Li nk Audi t and RemovalEverything you need to know about Google link penalties and how to recover lost rankings.

Includes:

6-step guide

to auditing

your link profile.

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INTRODUCTION

LINK REPUTATION MANAGEMENT: THE FACTSThink you may have suffered as a result of a Google penalty? Worried your site might be penalised in future? Youre not alone.

Over the last few years, Google has gotten tough on low-quality links. In 2012, it created the Penguin algorithm to penalise sites that have poor-quality links pointing to them. And it has consistently made changes to its Webmaster Guidelines that have made previously widespread SEO tactics non-compliant or worse, harmful.

Countless companies suffered as a result of Googles penalties. If you suspect youve been hit with a penalty, youll know how tough the consequences can be.

Lost rankings. Lost traffic. Lost revenue.

The good news is that your site can climb up the rankings again. You can resuscitate your revenue and defend your business from further penalties by carrying out a comprehensive audit of your link profile and by taking steps to become compliant with Googles guidelines.

But its wise to act fast. If you know your site has low-quality links pointing to it, you risk being penalised at any point. And if

you have already suffered a penalty, you need to do everything you can to bring your customers back.

IN THIS WHITEPAPER, YOULL LEARN

The crucial difference between algorithmic penalties and manual actions.

How to tell if youve been hit with a penalty or action.

The non-compliant linking practices and manual actions that might be hurting your site.

Six steps to audit your link profile.

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DONT MESS WITH GOOGLEMany firms have lost valuable rankings online thanks to Google penalties. However, some have seen more column inches than others.

You may be surprised to discover the kind of things Google now considers non-compliant with its guidelines. Things like placing adverts in newspapers with links pointing back to your business, and reaching out to bloggers for links.

Here are two high-profile companies that famously fell afoul of the search engines webspam filters for these exact reasons:

COMPANY: INTERFLORA

Description: One of the worlds most recognised brands, specialising in flower delivery.

The crime: Interflora paid for links to be placed and advertorials on newspaper sites, as well as sending free products to bloggers in exchange for links.

The consequences: Google slapped Interflora with a link penalty in 2013, resulting in an instant search blackout on numerous crucial keywords. The affected queries included [flowers], [florist], [flowers online] and [flower delivery], as well as its own brand name.

COMPANY: RAP GENIUS

Description: A popular lyrics site that allows users to annotate specific lyrics with interesting or explanatory information.

The crime: Rap Genius was quite openly asking bloggers to link to them in return for promotional tweets in essence, they were paying for links.

The consequences: In December 2013, Rap Genius received the worst possible Christmas gift from Google complete removal from its search results. The site has since recovered, but only after swift link management work had been carried out.

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GOOGLE PENALTIES: THE FACTSPerhaps the most famous Google penalties are those dished out by Penguin and Panda. These are algorithms built to tackle bad content and link spam respectively.

However, though Penguin and Panda have had the most coverage in SEO journals, Google penalties are nothing new. In fact, Google has provided systems for webmasters to request penalty removal since 2005.

If you have received an algorithmic penalty because of bad links, its most likely a result of Penguin. But its important to be aware that there are a wide range of algorithmic penalties, for example: the Minus 950 penalty and the Payday Loan Algorithm.

Some of these penalties are publicly announced and discussed by Google, and some are not.

ALGORITHMIC PENALTIES AND MANUAL ACTIONSGoogle dishes out two types of penalties algorithmic penalties and manual actions. Make sure you know which youve been affected by, otherwise you could end up spending hours working on a project that leads to a dead end.

Penguin and Panda are examples of algorithmic penalties. These are applied

automatically to sites that violate Googles guidelines. You wont be notified if an algorithmic penalty is applied to or removed from your site.

Manual actions are penalties applied manually by Googles webspam team. The only way to remove these penalties is to apply to Google directly. You will be notified through Webmaster Tools if a manual penalty is applied or removed.

UNDERSTANDING LINK PENALTIES

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WHO IS THIS PENGUIN GUY ANYWAY?Penguin is Googles webspam algorithm that focusses on low-quality links. It was introduced in 2012.

If Penguin detects that a site uses link techniques that are non-compliant with Googles guidelines, it will penalise a specific URL, a set of URLs, or an entire site. Penalties take the form of ranking decreases, or even complete removal from Googles search results.

HOW TO CHECK IF YOUR SITE HAS BEEN AFFECTED BY PENGUINRemember, Google doesnt inform sites when they are affected by algorithmic penalties such as Penguin.

There are three ways to check if a site has been hit by an algorithmic penalty like Penguin:

Google AnalyticsUse Google Analytics or another analytics suite to check for a drop in traffic that correlates to the time of a Penguin update.

Ranking softwareUse ranking software such as Moz to check for a drop in rankings that correlates to the time of a Penguin update. Be aware, though, that you must have this software in place before, during and after the penalty hits. You cant simply sign up after the fact and expect to see historic rankings, as the data wont be available.

