Competitors Linking to My Site

[DarrenX]

One of the more successful competitors in my niche has embarked on new strategy that seems to be working well for him. I noticed that many new links began to appear to my site from my competitor's stable of many websites.

It appears that he has setup a link wheel to benefit a site that has been in the top Google position for several months now.  The rim of the wheel links back to authority sites, including my own main site (established 7 years, now hanging on to the lowly 10th place on the serp).  So the strategy seems to be: a) create a dozen sites that no-follow link back to authority sites including competitors, b) place links in a such a manner (bottom of page, uncolored links, from images) that a customer is unlikely to ever click on it, c.) do-follow to your own site and blast it to the top of Google.

I don't think this competitor is worried about getting penalized. I've been watching this for years. When one site gets burned, he just shifts things around and brings up another one of his sites. He seems to age them for years, calling them up one by one as they are needed.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is it a trend?  Because it sure seems to work. He's crowded the front page now with 4 of his sites.

Would it be appropriate for me to "disavow" his links? Would it matter?

[Shakur]

Hi there,

I have seen this tactic for years aswell. The thing is that it works very well for some. Some people will say that you have to remove them quickly because you are going to be penalised. But i have seen many big brands doing link wheels for all their sites, and they never have been penalised.

I presume your competitor is doing this because he wants to get more authority in his page referring authority sites in the niche.

For me the thing that you have to check is the quality of the backlinks, using the moz tools. Anyway keep an eye on them and if you see anything weird, write the webmaster and ask him to remove your links.

Good luck

[webmethod]

Link wheels are a pretty old school tactic and Google Penguin (links) & Panda (thin content) stamped out the wide-scale use of them.

Here's what I'd do in your situation:

1. Report his website(s) to Google, giving as much information as possible. The more information you can collect on the link wheel sites the better: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/paidlinks?pli=1&hl=en

2. There's no point you disavowing nofollow links to your website as they aren't passing link equity. You should only disavow them if they are followed links - for example if he was trying to get you a Google penalty by making it look like you were part of a paid link scheme.

3. Have a look at the highest quality backlinks his websites have (open site explorer). Chances are he has decent links outside of his link wheel that you don't if he's ranking above you. Take a look at his domain authority to get a general sense of how strong his organic profile is.

4. Take a long, hard look at your own site, content, offering and backlinks and try to improve it. Can you create engaging content for your customers? Can you create a unique proposition that will make you stand apart from your competitors?

All in all, despite the frustration I would avoid agonising over any dubious SEO tactics being used by your competitors - so long as they aren't negative SEO attacks on you. If they're willing to take such short-sighted risks then they risk long term harm to their business.

George