Large increase in Inbound Links seems to have caused a problem

[greenlandcs]

My website has been up for many years. But for the first time, my web positions sunk dramatically since last week. Almost all popular keywords dropped from top 5 to nowhere now in the SERP. Web pages are still being indexed by Google. They simply don't rank well at all.

I suspect it is due to a recent link building campaign, which added dramatically much more backlinks than before. Many of these links are bought as site-wide text link ads with identical anchor text. This is the first time we buy text link ads and we are frustrated to see the result.

I think the website is now being sandboxed by Google because of the sudden increase of backlinks in a short time. Does anyone have the same experience before? What should I do? How long does it take to recover?

[MLHmptn]

25-50-100...at most! And once you start try to keep the link growth consistent every month. Natural link growth..not 100's or 1000's. And to the original poster. DO not 301! Wait it out and it will pay its dividends as long as those linking to you are not part of a spammy neighborhood.

Best of luck!

[edited by: MLHmptn at 9:09 am (utc) on Jan. 29, 2007]