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Fighting Negative SEO & Google Bowling

by Jim on May 16, 2012

Scared of a competitor attempting to torpedo your site with links in the wake of Google's Penguin update?

While Google says they're almost certain it can't be done, it can't hurt to be overly prepared when your rankings are at stake. Today we'll take a look at what you can do to fight negative SEO attempts and how to stay informed on the issues your site may face.

Avoid cheap SEO like the plague

Just like everything else in life, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. If your SEO provider is charging peanuts for their services then you should be keeping a very close eye on what they’re actually doing if they’re doing anything at all as it may end up costing you a lot more than what you paid. SEO companies that used dubious ranking techniques are dropping like flies in the wake of Google’s Penguin update. Make sure you know what your SEO provider is doing to your site and avoid any who still use cheap & spammy backlink techniques to avoid going down with them.

Keep an eye on Google Webmaster Tools

Google Webmaster Tools is your best defense against negative SEO. Keep track of where your links are coming from and what the linking pages look like to ensure that your website isn’t inundated by a slew of spammy backlinks. If you’re worried about negative SEO, Google Webmaster Tools gives you everything you need to keep up to date on what’s happening with your backlink portfolio allowing you to take action with spammy backlinks proactively rather than reactively removing after a penalty is applied.

Be vigilant in getting links removed

Let’s say hypothetically that your site has been targeted with negative SEO and slipped past Google’s defenses. The first thing you need to do is to find the offending links, get in contact the webmaster of the site that the link is on and request to have the link removed. You may not get them all, but if Google sees the links dropping off your portfolio you should start seeing improvements. But if you can’t find any dodgy links and don’t believe your site should have been hit by Penguin then you’re able to submit a reconsideration request to Google. Use this only as a last resort if you can’t find any evidence of spammy backlinks pointing to your site.

Focus your SEO on building authority

Do you think a couple thousand bought backlinks would hurt the likes of big brands like Coca Cola? Focusing on building quality links from prominent websites like these big brands will bolster your domain authority and help protect you from most negative SEO tactics. Think of building domain authority like generating press coverage. Go out and guest blog, interview and promote your heart out to websites that matter in return for a very valuable link back to your site.

Still having trouble with Google's Penguin? Send us an email at AskJim@stewartmedia.com.au for free advice on how to move forward with your rankings intact!

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Google Penguin Fixes & FAQ

by Jim on May 9, 2012

How To Remove Backlinks

That depends on how you got them. Visit the site where you bought the links from and see if there’s a way to take your links down. If there’s a cost incurred to remove backlinks, wearing it would be a good move to ensure your site doesn’t get hit or so your rankings don’t slide further.

How To Check Links To Your Site

Checking your backlink portfolio is as easy as logging into Google’s free Webmaster Tools service. Under ‘Traffic’ in the sidebar is a ‘Links to Your Site’ link that will show you all the links currently pointing to your site.

Things you should be looking for in the Penguin aftermath include any links coming from a domain containing the words links, SEO or submit in the URL or a lot of links from the same URL that don’t look natural compared to the rest of your backlink portfolio. These links may be from a long lost era but unfortunately, Google remembers everything.

Paid services are also available such as Majestic SEO that can often find more links faster than Google WMT. It’s a premium service at a premium cost however so for most webmasters WMT should be sufficient.

How to Recover Rankings Post-Penguin

One school of thought is that Penguin might not be an actual ‘penalty’ in the same way Google’s Panda content farm update was. With Penguin we’re not seeing as much deindexation from Google, meaning sites that were hit by Penguin are still in Google’s index, but don’t rank anywhere near as well anymore.

It looks like Google is simply degrading the value of these spammy backlinks rather than deindexing pages entirely, meaning a website’s ranking will experience the same ranking drop without the pain of Google’s ban hammer.

The upside (kinda) of this is that there may be a way to get your rankings back on their feet. The key is to avoid the same types of webspam that got your site hit by Google in the first place. Stop looking for ways to build ‘natural looking’ spam links and start actually building natural links. Treat your backlink portfolio the same way you would treat your social media profiles and remember that if you have to think about it too much, it’s probably not a good idea.

Matt Cutts Penguin

Should My Links Be Do Follow?

If your backlinks all have rel=”dofollow” in them then you might be signaling to Google that your links are unnatural and set up for spammy behavior. Simply ensure that the links pointing to your site don’t have rel=”dofollow” tags to be on the safe side with this one.

Why Does Google Webmaster Tools Show the Wrong Rankings?

Many people confuse WMT’s ‘Queries’ section as a tool to see current rankings when in fact it displays averages of your ranking for the time period you set. If yesterday you ranked at number one and today you’re ranking at number 10, you’ll get an averaged position that will most likely be different from your current rankings.

This tool can be helpful in seeing your ranking position in the grand scheme of things but if you’re after tracking and up-to-date take a look at the many different keyword tracking software available on the market such as Web CEO.

But I Got Hit By Penguin Without Even Getting a Webmaster Tools Email. What Gives?

Not everybody got the warning back in March despite our best efforts. We’re not sure what gives but we’ve got a word in with Google for clarification and will update here when they reply.

