What to do when links cant be removed?

[GFPC]

So with all the Panda/Penguin issues going on - I am curious about what one should do. Say you have several sources of questionable links and your trying to have them removed but for one reason or another the sites linking to you either refuse to remove or cannot do it in a timely fashion. How do you get google to stop counting those links?

[leporello]

There's no real way. The only solution is to file a reinclusion request and include lists of all the links you've removed as well as the ones you've tried to remove.

Alternatively, you could contact the host of the site and explain that the site is spam linking to your site which is hurting you.

[GFPC]

Yeah i see what you mean. What does Google do when you send them a list of sites that won't remove the links? Do they just discount them?

[Michael Martinez]

According to an article Danny Sullivan published on Search Engine Land this week, the semi-official word from Matt Cutts is: IF YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE LINKS, start over with a new domain.

I know that sounds cold, but I'm just passing on what Danny wrote.

[GFPC]

According to an article Danny Sullivan published on Search Engine Land this week, the semi-official word from Matt Cutts is: IF YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE LINKS, start over with a new domain.

I know that sounds cold, but I'm just passing on what Danny wrote.

Thus Neg SEO can flourish theoretically.

Would that mean a 301 redirect would be the way to go - just transfer all your site to a new domain?

If so, would it be possible to just transfer it to say a dot net version of the same domain?

[Strider1973]

What about adding new links? After adding enough "good" links the weight of the "bad" links could become small enough so that they don't hurt you anymore? Just a theory...

[GFPC]

What about adding new links? After adding enough "good" links the weight of the "bad" links could become small enough so that they don't hurt you anymore? Just a theory...

I also wondered about that - but I get the impression based on a few conversations its best to start over - I am just wondering if the 301 to a new domain actually works - I hear conflicting stories on this.

[Peter Willis]

301ing is pretty pointless if your goal is to escape the bad links, since they will follow you.

If you've been penalised, a 301 will bring you back for a short while to a similar position you were in previously, but the penalty will catch up on the new domain within a month or two from my experience.

[Notspot]

According to an article Danny Sullivan published on Search Engine Land this week, the semi-official word from Matt Cutts is: IF YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE LINKS, start over with a new domain.

I know that sounds cold, but I'm just passing on what Danny wrote.

Wow, wtg google. If this is true it's monumentally short sighted.

So what they're saying is a decent business with natural linking can end up having their domain trashed and all their branding out the window 'cos some low life spammer decided they wanted their spots in the SERP's?

Should be saying if you cannot get rid of the links then we will penalise the sites with the outgoing bad links. Cut out all the abandoned crappy sites and make the true culprits, the sites creating this mess, disappear.

Google is just being lazy, maybe they aren't as capable of developing a good algo as they think. I've always seen the logic behind google's updates, even if it's hurt me, now I'm just annoyed.

[GFPC]

Should be saying if you cannot get rid of the links then we will penalise the sites with the outgoing bad links. Cut out all the abandoned crappy sites and make the true culprits, the sites creating this mess, disappear.

Good point.. They do ask for you for info on your attempt to get them removed and i guess they can do something along these lines already - problem is these links are from a PAL member and i would rather not report these to Google. If you know what i mean. Trying to be nice and ask them to please remove now but its getting to the point if they do not remove them what else can you do?