Is LittleBlackDress.co.uk under penalty?

[PCasey86]

They are a client who has been hit pretty hard by Penguin 2.0 after we were just starting to grow in April. I am getting different opinions from SEO different agencies and I'd rather ask "the Moz community"

www.littleblackdress.co.uk

[TomRayner]

Hi Paul

Would it be possible for you to run the website through this free tool? http://www.barracuda-digital.co.uk/panguin-tool/

It coincides your organic traffic levels with major Google updates, so you may be able to see on the first Penguin refresh of the new algorithm whether or not the traffic fell with it.  Correlation does not necessarily equal causation, but if there is a drop around the time of the update, it could well be a Penguin penalty.

Worth noting that the new Penguin algorithm looks to be having a stagnated effect on the SERPs - not like the previous update/aftermath/carry on system of old.  So your traffic drop may not coincide with the update on that tool, but the site could still be effected by the algorithm.

Looking at the site's backlinks - there's definitely some evidence that would suggest a penalty could be problem.  Comment spam, such as here, and here looks to make up a large portion of the backlinks to the website.  There is also quite a lot of commercial, exact match anchor text links as well, which could be a problem.

Hope this helps.

[PCasey86]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the feedback, this is very useful, especially the http://www.barracuda-digital.co.uk/panguin-tool/ tool.

We have been trying to remove a large number of the bad links but it seems we need to continue in this process. Can we just continue to build good links to de-spam our overall profile or do all the bad links need to be removed?

Since the recent refresh by Google on Friday 12th July, we have noticed an increase in traffic and the keyword rankings that were negatively effected have started to improve.

We think we need to continue to improve the % of good links to the site but I feel this might be too simplistic.

[TomRayner]

You could ask 50 SEOs this question and get 50 different answers - simply because Penguin case studies and definitive guides are pretty much non-existent.

Is it a cop-out to say: "You need to both?"

Part of me thinks: if you're under an algorithmic penalty - so long as the algorithm sees those bad links in your profile you will always have the algorithm's effect on the site.  So by that logic, you'd want to remove all the bad links.

But then we need to remember - this is an algorithm.  Has it seen some of the bad links but not classed them as "spammy/bad"? Those blog comments for instance, has the algorithm taken them into account? Or even registered them?

The point is that if you remove or disavow these spammy links, you could see your ranking decrease further, as they could be powering up your site still.  With your traffic and keywords recovering somewhat, this might not be a thing you want to do.

If a gun was put to my head - I'd go on the notion that removing or disavowing all of the bad links would be the most definitive way of removing the algorithmic penalty completely from your site.  However, all of those links would need to be replaced and I'm also living in a "perfect world" scenario.  Many people are sceptical over whether a completely recovery is even possible and if using the disavow tool is pretty much like opening up to crimes before Google.

It's just so hard to judge.  Looking at what's happening right now - I'd continue with the route of adding high quality and authoritative links to your site and monitor keyword and traffic progression.  If it keeps recovering - great.  If, eventually. the progression halts for a few months and won't improve no matter what you do - and you are not at a traffic or keyword level that you would be happy with - I'd then maybe look at the remaining bad links and say "you know what - you're holding us back now more than you (potentially) may be benefiting us. We're gonna get rid of you." Be completely thorough at this stage.

You'll probably see a rankings dip, but hopefully by resuming the healthy link building process you can reach new heights, which would hopefully vindicate the decision.

Hope this helps!

[PCasey86]

Thanks Tom,

I think we have a similar school of thought to that. We will continue to add good quality links and go for high authority links over a sustained period of time.

Unfortunately we worked with a bad SEO provider in the past who claimed "Google moved the goalposts" - this is utter none-sense as they just used spammy tactics for their clients to make money. In many ways I'm glad Google have updated their algorithm to be more sophisticated as it is rewarding the better SEO's & Link builders.

Eventually I think those bad links that are still in our profile will be diluted and we will remove them as I think they will negatively affect us at some point in the future i.e. "Panda 3.0" but that might be a few months off yet.

Cheers for the advice

Paul