Can A Competitor Hurt My Rankings By Buying Links to My Site?

Thankfully, no.

In the industry we call this Google Bowling, which was rife in the wild west of Google’s early days. Save your worries however (or your cash if you’re that evil) as Google has come out and said they’ve got that covered.

If we’ve thought about it you’d be crazy to think Google hadn’t. Just take a look at this search integrity meeting Google put out a few months back where the search team debates rolling out very minimal changes in excruciating detail. If Penguin allowed Google Bowling to make a resurgence, Google would never have rolled out the update.

Got any more questions? We’d love to help!

Leave us a comment below or send us an email to AskJim@stewartmedia.com.au if you’d prefer to ask in private!

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Top 3 signs your SEO is a webspammer.

by Jim on May 2, 2012


Google's algorithm change from last week has been code named 'Penguin' and boy has it upset a lot of people. I said last week I hadn't seen a change this big to the search results from an algorithm update since 2007. Like the change back then, I love this one too. We're in the fortunate position of seeing our rankings and those of our clients go up when changes like this are made. That's not boasting, just the facts. It's because we don't try to trick Google.

Your SEO charges by the link

This is a common practice, SEO companies that price their packages based on how many links they create for you each month. It's not about the quantity of backlinks you have, its about the quality. Focusing on getting large quantities of backlinks is like paying strangers to come to your birthday party to make you look popular. They'll only turn up as long as you pay them. These SEOs will tell you "Yeah but you'll get ranked high in Google" for how long though? What will happen to your site when Google finds out? Fortunately Google seems to be devaluing these spammy backlinks rather than actually de-indexing the site. This means the backlinks have become worthless but it is still a good idea to get rid of them if you can.

They'll create reviews on your Google Places page

The SEO that buys you backlinks is probably also offering 'X' amount of positive reviews or citations on your places page. This is a really dangerous practice and cannot only get your places page deleted but can have adverse effects on your main site as well.

The just lost all their rankings

Chances are if you have been hit by the Penguin update then so has the person that did your SEO. There has been quite a few SEO and web designers whose rankings disappeared overnight. There were all sorts of ranking schemes and shenanigans going on that Google has put a stop to with this update. In Melbourne alone there has been a major upheaval to the various SEO ranking results.

Did you get hit?

If you think you were just involved in a Penguin drive by, there are some actions you can take. You can submit a reconsideration request within your Google Webmaster Tools account . First of all though get rid of all the dodgy backlinks you can. Then watch the video below.

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Massive Google Penalties Start To Roll Out

by Jim on April 26, 2012

Remember those Google ‘over-optimisation’ penalties we warned you about last month? They’ve begun rolling out in the last 24 hours, causing huge rankings shifts for a wide range of SERPs.

These aren’t just rankings moving a few spots. This is deindexation of entire sites that once ruled the top of Google. This is sites that play by the rules being rewarded with huge surges to the top of the first page. This is big.

One of our clients had two of their very well ranking pages dropped from the index entirely thanks to some link spamming tests they had been running without our knowledge. The rest of their campaign received a ranking boost while the two pages that had employed link spam techniques dropped entirely from the index. Back to square one for these keywords.

One of our employees runs a few sites on the side that he uses to test different SEO techniques and woke up to some interesting results today. A site he had optimised on my instruction was performing relatively well, ranking high for a few of his keywords with the rest not too far behind. Another site he had built as per an affiliate marketer’s instructions that relied on webspam to generate backlinks and rankings had developed some great rankings for most key phrases and was performing far better than the first site.

This morning when we decided to check his rankings we saw some huge shifts. The first site that had been optimised the right way was now ranking on the first page across the board, with many ranking at number one for high competition key phrases. However the second site that relied on forum and blog comment spamming didn’t fare so well. The pages that had been ranking so well before were either entirely wiped from Google’s index or dropped deep into Google’s results.

Today’s penalties are a great reminder of why making SEO an organic part of your marketing strategy is the only way to reliably build long-lasting successful Google rankings. Sure with the spammy methods you’re likely to see some results in the short term (at least you used to), but unless you’re planning on your business being short term, it’s best to stay away.

Have you checked on your rankings? Now might be a good time! Let us know if you’ve been hit by Google’s latest penalties and we’ll advise you on the next steps you need to take to get back on top!

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Herald Sun Leaks Logies 2012 Results & Blames Google

by Jim on April 18, 2012

Not sure how to fix your tech problem? Blame Google!

The search giant is fast becoming the scapegoat of choice for tech-tards everywhere, most recently for the Herald Sun, who on Sunday night revealed Hamish Blake had won the Gold Logie before it had actually happened.

I know what you’re thinking and no, Murdoch’s empire has not discovered time travel yet. Although if someone did, it would probably be him.

Instead the Herald Sun was given the Logies’ results by event organisers hours before the awards were handed out under a midnight embargo, meaning they were contractually bound by a non disclosure agreement to delay reporting on the results until midnight.

