What are Spammy Back Links

[uesat]

My site was hit by Penguin 2, where I lost 40% of traffic.  People keep talking about spammy links but I've made none of those for my site.  So how can I analyse my site and find out which links are hurting me.  Can it be done with SEOMOZ software?  What do I look for?

I used Site Explorer and most of my links are to relevant websites.  Is there a penalty for being in somebody else's blogroll even if I was added naturally and their site is a high ranking (PR4) and relevant site?  All the links to my site coming from forums are no-follow.  Could it be my own website?  How do I check that?  I have no clue what to look for.

Thanks

[seoagnostic]

This is a good question. I think "spammy" needs to be defined since sites like ours, up for many years, have links in numerous places that cannot be "fixed" because at the time there was no such thing s "nofollow" and the like. To punish for old links would seem harsh although it might be done. Our problem is that we're listed on long pages of "link resources" that many are saying is spam and penalty but this is what was done in the 90s and 2000s by people wanting to put up useful websites. Here are a few I saw on possibly relevant articles that appear knowledgeable:

• http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2271305/Google-Penguin-2.0-Casualties-Why-Sites-Got-Hit
• http://www.searchenginejournal.com/googles-penguin-beginning-to-flex-its-muscles/63416/

I find Barry's articles very helpful and ostensibly honest: http://searchengineland.com/googles-matt-cutts-on-upcoming-penguin-panda-link-networks-updates-151273

To begin, it's difficult for anyone to tell you what the problem is with your site without providing your site. It's a horrible feeling (I know) but that will give you the best answers, unless you prefer to pay for that privacy by hiring an SEO consultant to manage the issue. You may want to post some of the links here if you don't want to post your site and see what the group says. Regarding blogrolls - another issue that affects the 2000s and it's crazy for Google to think we can "clean" that which never really needed cleaning and only the large companies with staff will survive. Hopefully there will be clarity. Best of luck.

PS - If it makes you feel any better, your traffic drops are small in comparison to some others.

[KenPiech]

Great question, and I would suggest you check out the following Moz posted article by Ron Medin "How to Create and Excel Spreadsheet to Remove Link Spam Post Penguin".

Hope this helps, and good luck with your recovery!

[Davenport-Tractor]

Uesat,

I like Michael's response, looks like he put some effort into what he provided. I just wanted to add a point that might help you, and perhaps others concerned about the same thing.

We have used a company called Link Research Tools. They charge for their service, but I have found it invaluable. They may be found online here http://www.linkresearchtools.com Their spider will index your site for all of the inbound links, then report back on the possible impact of the link. The report provides all sorts of data about the inbound link, if it is indexed by Google, webmaster contact information, number of links that the inbound links receives, inbound link subject matter. You get the idea. They also suggest if the link is possibly impacting negatively on your ranking.

Hate to admit it, but this report can also be run on your competitors website, which may help you discover new quality links to go after or avoid for you own website. They even provide an automated Disavow tool.

Check them out

[uesat]

Thank you all.  Those articles helped.  Time to do some research on my links.