Loss of 1,000 links has negatively affecting rankings

[Webrevolve]

Hey there,

One of the clients we're working with has lost about 1,000 or so backlinks over the last two or three months - mainly old article and directory links - and it has massively affected the site's search rankings.

The site was ranking for pretty much all of its keywords in prominent positions on Google (mostly first page) but has now seen positions dive to 50, 90 and even outside of the top 100.

Is there any immediate action we can put into place to help restore our rankings?

[LynnPatchett]

Hi Mathew,

Just to play the devils advocate here: are you sure the lost backlinks are the cause of the drop in rankings? Directory and article links are usually pretty low value and you didn't mention why they have been lost (any unatural link warnings that you have been trying to clean up a bit?). Any drops in ranking/traffic that matches a known google update?

1000 of them is quite a lot, if the site has another 1000 or whatever that are still live maybe their loss isnt the problem, their existance is!

I would think immediate actions would be the standard list: onsite improvements in code and content where relevant and try to gain some relevant links from relevant sites.

My two cents!