pattern there, then our algorithms might say that we do lose trust in this site, and at the moment based on the bigger picture on the web, we almost need to be more understanding of what the site is about And be conservative when it comes to ranking it in search results.
Then you’ll see that the visibility there has decreased. “
So what are you doing now?
What to do when your rankings drop due to low-quality links
1. Check manual operation
This is the first thing I do.
you need to see if there is Manual operation in google search console.
If someone at Google manually reviews your site and finds that your site violates Google’s webmaster quality guidelines, you’ll face manual action.
That means Google will take steps to remove what they consider to be spam from search results.
The message will indicate a problem and you will need to move quickly to correct it.
To find out if you have manual action, go to Google Search Console > Safe and manual operation > Manual operation to check.
If you don’t see manual actions in Google Search Console, that doesn’t mean you don’t have a problem.
you may still be affected Google’s algorithm And the link in question needs to be corrected.
This leads me to my next point.
2. Remove low-quality links
If you receive manual action for unnatural links, please review Google’s recommended steps; see Unnatural links to your site suggest actions.
If you determine that your site’s rankings are affected by bad links (whether you do it manually or suspect an algorithmic influence), your best course of action is to physically remove the link from the relevant site.
You will need to contact these sites to remove the link.
It’s a tedious process, and most of the time, other sites ignore your request.
If you are unable to remove these links, please use Google’s rejection tool.
Basically, if these links seem to be harming your site, go ahead and try to clean them up, including denying them.
However, be very careful when using the rejection tool.
I see people denying the site’s authoritative and useful links.
Check out Google’s warning:
“If used incorrectly, this feature can hurt your site’s performance in Google search results.
We recommend that you only disavow backlinks if you think there are a lot of spam, artificial, or low-quality links pointing to your site, and you’re confident that these links are causing you problems. “
At this point, you may be wondering how to know if a link should be removed.
Here is a comprehensive guide to reviewing and identifying problematic backlinks: Too Many Links: Rejection and Cleanup Policy.
As I already mentioned, this is a tedious but necessary process if low-quality links are affecting your rankings.
Once you’ve cleaned up everything, turn your attention to getting high-quality, relevant links.
3. Focus on high-quality, relevant links
There are many ways to get good links to your website.
Some strategies are easier than others, such as visiting sites that already mention your business but haven’t linked (i.e. unlinked brand mentions) or recovering lost backlinks.
Other strategies are more complex and time-consuming, such as creating tools or guides, but they may be worthwhile.
There are many creative and non-spam ways to attract links.
If you haven’t, I suggest you check it out Link Building Guidelines for Search Engine Journals.
It’s not an easy process, Marlin, but follow these recommended steps to regain your traffic and rankings.
More resources:
Featured Image: Mashup Studio/Shutterstock