The Herald Sun wrote their article ahead of time and didn’t bother to block Google’s robot from the article’s iPad variant, meaning the article leaked long before the embargo was lifted. The Herald Sun went into damage control the following morning by blaming Google for the error, which to anyone who knows a thing or two about search engines is a very weak argument.

It’s almost as if Google can’t catch a break these days. They’re like the younger brother who gets blamed by their older siblings every time something goes wrong. Let’s take a look at some of Google’s guilty older brothers like the Herald Sun.

The ACCC, Trading Post & Telstra vs Google

Just earlier this month Google was found by the ACCC to have misled consumers by displaying ads in which the Trading Post posed as competitors. The Telstra-owned Trading Post was discovered bidding on competitor branded keywords and masquerading as their competition, deceiving searchers who clicked on the ads and were directed to Trading Post’s website instead.

After initially clearing Google of any misconduct last September due to the fact that Google “merely communicated what Trading Post representing without adopting or endorsing any of it”, the ACCC won a ridiculous appeal earlier this month that shares the blame with Google as well as the offending parties.

Blaming Google for the deceptive conduct of advertisers is like blaming your phone provider for getting calls from telemarketers. Just as Google told ZDNet Australia at the time of the appeal: “Google AdWords is an ads hosting platform, and we believe that advertisers should be responsible for the ads they create on the AdWords platform.”

Rupert Murdoch & Fox vs Google

Rupert Murdoch took to Twitter in January and vented about Google’s lax effort to curb piracy after being shown a Google TV model that could search and stream illegal content with ease.

Blaming Google for piracy is like accusing Australia Post of being drug runners. The blame for piracy resides with users and content creators. Not Google. Making piracy more difficult is not the same thing as making buying your content easier Mr Murdoch. Could Google be doing a better job at actively removing piracy? Probably. Should they? Probably not.

This isn't the first time Murdoch's taken swipes at Google though. Remember this video blog on last year?

Rick Santorum vs Google

Even politicians have had their run ins with Google in recent times. US Republican Senator Rick Santorum campaigned for Google to manually adjust results for his name, claiming that the search giant were engaging in defamation by not removing an offensive site named SpreadingSantorum.com from its search results.

In reality it was Santorum’s inflammatory and offensive remarks in the first place that earned him the name and unwanted attention. After hearing Santorum compare homosexuality with pedophilia and beastiality in an interview, New York Times journalist and gay activist Dan Savage set up a campaign on SpreadingSantorum.com which aimed to redefine Santorum’s name as unfavorably as possible.

When Santorum announced he was running as a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2012 US Presidential Election, the problem spiraled out of control, leading to Santorum pointing the finger at Google.

It just so happens that Spreading Santorum had interesting & relevant content, a slew of links from major media outlets and were not breaking any rules such as ‘Google Bombing’ for the term. When compared with Santorum’s sparse and empty official website at the time, it’s no wonder Spreading Santorum became the favorable result for Google’s results.

Google refused to remove the content and Santorum was forced to actually spend time on his online properties to minimize the effect of Savage’s campaign. SpreadingSantorum.com still ranks on the first page for a slew of Rick Santorum related searches.

That’s it for this week guys!

Can you remember any other times Google’s been on the receiving end of undue blame? Let us know in the comments below!

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What’s Yellow, Shrinking and Works As A Great Firestarter?

by Jim April 11, 2012

In January of last year I wrote a blog post and shot a video about Sensis becoming an authorised Google AdWords reseller. The jist of the video was that Sensis was raising the white flag on its big yellow book and moving online while still charging by the bucketload for its print ads. We got [...]

Read more: What’s Yellow, Shrinking and Works As A Great Firestarter?

5 Signs Your Links Are Destroying Your Rankings

by Jim April 4, 2012

After last week’s show we had a lot of viewers all asking us the same question: How do I know if my links are harming my rankings? Here’s 5 warning signs that your links are hurting your rankings: You frequently buy services from responded to an email that begin with “Hello Business Owner” You get [...]

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Google to Obliterate Woolworths? Are You in Danger?

by Jim March 28, 2012

Remember when we told you on last week’s show that Google were going to begin penalising for ‘over-optimisation’? The slaughter has already begun. Since the start of the year, blog networks, article networks and other shady link exchanging services began dropping entirely out of Google. Even though all of those links you paid for over [...]

Read more: Google to Obliterate Woolworths? Are You in Danger?

Google to Penalise Over Optimisation

by Jim March 21, 2012

Last week during an interview at SXSW, Google’s head of search spam Matt Cutts revealed that the search giant is set to unleash algorithm changes aimed at crippling websites in search results that “over optimise”. Uh oh. If your business is involved in spammy techniques that Google deems as over-optimisation, prepare for a slap down [...]

Read more: Google to Penalise Over Optimisation

YouTube Viral Videos

by Jim March 14, 2012

How they can affect your SEO There was an excellent article by Seth Godin about last week’s viral events, two of which were videos. Today I take a look at the DollarShaveClub.com video. If you haven’t seen it I’ve embedded it below. It’s bloody funny and if you’re a bloke you’ll want to buy. SImple [...]

Read more: YouTube Viral Videos

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