This morning I received an email from “Link Removal” with the subject line “You’ll never believe the message we got from Google…” Needless to say, I was intrigued. It turns out that the sender wants me to remove some links to a site.
I always enjoyed critiquing link request emails in one of my other SEO blogs, but now it looks like I can start critiquing link removal requests. Here’s the text of the email, with the identifying stuff removed:
Hi,
Google has complained to us about some of the links to our site, and we fear that the links on your site to ours may look like paid links. For that reason, we would like to request that you remove the link to example.com from your webpage (below) and any other links you may have pointing to our website:
http://www.example.com/forum/showthread.php?123-example&p=1234
http://www.example.com/forum/showthread.php?123-example&p=1234&mode=linear
http://www.example.com/forum/showthread.php?123-example&p=1234&mode=threaded
http://www.example.com/forum/showthread.php?123-example&p=1234&viewfull=1
http://www.example.com/forum/showthread.php?123-example/page2
Please confirm once this is completed.
Thank you!
What’s wrong with this request? Let me count the ways:
1. The sender didn’t address me by name. Since the link was placed on a forum I operate, and since I use my real name as the administrator at the forum, it would have been easy to address me by name. I’d be more likely to waste my time complying with the sender’s request if that were the case.
2. I doubt that Google actually “complained”. I know what the sender means here, but the way the email makes it sound is that Matt Cutts called him on the phone to complain specifically about this link in this post, which is unlikely (to say the least). Credibility matters.
3. The line “Please confirm once this is completed” makes it sound like I’m an employee receiving instructions from an employer. I’m not. This phrasing is going to irritate most webmasters I know.
4. The email claims that this link looks like a paid link. It doesn’t look like a paid link–not even close. If anything, it looks like forum spam, but God forbid that you make it sound like it’s anything but MY fault that your site is ranking well in Google.
5. There’s no signature. Why on Earth would I comply with an anonymous email? It turns out that I’m acquainted with the forum poster who put a link up to this site, so now I doubt whether or not this is in any way a legitimate link removal request. In fact, I think it’s possibly an attempt at negative SEO.
6. When I visit the website in the email address, nothing’s there. If you send an email from an address, especially if the address is presumably a link removal specialist company domain, wouldn’t it make sense to at least put up a one page site there? Again, this detracts from credibility.
7. The site is penalized, but I doubt it’s because of that single link placed in my forum. I can tell the site has a Google penalty by looking at how its homepage ranks for its target term, but I can’t imagine that it’s because of the link from my site. When I do a little bit of backlink research, I find a lot of backlinks from forum profiles. Asking the forum owners to remove those links is a little presumptuous, don’t you think?
The one thing these guys sort of did right was using the line “You’ll Never Believe the Message We Got from Google…” in the subject line. I still think it’s disingenuous, but at least it got me to open and read the email. I mean, it’s a better subject line than “Link Removal Request” or something like that.
A Better Plan
If your site is penalized because you spammed the hell out of a bunch of forums, I have a better idea for you than spamming those forum owners with requests to remove their links. Try this instead:
Start over on a new domain.
You’d spend less time getting those negative links removed, and you wouldn’t have to spend a bunch of time going back and forth with Google in Webmaster Tools. You could move the content to a new domain and probably start ranking immediately. In fact, you could even contact the sources of your legitimate links and ask them to update them to your new domain.
Which Brings Me to Another Point…
I can already hear the objection to this idea, “I spent a lot of money on that two word exact match domain. I hate to waste it.”
I can understand that. Heck, I think it’s a shame that this entire “link removal request” industry is even necessary or even exists.
But it does remind me that a two word exact match domain isn’t worth much if you you’re going to get yourself penalized with a spammy linkbuilding approach.
For Your Next Domain Purchase
When and if you do relaunch a new site on a new domain, and you’re ready to start getting links, think about using a more sustainable and reasonable linkbuilding approach. In fact, a passive link acquisition strategy is a lot less likely to result in the need to send out lame, useless, ineffective emails like the one I quoted above.
If you want to learn more about passive link acquisition AND about how to handle toxic link removal, check out this webinar: https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/7437/84753. Disclosure–my partner Michael Martinez is one of the two presenters.
Read More about Search Engine Optimization
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