How to come out of a manual ban?

[Jessica]

So after submiting a reconsideration request asking why our index page wasn't coming up for any searches, google sent an email reply that they detected a problem with incomig smam links - they call bought links or it participating in link schemes. They showed some examples of incoming links (i have no idea who placed them).

I did have some link trades with my our sites, but never did buy any links. Maybe someone spammed our website because it was doing very good for a very long time?

Anyway, how do I get out of this ban?

[tedster]

(i have no idea who placed them)

You've got to do some extreme due diligence to discover if anyone in the organization placed these links. One purpose would be to discover everything they did, not just the examples Google fed back to you.

Then, you undo everything you possibly can and report your actions back to Google in another Reconsideration Request - including whatever internal education and/or changes you've made. Tell them you are completely willing to have the value of any such links wiped out.

Even then, you'll probably spend a bit more time in the penalty box - how long would depend on how severe the violation looks to Google.

-----

And if you can't find anyone who actually bought links, or entered into link schemes of some other kind (link rings or whatever), then report your efforts and that result. Disavow any connection to those backlinks, again telling Google your are 100% willing to see the effect of those links reset to zero.

[tedster]

I did have some link trades with my our sites

I'd also review every outbound link on the site and make sure none of them are now pointing to sites that are in a bad neighborhood, participating in any kind of linking scheme, etc.

A few reciprocal links don't usually cause a penalty - they can even help just a little bit - but it does depend very much on the specific sites involved.

[goodroi]

Google wants to know that if they allow you back in there will no future trouble. Make sure to convey the internal steps you are taking to avoid this.

If the paid links are pointing to internal pages (and you have no control over the links) consider changing the urls and making the links go to a 410. Its one way to show you really don't want these links but it might not be the best way for your site.

Telling Google it was external sabotage (even if it is the truth) might not make Google feel comfortable enough to let you back in since spammers would lie and say the same thing.

[martinacastro]

@Jessica seems interesting that Google spam team told you that. How many Reconsiderations you sent?

Try to contact those sites owner even the hosting providers. Not only use emails, phone the hosting providers telling about that issue.

Good luck

[mrguy]

So hold the boat! All I have to do is buy a bunch of cheap spam links and point them at my compititor and they will get the ban hammer!

Thank you Google,, I've been looking for a way of knocking those pesky sites beating mine off of of their lofty perch. ;)

[tedster]

@mrguy - many have tried and few have succeeded at that game. I'm not saying it can't happen, but I am saying it's not as simplistic as you make it sound.

[Jessica]

Guys, how do I setup these redirect errors in .htaccess

- 410

if I want to exclude http://www.example.com/content-folder/


?

[edited by: tedster at 5:16 pm (utc) on Dec 1, 2011]
[edit reason] display the example url [/edit]

[goodroi]

You might find this old thread on 410 urls helpful:
[webmasterworld.com...]

[Jessica]

Ok, so I spent a day emailing some spam sites to remove my link. Then replied to googles email telling them what i'v done and asking to re-consider.

Here's their reply:

"Thank you for your quick response back. We understand that perhaps not every link can be cleaned up or is out of your control, but we do need to see a substantial effort to remove the links, which should result in a decrease in the number of bad links that we see.

Once you are confident that you have done everything you can to remove these links, please reply to this email with the details of your clean-up effort so we can re-evaluate the site as a whole."


HOW CAN I REMOVE THOSE SPAM LINKS IF I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE THEY ARE?

I do a search on google for link:mysite.com and only 19 results return

[jabas]

You will get more links with Open site explorer, Yahoo recently closed Site Explorer but I think it's still available in the bing webmaster tools. You might want to try both of them..

[affiliation]

@ mrguy

So hold the boat! All I have to do is buy a bunch of cheap spam links and point them at my compititor and they will get the ban hammer!

I suspect this happened to me at the start of the year, my links went from 4,000 to more than 100,000 in a short period. A penality followed and a competitor moved into my place, announcing they were now specialising in my product, although they have since moved down the results a little.

Nothing I could do about it, apart from spending a lot of money with no guarantee of results. I am still sitting with a penality 10 months on.

I was already in the coveted #1 position, so why would I have needed to grow my links from a steady 3 to 4 years with 4,000 links to more than 100,000, Google should be able to see this.

I feel sory for you Jessica, but feel you may be wasting your time, but it would be great to hear if you get any success.

[enigma1]

few have succeeded at that game

Still that's very worrying especially if you rule out server hijacks and code exploits. Do you have any references about it?

[tedster]

No published references, no. It's the kind of thing you hear discussed at conferences in those highly valuable after-hours networking events and parties.