SearchMetricsSearchMetrics is an SEO software suite delivered on a subscription basis. One of its key features is an SEO visibility graph a very easy way to check if youve been penalised by Penguin. Another big benefit of this software is that you can view historic visibility as soon as you sign up.

How do I know when an update has happened?Mozs Google Algorithm Change History is regularly updated with the latest algorithm updates and refreshes. You can view it here: http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change

SEO visibility graph in SearchMetrics, showing the effects of a possible Penguin penalty.

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How to check if your site has a manual actionTo see if a manual action is in place on a website, you need to have access to a verified Google Webmaster Tools account.

The Manual Actions section is located under Search Traffic in the Webmaster Tools sidebar.

Google says: [Penalties] can go pretty far. [] For total horribleness, the penalty can stay until the domain expires.

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MAKING SENSE OF MANUAL ACTIONSThere are two main categories of manual action, site-wide matches and partial matches. A site-wide

match means the manual action impacts the entire site. A partial match means the manual action impacts a URL, a set of URLs or a section of a website.

In addition, there are ten or more common messages that explain more about the type of manual action youve received. If youve used link building techniques that are now in violation of Googles Webmaster Guidelines, you are most likely to receive one of the first two manual actions below.

Source: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2604824

Manual action messagesUnnatural links to your site This is the most serious of the unnatural link actions. If you see this

message, it means Google has detected a pattern of unnatural artificial, deceptive or manipulative links pointing to your site, and as a result has applied a penalty to your entire site.

This means rankings for all pages on your site will be affected.

Unnatural links to your site impacts links

This is the lesser of the unnatural links penalties. This message means Google has detected a pattern of unnatural links, but has only taken action on a particular set of links, meaning only certain URLs on your site will be affected.

Unnatural links from your site This action is similar to the above, but means Google has detected that your site has been unnaturally linking to other sites. This could happen if you have accepted payment or other incentives in return for a link.

Hacked site This means Google has detected that pages on your site appear to have been hacked. This could mean your site is labelled as such in search results, and may not rank as highly.

Thin content with little or no added value

This is Googles general warning for poor-quality content. It could mean Google has discovered auto-generated spun content, duplicate content, or any number of other problems.

Pure spam Google applies this action to sites that use aggressive spam techniques. You will receive this message if you use black hat techniques on page, or as Google describes it: repeated or egregious violations of Googles quality guidelines.

User-generated spam This message means Google has detected webspam generated by users. This could include unnatural links in forum posts, comments or user profiles.

Cloaking and/or sneaky redirects

Google uses the term cloaking and sneaky redirects to refer to the practice of sending users to a different URL to the one displayed in Google search results. This practice is against Googles Webmaster Guidelines.

Hidden text and/or keyword stuffing

Both of these techniques are considered spammy, as they attempt to influence Google ranking by including an unnatural volume of keywords on page.

Spammy freehosts In some cases, Google may take action against all the sites hosted on a particular hosting service. This only happens when a significant fraction of the pages on sites hosted on are service are spammy.

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WHAT IS A LINK AUDIT? Carrying out a link audit means reviewing your sites backlink profile, and making changes to ensure it is compliant with Googles Webmaster Guidelines.Most commonly, a link audit involves creating a list of links pointing to your site, categorising these links as compliant or non-compliant, and making changes to the non-compliant links to bring them in line with best practice.

These changes could involve modifying a link in some way, asking for it to be removed, or

disavowing the link with Googles Disavow Links Tool. For more information on the disavow process, see page 12.

LINK SCHEMESGoogle uses the term link schemes to describe linking methods that violate its webmaster guidelines. Algorithms like Penguin are designed to detect links that fall under the definition of link schemes.

Understanding Googles definition of link schemes is key to auditing your own link profile.

AUDITING YOUR LINK PROFILE

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Sid Type Google Webmaster Guidelines Description Is keyword rich anchor text a factor?

1 Paid Links Buying or selling links that passPageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a free product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link.

2 Article Marketing Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links.

3 Guest Posts Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links.

4 Directories Low-quality directory or bookmark site links.

5 Bookmarks Low-quality directory or bookmark site links.

6 Press Releases Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites.

7 Forum Comments

Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature.

8 Link Exchanges Excessive link exchanges (Link to me and Ill link to you) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking.

9 Automated Links Using automated programs or services to create links to your site.

10 Adverts Text advertisements that pass PageRank.

11 Advertorials Advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass PageRank.

12 Widget Spam Keyword-rich, hidden or low-quality links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites.

13 Template Spam Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites.

14 Sitewide Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites.

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LINK SCHEME FAQSWhat is keyword rich anchor text?Youll notice some of the link schemes on the previous page make specific mention of keyword-rich anchor text. Its important to understand the distinction between a keyword-rich link, and a standard link.

For context, using keyword-rich anchor text in links used to be a widespread SEO technique, before certain keyword-rich links from certain sources were outlawed in Googles Webmaster Guidelines. By using a keyword in anchor text in an article, for example and pointing that link to a relevant URL, it is possible to gain better rankings for that keyword.

