Is deleting ALL low quality links to my site safe?

[Oimachi2]

I have a website that ranked well for over a decade, it wasn't hit by the first penguin, but I believe they it it now.

I have links on article directories, should I simply delete them all?

Most are bad quality like sooperarticles and amazines, I still have access to most of them.

I didn't do it before because I was afraid it might hurt, if it's not broken don't fix it...

But since Google just dropped me from top 1-5 too 10-20, should I do that?

[superclown2]

Think about it. If they are all deleted at once it screams out that they are all under your control.

That is not a message you want to send out. I have no doubt that Google have mechanisms in place to detect it.

[FranticFish]

You could have dropped because those links were being counted and aren't any more; or

You could have dropped because those links come from sites that lost power so the links are still counted but for less.

You could have dropped because those links were previously ignored/neutral but are now a black mark / manipulation flag.

You could have dropped because others in your result set gained in power.

If you monitor the SERPs you're in and are aware of the link profiles of your competitors then you can make more educated guesses as to what might have happened.

I have one experience within the last year of removing old crap links (SEO directories from 2003/4), and my experience was that ultimately this helps. But it takes time and you need new links that Google perceives as higher quality too. Do it right and you come back stronger eventually, but it wasn't a quick fix for me.

[tangor]

All is in flux, the net (and what G is looking for) changes constantly. However, there are no signposts, guides, etc. so figuring out "what went wrong" can be a head-banger.

Delete 1 (one) undesired link a week from here on out. And also replace with a higher quality link (if possible). In any case, it will not show immediate results, though over time things CAN change.