Can this really be true - negative SEO and extortion

[steerpikegg]

I've just been reading a post over on the Google forum where someone is claiming to have been attacked via a negative SEO campaign.

I sincerely hope this is not true - just reading it makes me feel sick.

[google.com...]

[aristotle]

I tried to read it but still don't understand what this "attacker" did that could have caused the complainer's website to lose rankings. Can someone please explain how this "negative SEO campaign" was carried out.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

I tried to read it but couldn't shake the feeling it was likely just a tempter tantrum posted by a 14 year old. The timeline is wrong. 'Last Night THIS HAPPENED GOOGLE!' yet the FBI and police and lawyers have already provided reports? Not likely.

Hey, if I'm wrong I want to know more too but I doubt Google will even acknowledge the comments, which is something they may very well do if they find any sign of foul play.

[mrguy]

Order a bunch of links from some off shore company and target only a specific keyword and watch your competition go poof.

This has been going on for a while.

Of course there are those that will say Google is to smart for that and I just say yes, keep smelling the roses to.

[tangor]

I haven't found concrete evidence a third party can deliberately tank another site. Concrete. Could it happen? Dunno... all those Hollowood (sic) movies indicates all kinds of mayhem can be done. :)

Not likely, of course, but we don't have absolute proof it CANNOT occur... hence these recurring stories.

[Planet13]

Not likely, of course, but we don't have absolute proof it CANNOT occur... hence these recurring stories.

I agree that there is no hard evidence (I have been looking for it for a while now, since I am deathly afraid of an over optimization penalty - not that I am doing anything wrong, google, in case you happen to be reading this thread).

But I check into the warrior forums out there from time to time and you do see posts by people wondering why their sites were eviscerated after doing an xrummer blast.

It ain't really very conclusive. If they are the type of webmasters to take shortcuts by using xrummer, then probably they are taking lots of other shortcuts, too, and maybe it was the other shortcuts that caught up with them?

[Montresor]

Its true.

[forbes.com...]

Jason Duke [twitter.com], another practitioner of negative SEO based in London, is similarly tight-lipped about his deals, as well as the specific methods he uses for reducing a site's ranking in search results. "We don't talk loudly about our clients," he says. "Especially the ones we do morally questionable things for."

[CainIV]

Most people count on what Google says in regards to this topic, but very few would want to test an Xrumer blast against their or their client site.

This speaks alot about people's trust in what Google has to say about how they treat websites and competitors.

Any takers

:)

[Beachboy]

Have a backup website in place, ranked but "detuned" and waiting for the moment your main site gets victimized.

[tedster]

If it happens to you (and it is becoming less common, in my view) keep your wits. If you document what is happening and submit a balanced Reconsideration Request that disavows any involvement in the activity, you can reverse the negative effects. I know of several successful cases.

The best defense is to build a solid "brand" yourself, including the kind of solid backlink profile that is free of any manipulative garbage.

[tangor]

It is worth it?

Our Service:

We Will Blast Your Site Using Xrumer To Multiple Platforms with with an SEO Optimised Post targeting your chosen keywords, which will increase your Search Engine Rank Positions & provide an Instant Traffic Increase.

Cost:
From Just $

Gotta ask (and this falls into PAID links) once again is it worth it?

[almighty monkey]

Google Bowling is hardly a new trick. In Goog's defense, its not as common as it used to be.

Furthering what Tedster rightly said, some other things you can do to mitigate it is to enhance your 'trustrank'.

Onsite, some of these signs would be things like a business phone number, address, privacy policy, clear contact instructions etc.

Offsite, this will be citations (directory listings with your full address are real low hanging fruit in this regard) and a varied and legitimate whitehat backlink profile. I've a sneaking suspicion that registration on Google Places will also help, although this is based on nothing more than it making sense to me.

The higher your trust rank and your brand authority, the more likely it is Goog will simply dismiss bowling attempts than penalise you for them. And if they don't dismiss all of them, you may actually see a rankings boost from them.

Also, as an aside, anyone who Google Bowls is a terrible, terrible human being who deserves bad things to happen to them. It's one thing to win a market because you have the best product and have done the best job of making it visible to a wide audiance. Its quite another to win a market because you've smashed up everyone elses stall.

[Planet13]

It would obviously be much better for everybody involved if GWT showed EVERY inbound link and allowed you to disavow links you thought were maliscious.