Remove bad backlinks: how to find and remove them

How do I find and remove spam links?

There was a time when SEO marketers advised you to buy all sorts of links to build your backlink profile - a black hat SEO technique. Since the introduction of Google Penguin in 2012, websites using this tactic have been penalized.

Not all websites have done this or have already removed such links from their website, but there are still spam links to websites that are not considered trustworthy.

Even though Google has improved its algorithms over the years and is better at ignoring spam links, it's still good SEO practice to keep your Backlinks from time to time. In this guide, you will learn how to find and remove spam links on your website.

Avoid spam links

Before we move on to finding and removing links, it's important to know which links you should avoid in your backlink profile. Any link that is irrelevant to your website is a bad backlink - with the exception of a link from a major publication (The Guardian, Daily Mail, etc.).

There are some types of Backlinksthat you should not associate with your website in any way:

• Links from domains that have been penalized
• Links from link directories and Linkfarmen
• Links from "bad domains" such as porn, "pharma" and online gambling
• Links from foreign language pages
• Many links from pages that have nothing to do with your own page
• Many links with exactly identical anchor texts

Links from penalized domains are of course poison for a website. Fortunately, Google knows that anyone who wants to rank well would build links in this way and therefore ignores them completely.

Exactly matching anchor texts and links from external websites are viewed differently by Google. It is easy for you to create these yourself in order to improve the Ranking to manipulate them. You could be penalized with a penalty or a manual action, so it's best to clean them up if you have any.

Find spam links

There are various tools to remove harmful Backlinks that you want to remove. No matter which tool you choose - Ahrefs, SEMRush and Majestic, to name but a few - you should make a list of your current Backlinks create.

Any tool you use will display all your links, similar to Ahrefs (see above). Here you can analyze each domain, the Trafficthat it brings to your page, as well as the Trust Flow and the Citation Flow for the domain and the URL see - in Ahrefs means that URL-rating and domain rating.

You can use these values to decide whether you want to keep a link from this page or not. The higher the Trust and the Citation flow, the better the link for your site.

SEMRush can perform a backlink audit that will give you a clear indication of which links are considered potentially harmful. The information you receive can be improved by improving your SEMRush-account with the Google Search Console connect

It is easier to analyze all link data in a spreadsheet. So make sure that you click on "Export" for each tool so that you can collect the information in Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel.

Typical spam links to watch out for

Guest posts on inferior websites

Guest posts are probably one of the best-known tactics for creating high-quality Backlinks build up. However, if you frequently write guest posts, it can turn gray without warning. You may be unknowingly building low-quality links, or you may be a beginner who has just acquired a taste for backlinks to drive traffic.

Whatever the reason, you should definitely avoid the following things when looking for guest post opportunities:

Blog Networks:

Blog networks are websites that Backlinks to paying members. Google hates these sites and for good reason. The easiest way to spot a blog network is to look at the guest posting guidelines. If they have strict word count rules and an equally strict ratio of words to links, it's better to avoid such a site. Most good blogs don't care if you only write 400-600 words or include links in the introduction of your article.

Article Websites:

Article websites are very similar to blog networks, with the big difference that you can pay for each article you publish. Most of the articles on these sites are written to Backlinks and are therefore generally of low quality. Links from these pages harm the SERP-They usually do not affect the performance of your website, but they also do not bring any positive added value, Google has made sure of that.

Web 2.0 Blogs:

Also known as single-post blogs, these are one- or two-page websites that are usually created on WordPress subdomains. Just like links from article websites, links from single-post blogs do not help improve the SERP-visibility at.

Bad press release pages

Another popular way to get really valuable links is to get links from websites that publish press releases. However, not all news sites work the same way.

Those that really have a good reputation that your website can benefit from often have strict quality and information verification standards. These standards are often so strict that they deter link spammers.

It's always easier for spammers to target low-quality news sites that don't ask for information sources or quality content. It's also easier for spammers to convince these sites that the redesign of an unknown company or brand's website is newsworthy.

However, links that come from low-quality press syndicates are often not indexed or have no real SEO value. This means that while this tactic will not devalue your website, the time and effort you invest in securing such links will not benefit your website.

Directories

Backlinks of business directories have been a point of contention for some time. This is because there are high quality Directories such as Yelp, which adhere to strict quality standards. On the other hand, there are business directories that only exist in order to Backlinks to be awarded.

For this reason, Google has decided to devalue links from certain business directories. Another reason why directory links bring little to no benefit is the high number of outbound links that are Directories have. This means that the "link juice" is distributed across all outgoing links. For example, if you get a link from a directory that has 1000 outgoing links, then the value of the Link Juice for you 1/1000.

Matt Cutts from Google has some considerations you can make to find out if a link from a particular directory is beneficial for your website. These are

Check how many entries the directory rejects. If practically anyone can be included in the directory, it is very likely that the links are not beneficial to you.
Check the quality of the websites whose submissions the directory accepts. If most of the websites are spam, you should look for better business directories.

In many cases, real business directories also charge a fee, and that's not a bad thing. However, with real business directories, this fee is usually used to compensate the directory team for the time and effort it takes to review the businesses' listings.

If you follow the standards for directory listings mentioned above, you will be able to find most Directoriesthat you have considered. And that's a good thing. After all, there's no point in getting a backlink from a directory that has been deindexed by Google.

