Blocking spammy links

[donford]

HTTP_REFERER matching maybe a possibility, but I don't know if Google will see you're dropping them or not

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} stupidsite.com [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F]

I would be curious to see a case study on this.

[AlanMosley]

Thats what i have done, but i dont want to sit and wait, I would like to know if it works.

Cant seem to find much on the internet about it.

My fgirst thoughts were that it would work, but maybe google worries you will just remove the rules after penalty is lifted.

[donford]

If nothing else you can use it as proof in a reconsideration request.

I don't have clients, and never been involved with black hat tricks so I have personally never been in the position to have to deal with it, but I am for nothing else curious.

[AlanMosley]

Thanks,

I plan to put it in my recon request, but to wait weeks for an answer, is a bit of a problem.

i would have thought the idea would have more mentions on the net, but i cant find anyone with expirence

[TakeshiYoung]

I don't think it will work, Google isn't looking at whether traffic from the spam sites is blocked or not.  Just the fact that the spammy links exist is enough for Google to penalize you for link manipulation.

Matt Cutt's did say yesterday that they are considering adding a "disavow link" feature in Webmaster Tools, but you won't see it for another few months, if at all:

http://searchengineland.com/live-blog-you-a-with-matt-cutts-at-smx-advanced-123513

The best thing to do in the meantime is to just attempt to remove the links and file a request.

[AlanMosley]

It is not just trafic that is blocked link juce would also be blocked. Search engines would get 64 - Host not available.

In the article Matt states that if you remove the page that will work, this is simular.

i am not saying it will work, just that this would not just stop trafic it would stop any request.

i think google when finding a link will test to see that the link exists.so in that way I think it would work, but a thought just hit me, what if they say ok, this page does ot exist and remoe it from index?

But then the next time they found it it would be added again.

It would be the best approch rather then contact evey web site, and as Ryan Kent stated, he had a 14% sucess rate.

[TakeshiYoung]

Ok, I can see how something like that might work... it all depends how Google's crawlers look at links when it comes to penalties like this.  I haven't heard of anyone who has tried this, so you might just have to test it to see if it works.  It would make a very interesting case study.

[AlanMosley]

I am doing so as we speak, but i am a impatient SEO, i want to know if i am wasting my time, a reconsideration takes weeks

but i will let all know the results

[JustDucky]

Alan - I haven't seen any postings by anyone who has tried this but several people have suggested this tactic in various forums.  If you try this, please share whether it works.  Given the lack of success in response to deletion requests, a more direct route would be much more effective and preferred if G wants to favor it.

[AlanMosley]

will do

[dohertyjf]

Hey Alan -

Great question here. I honestly do not know if that htaccess trick will work. I've heard it postulated that it will, but have not seen anything conclusive on it! Unfortunately reinclusion requests take some time. If you think that you have been targeted unfairly, I'd recommend making as much noise publicly as possible. Get in front of Google and plead your case.

As far as I see it, here are your options for the spammy links -

• If it's a KEYWORD-SPECIFIC penalty to that page, 404 the page to disavow the links and build a new page on your domain targeting that term. Build good links to this.

• If it's a sitewide drop in traffic, then you need to remove as many of the links as possible. There are tools out there to help with this, but generally you need to find low-PA/DA, exact anchors. These are going to be the ones that are hurting you most. Also look for sitewides with exact anchors that can be seen as manipulative.

• Google wants to see "good faith" in getting links removed. So document all sites that you contact, the sites that get back to you, the links you get removed, and the links you know about that you have not been able to get removed, including reasons for why (ie 4 emails sent, no reply, cannot find an email on WhoIs, etc). You have to be completely transparent.

One tip for you is to share all of these links in a Google Doc, which you link to from the reinclusion request. Then, shorten the link within the reinclusion using a bit.ly link so that you can see if/when they look at the links.

Good luck man. I know how hard it is to wait on hearing back, having gone through it a few times myself.

John