Search Engine Land
  • SEO
    • > All SEO
    • > What Is SEO?
    • > SEO Periodic Table
    • > Google: SEO
    • > Bing SEO
    • > Google Algorithm Updates
  • PPC
    • > All PPC
    • > What is PPC?
    • > Google Ads
    • > Microsoft Ads
    • > The Periodic Tables of PPC
  • Focuses
    • > Local
    • > Commerce
    • > Shopify SEO Guide
    • > Content
    • > Email Marketing Periodic Table
    • > Social Media Marketing
    • > Analytics
    • > Search Engine Land Awards
    • > All Focuses
  • SMX
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • About
    • > About Search Engine Land
    • > Newsletter
    • > Third Door Media
    • > Advertise

Processing...Please wait.

Search Engine Land » Channel » Content » Google: We Prefer To Assess Reconsideration Requests On Links Within Webmaster Tools However…

Google: We Prefer To Assess Reconsideration Requests On Links Within Webmaster Tools However…

What do webmasters do when receiving a manual action from Google telling them they have a penalty because of paid or bad links pointing to their site? Google told us back in June that we should use Google’s “links to your site” report within Webmaster Tools to analyze bad links pointing to our sites. In fact, […]

Barry Schwartz on August 15, 2013 at 9:11 am

google-webmaster-tools-video-1330350240What do webmasters do when receiving a manual action from Google telling them they have a penalty because of paid or bad links pointing to their site?

Google told us back in June that we should use Google’s “links to your site” report within Webmaster Tools to analyze bad links pointing to our sites.

In fact, earlier that month, a Google engineer who works in search quality named Aaseesh Marina told an SEO named Marie Haynes that using Google Webmaster Tools “Links to Your Site” section would be enough to discover the bad links pointing to your site and to submit a reconsideration request. I actually confirmed that with Google’s John Mueller later that day, and he did agree that the downloaded sample links report would be enough to find the bad links to your site.

Then last week, I spotted a help thread where Google sent an unnatural link notification to a webmaster, and one of the example links provided by Google in that notification was nowhere to be found in the link report within Google Webmaster Tools.

One would think that Google representatives Aaseesh Marina and John Mueller weren’t telling the whole truth when they said all you need to worry about are the links in the sample links report. So, I immediately emailed Google and asked them why are we getting mixed messaged.

Google’s Matt Cutts, the head of search spam, responded saying:

It’s certainly the case that we endeavor to show examples from the set of links returned by Webmaster Tools, and likewise we prefer to assess reconsideration requests on that basis of those links. However, if there’s a really good example link that illustrates a problem, we do leave enough room to share that link, especially because it can help point the webmaster in a better direction to diagnose and fix issues.

From this response, it seems that even if the link example is not removed but all the bad links found within webmaster tools are removed, Google may decide to lift the manual link penalty. I am not 100% clear on this, but that is my impression from this response.

Typically, Google is not asking you to remove all the bad links, but they want to see you make a significant effort to remove most of the bad links. Which may be why Aaseesh and John said it would be enough to just look at the links within Google Webmaster Tools.

Related Stories:

  • Google Advice On When To Submit Reconsideration Request & How To Clean Your Link Profile
  • Q&A With Google’s Matt Cutts On What To Do If You Get A Manual Penalty
  • How Google’s Disavow Links Tool Can Remove Penalties
  • Filing A Google Reconsideration Request? For Best Results, Use The Same Language As Your Site
  • Google Sending Additional Reconsideration Request Responses To Webmasters
  • Google Adds Reconsideration Request Status Updates
  • Google Penguin Update Recovery Tips & Advice

New on Search Engine Land

    New mobile Google ad experiment puts favicon in-line with display URL

    Google launches video health tools to help publisher monetization

    SEO pioneer and expert Bill Slawski passes away

    New Yelp feature: Request a Call

    Google Ads issue with access to video pages frontend

About The Author

Barry Schwartz
Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

Related Topics

ContentGoogleGoogle Algorithm UpdatesGoogle: SEOSearch QualitySEO

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Learn actionable search marketing tactics that can help you drive more traffic, leads, and revenue.

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 15-16, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

Discover time-saving technologies and actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges.

Start Discovering Now: Spring (virtual)

September 28-29, 2022: Fall (virtual)

Learn More About Our MarTech Events

Webinars

Take a Crawl, Walk, Run Approach to Multi-Channel ABM

Content Comes First: Transform Your Operations With DAM

Dominate Your Competition with Google Auction Insights and Search Intelligence

See More Webinars

Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports

White Papers

Reputation Management For Healthcare Organizations

Unlock the App Marketing Potential of QR Codes

Realising the power of virtual events for demand generation

The Progressive Marketer’s Ultimate Events Strategy 2022 Worksheet

CMO Guide: How to Plan Smart and Pivot Fast

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily search news and analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • SEO
  • PPC

Our Events

  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX
  • MarTech

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.