Link directories question

[anthonytjm]

Looking over a clients site and they have a bunch of link directory links that seem very skeptical to me, but the mozrank and authority seem to be ok on the home page.

One directory is addlinkzfree and they have the same template and layout as a few other directories this client has. Link page has no juice whatsover, but home page has PA 54, MR 5.04 and root domain is DA 45.

At first glance this would appear to be respectable numbers right? But the title of the directory and multitude of links lead me to think its nothing but a link farm.

Should I advise the client to run and try to remove links from these type sites even though home page has decent scores? Im of the mindset that anything diredctory with links, free, partners etc in title need be avoided.

Would appreciate any backup on this or am I just being paranoid?

[Horizon]

Hi Anthony,

It sounds as though your client may have used an "SEO Agency" before... But perhaps not a very good one.

It's always quite hard to tell if backlinks are harming a site or not. Has your client had any drop in rankings / traffic since Google Panda first came onto the scene around 18 months ago? Or with any subsequent update on Panda since? A quick way to work this out is by comparing traffic in analytics to SEOmoz's Google algorith change calendar here - http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change. If there's no noticeable drop in rankings/traffic, then the site has either; always been negatively affected by these links, or hasn't yet been negatively affected by these links, or won't be negatively affected by these links. This now makes your task a little harder!

Instead of running around and removing links, you can disavow links (see SEOmoz blog post here - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/googles-disavow-tool-take-a-deep-breath). Take Dr Pete's advice though, only disavow if you're sure you have been negatively affected by backlinks.

Hope that helps.

Matt

[anthonytjm]

Thanks Matt,

The seo agency came into play post penguin / panda. Flags and bells are going off in my head like a four alarm fire in reviewing their monthly reports.All links are using main keyword phrase and linking to home page.  There is no variety in phrase or landing page, and I suspect thats why the client is not ranking well and got a seo agency involved.

Said agency claims to do white hat practices but I just cant find any, as stated above.

Before I post my findings Id like to make sure my approach and suspicions are valid and backed up by others in this fine community.

[Horizon]

Do you know what, I knew that was going to be your response

The amount of times I have heard of "reputable" SEO companies doing the same old things is truly horrifying. If they are like the others I have heard of, the likelihood is that they have probably made it quite easy for you to disavow the links by adding approx 20+ links across various pages from each domain? Therefore, when and if you disavow, just disavow the whole domain and that's all of them done.

This is of course you are left with no choice but to disavow.

Best of luck Anthony!

Matt