Too many keyword backlinks, too fast - penalty.

How to fix?

[Jessica]

Hey guys, whats the best way to fix the "TOO MANY KEYWORD BACKLINKS IN A VERY SHORT TIME" penalty?

the site used to be doing good at first, but then went to -250, -600 for the overoptimized keywords.

Should i take the site offline for some time to reset the rankings? Or dilute the incoming backlinks with other keywords?

[tedster]

I don't know that there's a 100% answer here - by asking the question you have shown that you control most of these backlinks, and that's a situation Google that tries to detect. By making more big changes, you tip your hand further, and frequency of change is an algo factor.

Maybe start by changing SOME backlinks, removing SOME others, and turning down any on-site optimization for the affected phrases - especially the heavy use in both anchor text and alt attributes.

[texasville]

I would really look hard at the rest of the site for other factors that could be driving it down. Over optimization could be a problem. I have seen too many instances where there are distinct causes of fast inbound links. Google doesn't really seem to always penalize for that. IMHO.
Are all your links pointed at www. example.com or do they spread across to all pages of the site?

[Jessica]

all backlinks point to the index page, and they are not mine.

it's a combination of bought links and trades.

[Bewenched]

Ahhh .. yet again another way to have a competitor mess with your rankings. Or better yet. What if google just found all those links that had been there all along?

[Miamacs]

...

I have a feeling that this site isn't as clean / legit as one'd hope. ( prove me wrong )

What's the theme/sector?
Are there any other problems?