As is often the case, Google does not provide a detailed explanation of what constitutes keyword rich anchor text. But its generally agreed that a keyword-rich anchor text link is a link that features a high-value, revenue-

generating keyword within its anchor text. In other words, if the ranking boost you get from a links anchor text is likely to help your business make money, it is considered keyword rich.

It is also generally agreed that using your brand name as anchor text, or linking on a naked URL (e.g. http://www.example.com/) does not constitute keyword-rich anchor text.

This detail is important, and ignoring it could mean you end up getting rid of links that would otherwise be acceptable to Google. For example, Googles Webmaster Guidelines never state that article marketing is inherently bad, and only advises against large-scale article marketing [] with keyword-rich anchor text links.

What does Google mean by low-quality sites and low-quality backlinks?Google doesnt explain what it means by low-quality sites or backlinks. However, a good indicator is whether the site or link itself follows Googles Webmaster Guidelines.

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You can read the full guidelines here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769

How often does Google update Penguin?Google updates Penguin in two ways sometimes it genuinely updates the algorithm, but most of the time its updates are actually refreshes.

When an algorithm update occurs, it means Google has substantially rewritten the algorithm to fundamentally change the way it works. Updates happen infrequently in 2014, there was only one confirmed Penguin update.

When an algorithm is refreshed it means Google has re-run the algorithm to evaluate which sites should be penalised, and which sites that have previously been hit should have their penalty removed.

Refreshes, historically, have happened more frequently than genuine updates, but we

dont know exactly how often they happen, as Google hasnt always announced them. In 2013, Googles John Mueller said: We re-run [Penguin] regularly - its not quite weekly or daily

When an algorithm is updated, it is also refreshed. So you can recover from a Penguin penalty in either instance.

I f you want to stop spam, the most straight forward way to do it is to deny people money, because they care about the money and that should be their end goal. But if you really want to stop spam, it is a little bit mean, but what you want to do, is sort of break their spirits.Matt Cutts

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STEP BY STEP GUIDE

Step one: Identify penaltiesIdentify whether your site has suffered an algorithmic penalty or manual action (or both). See page 4 for details.

Step two: Download linksYou will need a list of links to your site that is as up-to-date and complete as possible. Links can be downloaded through Google Webmaster Tools, but we recommend using specialist SEO software to supplement this list. Otherwise, you may end up with an incomplete picture of your link profile, and risk wasting time auditing links that wont make a difference.

Step three: Classify linksManually classify your links as compliant or non-compliant, based on the link schemes table on page 9.

Step four: Contact webmastersFor every non-compliant link, make every effort to obtain the webmasters details for the offending site. Reach out to the webmaster and ask for the link to be removed or modified. You should always do this before considering disavowing a link.

Step five: Disavow linksIf you dont hear back from a webmaster, or receive a negative response, add that link to a disavow list. At the end of the link auditing process, you should upload this disavow list in Google Webmaster Tools.

When a link is disavowed, it means that Google no longer recognises the link as passing Pagerank.

Step six: Repeat!Carry out this process for every link. Obviously if you have thousands upon thousands of links, this can be a time-consuming process!

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WHEN WILL I RECOVER FROM MY PENALTY?

Algorithmic penaltiesIf your link auditing, management and removal processes have been extensive enough, you should regain rankings in due course. This will happen automatically, and requires no further action from you.

Manual actionsIf you have a manual action applied to your site, you will have to apply to Google directly to have it removed. You do this by submitting a reconsideration request through Webmaster Tools.

Google demands extensive documentation, detailing the links youve found and the links youve modified, removed or disavowed. It also requires assurance that you understand the severity of your actions, and will not use similar link building tactics in future.

This can be difficult. Even with extensive documentation, Google has still been known to reject applications for manual action removal.

IS THERE AN ALTERNATIVE?ClickThrough Marketing has helped many household names and growing brands recover rankings after Google penalties. Our Link Reputation Management service has seen

a 100% success rate for reconsideration requests and manual action removal.

Weve built our Link Reputation Management service on decades of SEO experience. Thats why were a trusted SEO partner for some of the UKs biggest brands.

NEXT STEPS

Need help removing a penalty or protecting your site from future updates? Call one of our experts now for an easy, cost-effective solution 0800 088 7486.

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ClickThrough is a digital marketing agency, providing web development, search engine optimisation, pay per click management, conversion optimisation and content marketing services.

Since 2004, ClickThrough has helped several companies from big brands to small start-ups grow Google rankings, boost conversions, increase return on digital marketing investment, and stretch Internet marketing budgets to get value for money.

We pride ourselves on giving honest advice based on the latest digital marketing best practices. Our RITE core values of Results, Innovation, Trust and Excellence drive everything we do.

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; Our people all receive our industry-leading, Digital Academy training

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Whether you are thinking of changing your search or digital marketing agency, or just looking to improve your online conversion rate, our team of search conversion experts can help.

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