How to get rid of spam backlinks

How to get rid of spam backlinks that I didnt create

[Joshmc]

Recently my site has gathered a lot of spam backlinks when I look a the backlink profile on open site explorer. I do not pay for links or anything black hat, and do not want my site to be seen as one that pays or generates spam links to it. Is there a way to get bad links taken out of the backlink profile. I only ask cause there is a good amount and I want to take action before there is a penalty. Thank you!

[wheel]

We've all got a good amount. Scrapers and the like, you'll get backlinks from all manner of garbage sites over time.

Ignore them, they shouldn't hurt you. It's part of a natural backlink profile.

If you want them gone, you'll have to contact the site owners and start begging. Since many of the sites will probably be sites that scrape and publish automatically, I would expect you will have little to no success in asking for a link removal.

[Joshmc]

@wheel Thank you for this information, that makes me feel a lot better now!

[Hoople]

If they're a small portion of your link profile I agree with wheel. Having more than a minor portion in spammy sites might affect your site reputation with Google. ie you are in a 'bad neighborhood'.

See [google.com ] From that page's 'Quality guidelines - basic principles' subsection: (my emphasis below)

Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.

If the spam links are in the majority consider doing:

1) Send out 'take down the link' notices to the sites. Be happy if more than 20% comply.
2) Change some page filenames (to break link) if you can easily recreate a cleaner link profile.
3) Go out and get some good high quality links from authority sites and peers in your niche to effect a lower spam percentage.

There was a post here recently about these scraper sites links contributing to a slight uplift in traffic and serp performance. 2 threads with member's perspectives on the topic [webmasterworld.com ] and [webmasterworld.com ] both about inbound links from less than reputable locations and the effects.

[Joshmc]

@Hoople Thank you for all of the information, I will look into your suggestions more in depth! They do make up a more then minor amount of my links so I may need to try some of these tactics.