Dodgy backlinks

[littlesthobo]

I've got a new client who made the mistake of spending $5 on a sack load of dodgy links some time ago.

I'm redoing his site, not set up analtics or WMT or anything yet, just starting on it but I had a look at his backlink profile and it's pretty shocking.  Riddled with porn and money scams etc, but I'm concerned by the nature of one of the links....to the url is disturbing and I'm tempted to report them to the police. :(.

If I use the disavow tool will it remove the links from my backlink profile altogether or just block the dodgy site?  I want to disaccociate the site altogether.

[TomRayner]

The disavow tool will effectively block the site, but it is not removed in the WMT report or any OSE, Majestic report etc.

To actually do that, the link itself must be removed.  Best way to do that, of course, is to contact the webmaster of the site.  I understand you probably don't want to visit the site in question, so you can enter the URL on domaintools.com and it will give the registrar data and hopefully an email.

Sounds like you have a right royal mess on your hands.  For both SEO and branding purposes, I'd seriously consider the possibility of moving to a completely new domain.  The amount of time to outreach and/or disavow those links would be substantial and as you say if you cannot get that particular link removed, only disavowed, it could be very, very bad.

[RuiZhiDong]

I have a client with the exact same problem. They used Fiverr to get lots of dodgy backlinks.

I am still looking at the damage but we are considering moving to a new domain altogether

[littlesthobo]

Thanks for the really helpful response, I'll do that and talk to the client about the domain change. Much appreciated.