More Proof of the Importance of Quality Content

You’ve heard it before – your website needs quality content. Google wants to see that you have unique content that provides valuable information. If you haven’t made sure you were providing this type of content in the past, you better get to work. Last month many webmasters noticed ranking changes. Was it another Panda? […]

Removing Bad Backlinks – New Year Resolution #1

One of the most important website ranking factors is the number of backlinks you have. A backlink is simply a link on another website to your website. In the past it seemed that he who had the most backlinks had the best rankings. So, many questionable search engine optimization tactics included getting the most links […]

Removing Bad Backlinks - Do It![/caption] One of the most important website ranking factors is the number of backlinks you have. A backlink is simply a link on another website to your website. In the past it seemed that he who had the most backlinks had the best rankings. So, many questionable search engine optimization tactics included getting the most links you could - even if those links were basically spam. This tactic seemed to work well for quite a while. Then along came Google's Penguin Update, which seeks to find spam and penalize those websites that rely upon it. If you have questionable backlinks and have seemed to somehow skate by this update, consider yourself lucky – but beware.
A Case Study On Just What Might Happen If You Don't Consider Removing Bad Backlinks
I had a client who was ranking very nicely for a well-searched keyword as a result of the services of their previous SEO company. They came to me because they also wanted to be found locally. After reviewing their website, I was surprised that they were ranking so high as their site was not well optimized. So I dug further and looked at their backlinks. There lied the answer. They had a tremendous number of backlinks, but 98% of them were spam. Bad SEO practices were working. I advised them that their backlinks were questionable at best and could pose problems in the future. They decided, against my advice, to ride it out, not wanting to take the risk of a drop in rankings if the number of their backlinks dropped. So, I simply went ahead and optimized their site for the local markets, for which they also ended up having high rankings. Those wonderful rankings lasted for 3 months! In June, the Penguin Update caught up with them. The client's rankings tanked. Nothing on their website changed. No real new backlinks had been created. No new competitor sites were launched. I suggested that the decrease in rankings was Penguin related. So, they retained me to get those backlinks removed.
How To Remove Backlinks
Unfortunately, there is no real quick fix. It is actually a very time consuming process, but one is this definitely necessary. I started with a thorough backlink audit, identifying the good and bad links using a backlink check tool such as SEOMoz Open Site Explorer and good old hand done research. I then went to each bad backlink website and manually requested that each of those bad backlinks be removed – either through contact boxes or direct email. Unfortunately this is not as easy as you may think. Some sites did not have contact information, so I had to do domain ownership searches. I used a site called Domaintools.com. To try and save time and money, I had the client reach out to their original SEO company for all of the contact information; however, the company insisted that they did nothing wrong and would not provide anything. So I continued on. When I finished I compiled an Excel spreadsheet highlighting the website address and date of my removal request. I then used this information to file a reconsideration request with Google outlining all of my removal requests and any problems I had encountered.
The Benefit of Spending Time Removing Bad Backlinks
Wouldn't you know it, within a single month the client's rankings rose again – actually they were even better than they were before. If you haven't been hit by Penguin, lucky you. If you are experiencing a drop in rankings, you may want to look into those backlinks." target="_blank">

Page Load Time and SEO? Yes, They are Connected, So You Better Check Your Site Speed.

A slow page load time doesn’t just cause visitors to hit the back button, it can also affect your rankings. Google announced it was including site speed in its ranking algorithms as far back as last year. At that time, Matt Cutts at Google clarified that it is only one of 200 factors that the […]

Different Search Results On Different Computers

If you are like our clients, you are always checking out your rankings on Google. Somewhere along the way, you may have noticed that your rankings are different on different computers. Unfortunately, a typically great feature of Google may be letting you think your rankings are much higher than they actually are. Why are rankings […]

More Proof of the Importance of Quality Content

Removing Bad Backlinks – New Year Resolution #1

A Case Study On Just What Might Happen If You Don't Consider Removing Bad Backlinks

How To Remove Backlinks

The Benefit of Spending Time Removing Bad Backlinks

Page Load Time and SEO? Yes, They are Connected, So You Better Check Your Site Speed.

Different Search Results On Different Computers