What can you do about negative SEO?

[AndyB_UK]

He's an absolute idiot.

Demanded 5$ a link removal, I phoned him then he said he never sent such an email. I sent him a screenshot of the email then he starts denying the links are his etc.

I hate people who build a business on such negativity. He claims it's not him after I make it clear I won't be spending a penny on link removals from him.

[Keszi]

It was the same in our case. Could do nothing more, then just disavow him.

Unfortunately there are people who fall in his trap, and pay for the removal.

His websites are not indexed in Google. Therefore I hope Google doesn't count any links/anchor from his sites.

[LinkWheelOldSchool]

If your site has enough authority and trust (site age is also a factor here), those 3k links won't hurt a bit, no matter how many links you have. I have done experiments and a domain with 50DA/50PA and less than 100 links did not move at all after getting hit with 250k spammy links (from spammy websites - using a spammy link profile). In fact the site increased in the serps for a few keywords after about 1 month and stayed there (currently in the top 3). We did the same experiment on a high DA domain with only 8 links - nothing bad happened, rankings increased in 2-3 months.

Just think about it this way, if negative seo would be that easy to pull off, all the shady Kumars out there would start doing this. Fortunately, it's not about the links, their number or quality. Unfortunately, neg seo exists and google can't do much about it (but average Kumars don't have access to neg seo that truly works).

So if you didn't see any drop in rankings, or message in GWT saying that you have a partial penalty, there's nothing to worry about.

[AndyB_UK]

Thanks for the detailed response, appreciate it!

We have disavowed them so hoping they won't do us any harm in the future. It's reassuring to know you've done a study like that. Very interesting.

I will still proceed to send him a legal document out of principle, he needs to be shaken up a bit.

thanks again

[TomRayner]

I obviously can't say for sure regarding the anchor text - however:

My understanding is that the anchor text ratio is more a signal rather than a trigger - as in it must be one of (X) amount of signals to then fire a penalty trigger (algorithmic/manual review).

So even if it was still sending a bad 'signal' as it were, it wouldn't be the final nail in the coffin.

Of course, this is my opinion, but it's based on my experience and a bit of testing with some spam sites.

[MarieHaynes]

I see these directory links all the time when doing link audits.  While I always disavow them, my gut instinct is that Google is able to recognize that these are not self made links and as such, ignore them.

I would never recommend paying the money to remove them  but I know several people who have.

**We have disavowed them but the anchor text % is still affecting us. **

How do you know that these links are affecting you?  If you're seeing a drop in rankings I'd be looking for other possible reasons for the drop.

[TheWebMastercom]

Personally I wouldn't waste your time.  Disavow and move on.  I have had no issues with this approach.

[AndyB_UK]

Hi Marie,

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, let me re-phrase. Its affecting our reports in terms of anchor text %.

At the moment we have not been hit due to it but it would be far easier for us to have accurate reports on our anchor text %. These spammy links have distorted the analytics a lot if that makes sense.

We have disavowed them and hoping we can carry on as if they are not there.

[MarieHaynes]

Ah, I understand.  Unfortunately there's really nothing you can do to fix that problem other than paying for link removal...which I really would not recommend.

[EGOL]

If you pay them, then they put you on their second network of sites.