Can inbound links bomb u - dropped from page1 to page 11

[rankin_gav]

Hi,

I'm trying to find out if other people have been indexed by these DIY makeshift link directories like <snip> and the like. They have links all over the place on anything and everything.

I remember reading that google will not penalise a site from it's inbound links because you can't help who links to you. But unrelated outbound links to low PR sites will effect you because you have control over this.

I just wanted to confirm this, the reason being is I've acquired links from a number of link type directories without asking me or telling me. These link directories show up in my inbound links. There's even one that's quite suspect because the link can't be found and it's a competitior showing no links. I've got about 4-5 of these link directories linking to me.

I don't know what they are trying to achive - I wondered if anyone else has found this.

[edited by: martinibuster at 1:25 am (utc) on Feb. 21, 2005]
[edit reason] Please, no urls or names of specific websites. Thanks. [/edit]

[wheel]

Free links! Good work :).

I've got a site that does well that a lot of those scraper sites are linking to. Worst case it has zero impact. As you mentioned, Google can't really penalize you for this they can only discount the value.

If you're rankings have dropped, you might try searching here for threads on redirects and duplicate content.

[jaffstar]

When did this happen? With the latest update?

[rankin_gav]

I've only noticed them recently but then I've only looked more closely at my inbound links when I lost my ranking.

It might as you say devalue my site as this scrapper sites at not in the same subject area as all my other links.

[graywolf]

How diverse is your inbound anchor text and sorrounding text?

[rankin_gav]

Hi Graywolf

I must admit my inbound anchor text is not very diverse as I plumbed for just one keyword phrase for a number of pages. These pages all have solid content though and the site has a PR of 4.

Do you think that might raise alarms for googles filtering technique.

It was fine like that for around 1 year. Maybe the recent blogging techniques some web spammers are using have caused google to take action and catcher any unusual link repetition.

[graywolf]

I must admit my inbound anchor text is not very diverse

Try mixing it up a lot not only the anchor text but the surrounding text as well.

[jaffstar]

Try mixing it up a lot not only the anchor text but the surrounding text as well.

What if your anchor text is your domain name?

[graywolf]

find some synonyms for your keywords, usability issues aside, a few "click here" links helps to keep thing looking "natural".

[rankin_gav]

Thanks,

I've mixed things up a bit and not overused my specific keywords, which are not in the URL, I will wait to see if it improves matters.

thanks for the advice