Forum spam

For SEO newbies, it may seem like a "hidden opportunity" to get links from forums, but in reality, it's far from being a legitimate way to get a backlink.

The logic is simple. Forums, much like social media websites, have little control over the quality of links posted by users. Virtually anyone can get a backlink from a forum.

For this reason, Google has deindexed the links from most forums. This in turn means that while these links won't hurt your website's SEO results, they won't help either.

Comment spam

Blog comments were, until a few years ago, a popular Linkbuilding-strategy. The reason for this was simple: it's incredibly easy to get a backlink from an unmoderated comment section.

The catch, however, is that most unmoderated comment sections have hundreds, sometimes thousands, of outbound links.

In addition, most websites with unmoderated comment sections are usually of poor quality.

For these two reasons, it's probably not a good idea to get links from unmoderated comment sections.

Now that we know where spam links come from, we can actively work to avoid them.

However, as mentioned above, it is possible that your website already has some spamBacklinks that link to them. Even if you've behaved decently and never blackhatted SEO, it's possible that you've gotten some Backlinks received through negative SEO practices from unethical competitors.

We'll see how you can recognize them and prevent them from affecting your website's SEO results.

Too many links from non-native websites

In many cases, you can benefit from a backlink from a website that has nothing to do with your website. A link from the website of a local non-governmental organization (NGO) or a local authority will bring you SEO benefits, regardless of whether their niche is related to yours or not.

However, the above examples may be the only cases where a link from a website that has nothing to do with your niche won't affect the results of your SEO efforts.

The most common mistake in this regard is that websites start giving links to each other. Such a Link exchangewhere you link to another website and that website links to you is almost always a good idea for niche websites. Just as your website is expected to Backlinks from other websites, it is only natural that you link to them.

However, if such reciprocal links between websites that have nothing to do with each other are noticed, Google considers this to be unnatural. Link building and can punish you.

Backlinks from other language websites

If your website is in English, Google expects most links to come from other websites that use the same language.

An exception to this rule may be the case if a company website serves users in a different country. But even in this case, Google expects your website to receive links from websites that use the same language as the people who make up the majority of your online audience. This means that if the majority of your audience lives in France and your website or business is based in the UK, Google expects you to get links from websites in French and English.

If your website Backlinks from a website that is written in Japanese, for example, Google will notice that and assume that something is wrong. If the Google algorithm detects multiple links from such websites, the links in your backlink profile will be devalued.

Links from generally spammy websites

So far we have discussed a number of spam websites, including link farms, low-quality business directories and Link exchange-Networks.

However, there are some other types of spammy websites such as porn websites and gambling websites. Don't get me wrong: if you have a website that operates in one of these niches (I've heard it's incredibly profitable), it makes a lot of sense, Backlinks from similar websites.

However, if you have a "reputable" business, you need to make sure you're not getting (or even distributing) links from such sites.

Website removal request

After you have Backlinks you will have selected the links you want to remove. Google recommends that you request removal from a website before you ask them to ignore the link.

However, the chances of a low-quality backlink being removed from an offending website are next to nil. In most cases, you won't be able to find the contact information of the webmaster who has access to the site. Some don't have a page where you can get in touch with them.

You can Whois.com - Free Whois Lookup use to track down the owner of a website.

If you find an email where you can contact the owner of the website, you can request that your link be removed. There is a good chance that you will not receive a response to your request.

Create a Google Disavow file and submit it to Google

You can skip the above step altogether and create a Disavow-file to Google. This is a list that you create and that contains all the links that the GoogleSearch Engine should be ignored. Once it has been created as a text file, it can be submitted via the Search Console. You can either select specific URLs to be ignored or you can ask Google to ignore links from a specific domain completely.

It's important to be extra careful with the links you submit in your disavow. If you accidentally submit a high quality link, it can damage your Ranking very harm.

Do you remember that we said earlier that you have to Backlinks export from tools? In these tables, you will perform a thorough analysis to ensure that the links you want Google to ignore are included.

Once you submit it, you need to be patient. It takes a while for the document to be processed, so you can only wait for it to have a positive impact on your rankings.

Ahrefs has created a video explaining how you can remove links with the Disavow tool:

Conclusion

Spammy Backlinks can come from different sources and sometimes it's not even your fault if spammy Backlinks point to your website. In the eyes of the Search Engine however, spammy links are associated with a spammy website.

It is therefore important to regularly check the backlink profile of your website in order to avoid spammy Backlinks and remove them. Fortunately, thanks to SEO tools like RankWatch, this task doesn't require much time and effort if done regularly. The little bit of time you spend identifying and removing spammy Backlinks is a small price to pay for not compromising your website's performance in search results.

Do you have more questions about spammy Backlinks? Or did I forget to add a source for spammy Backlinks that you have discovered?

Whatever it is, share it with me (and all readers) in the comment section below.

We will gladly help you to remove your spam links

You should regularly check whether spammy Backlinks have a negative impact on your website. We know that it is not possible for you to keep track of everything. That's why you should start with a SEO Agency who has the knowledge and tools to do this for you.

Get in touch with our team today to find out how we can help you remove spam links and build a link profile that will improve your website's rankings.