Getting links is a big part of building a successful website, it has been for years and despite certain theories placing less importance on “link building” so to speak, they will continue to be a major part of online success for years to come. Sure, quality links are just one piece of the puzzle, you need a good social presence and strong, quality content, but a link from a high authority, relevant domain in your industry can still do a massive amount of good for your website, driving traffic and giving your site a boost in the eyes of Google and other search engines.
Like with most things in life though, there’s a bad to balance out the good when it comes to links, and this “bad” may be something that is hidden away, that you’ve never see or even thought about, yet it could be doing significant damage to your rankings and reputation. The fact of the matter is, you don’t have to own a website to be able to get a website to link to it, so even if you haven’t been requesting links from them, certain low quality websites could be linking to you, and dragging your name through the mud somewhat. Whether it be through others trying to target you with “Negative SEO” or your details being scraped and placed onto massive “link farm” directories, without even knowing it the fantastic links to your online car parts store could be being outdone by links from Portuguese time share websites and online casinos in the Caribbean.
As mentioned above though, these links are often coming through without the web master being aware of it, and therefore are left to do the damage without being dealt with properly, however, there is a way in which you can fight back. There are a wide range of different websites available out there, including Open Site Explorer and Google Webmaster Tools but to name a few which can help you quickly and easily view the entire back link profile of your website, so that you can find out exactly who is linking to you, and for what keywords.
But what’s the next step? You’ve found the low quality links that are holding you back, but how do you get rid of them? Well, then you have 1 of 2 options. If the website you are linked to seems to be a legitimate, regularly updated website that seems to be linking to you innocently, yet somehow doing damage, you can simply get in touch and ask them to remove it – don’t be afraid of offending them, its the success of your website/business that we’re talking about here! Should that method fail however, this is another solution, offered through the above mentioned Google Webmaster Tools, a solution known as the “Disavow Links” tool. Now, its worth noting that you should only use the Disavow links tool if you’re sure that the links in question are actually doing bad to your website, but if so all you need to do is note down the links, upload them onto the tool, and voila, from there on in Google will ignore those links to your website, meaning that they no longer pass on anything to your website, be it positive or negative. As mentioned before, you have to be careful with this tool, but when used properly it does the trick perfectly!
So many website owners have in the past built up websites and done all of their online marketing very well and then been left down heartened and confused by the lack of search engine related success, but the reality is that it could just be a few of these links that you’ve never even seen that are holding you back, so a regular backlink checkup is thoroughly recommended!
For more information regarding link building, how to check and remove backlinks, or anything SEO and digital marketing related, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the friendly and helpful Dijitul team today – by any of the means noted below – who will be more than happy to give you all of the help and information you require.
Phone: 01623 650333
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Twitter: @Dijitul
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