Removing the backlink but not the page

[serenoo]

I have been hit by Penguin. I purchased about 5 links on other websites.
Those links point to some internal pages of mine and on 25 Apr I lost traffic just on those pages.
Now I asked to all the sellers to remove the pages. On one of such websites the webmaster
does not want to remove the page (written by me on his website) with my backlink.
He removed the backlink, but not the page because the text I wrote bring him some visitors.
My question is:
Is it enough removing only the backlink? Or do I have to remove completely the external page?

[Andy Langton]

Text without a backlink should theoretically be enough to remove any bad signals caused by the page. But Google has a long memory, so you could be in for a long wait before the association disappears. To be blunt, if you offered another site content, and they want to keep it, I would say that's up to them!

If you're asking whether or not this will be enough to fix your ranking problems, then I would recommend you head over to the "Cleaning your backlinks" thread: [webmasterworld.com...]

[Planet13]

@ serenoo

I have been hit by Penguin. I purchased about 5 links on other websites.

Five is a VERY small number of backlinks. Are you CERTAIN that there were no other links? Were they only from article marketing?

How well did you rank BEFORE you created those links?

How well did you rank AFTER you created those links?

How did you rank once Penguin hit?

How competitive is the keyword you were targeting?

[serenoo]

I purchased 5 article marketing backlinks (they link to my 5 internal pages), and 3 or 4 directory backlinks. But I hope that goguides and others will not hurt me. I will try removing such article backlinks and if it will not work I will remove the directory links.

BEFORE:
I was in top page for those 5 kewyords
AFTER
No big change, just about one position
PENGUIN HIT:
third page for those 5 keywords or disappeared
COMPETITIVE:
my market is Italy, so no competitive like USA, but my keyords are about gambling.

CURIOSITY
I am still first for widget keyword1 keyword2, but penguinized for keyword1 keyword2 and the anchor of the purchased backlink is keyword1 keyword2. I'd say Penguin acted like a surgeon in my case.

[Planet13]

I'd say Penguin acted like a surgeon in my case.

Yes, possibly.

How do you rank for the plural versions of those words (if they have a plural version)?

For one page, I stopped ranking for the plural version, but it still ranks for the singular version.

Go figure. They are just different by one letter (an s at the end).

For the plural version, our home page now ranks instead AT THE SAME PLACE as the internal page used to rank.

Do you have lots of INTERNAL links with the same anchor text pointing to those pages?

[serenoo]

There is no plural version in my keywords.
No I do not have many internal links to those pages. I ranked very good before Penguin with a few internal links. Let's say I have 4 or 5 internal pages that link to www.example.com/widget/kewyord1-keyword2/
Hope to come back, by removing such overoptimazed external pages.