Last updated on December 22nd, 2015
Negative SEO is characterized by acquiring bad links (or even purchasing them) and/or manipulating your link profile. Some companies have even been known to try to lower the rankings of their competitors purposefully by reusing their content with the hope that the rival company is flagged.
Since these and other underhanded SEO tactics do occasionally work, you should implement some basic practices to ensure that your website is protected.
Here are some things to remember about negative SEO:
Negative SEO may be possible, but it’s not easy.
Thankfully, an average webmaster would probably not be able to target a well-made website successfully. This is especially true if the website already has high-quality links (including deep links) and a regular posting schedule for content. If your website is this established, it will take too much work to undo it; thus, your website will likely not be attractive to those practicing negative SEO.
Most webmasters will not attempt to devalue a high-quality website because it would cost too much time and money. Moreover, their efforts could fail.
Steps for Recovering from Negative SEO
Regardless of the fact that negative SEO is hard to achieve, this doesn’t mean your website is impenetrable. Fortunately, even if you happen to be an unlucky victim of negative SEO, you can recover with the right steps. First, you should check your Google Webmaster Tools account. Chances are you’ll be able to see why your rankings have dropped using this tool.
Next, you should work to improve your link profile (especially your outbound links), because if there’s any chance you’re spamming then Google will find out and you will be penalized.
You also need to pay attention to Google’s algorithm updates. It would be such a waste to make changes to your website to correct any damage from a negative SEO attack, only to receive more penalties once a new algorithm is released.
In the event this worst-scenario happens, you will have to delve deeper into your links and put forth more effort to clean your site up. Be patient, because this may take time. In the end though, it will help protect you from future attacks.
So while recovering from a negative SEO attack is doable, it isn’t pleasant. And the more time spent trying to dig yourself out of a hole, the more business you are losing by not showing up in the search results.
Get more tips and advice about the best SEO practices for optimizing your website on our blog and knowledge center. If you’re interested in seeing what real search engine optimization can do for your company, contact SEO Advantage today to find out how to dominate your market.