What is Negative SEO
Negative SEO entails the utilization of black hat SEO techniques, not to enhance one’s website rankings but to sabotage another site’s rankings. This is often the outcome of a disgruntled competitor, though not exclusively. While most individuals adhere to ethical practices and support one another, it is still possible to fall prey to such an attack.
This article discusses measures to safeguard your website and the appropriate course of action if confronted with a detrimental SEO attack.
- Utilize Google Search Console
If you haven’t already, log into Google Search Console and configure your website for monitoring. Enable email alerts to be notified if Google detects any issues with your site. The console will inform you of server connectivity problems, indexing issues, malware detection, or manual penalties imposed by Google. Combine this with Google Analytics for a comprehensive view of your website’s performance.
- Monitor Site Speed
Site speed is a critical ranking factor. Utilize tools such as PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom to assess your page loading times. Keep in mind that users expect a page to load within two seconds, and 40% will abandon sites taking longer than three seconds to load. If your site is experiencing slowdowns and the cause is unclear, use crawl software like Screaming Frog to identify any suspicious elements. If the problem persists, consider the possibility of forceful crawling, which overloads server resources and can slow down or crash your site. In such cases, consult your webmaster or hosting provider to pinpoint the source of the load and address it accordingly.
- Regularly Check Your Backlinks
Building a spammy backlink profile is a common negative SEO attack. Low-quality links can be easily and inexpensively acquired but are undesirable for Google’s ranking algorithms. Monitor your backlinks using tools like Ahrefs, Majestic SEO, and Open Site Explorer, or automate the process with Monitor Backlinks, which will notify you of new backlinks. If you notice unsolicited backlinks, take action by removing or disavowing them.
If this happens, create a list of backlinks you want to remove. Then, try to get the links removed by reaching out to the webmaster, either through the website’s contact form, an email address listed on the website, or by finding contact information with the domain’s WHOIS information. If you can’t get them removed, you can disavow them, which tells Google to ignore them.
If you are struggling and are unsure what defines toxic or negative links, SEO Inc can help! We have an impressive 100% success rate of 35 out of 35 Google penalties removed using our proprietary Link Detox methodology and Backlink Profile Enhancement services. Although the timeline to detox your site depends on the number of links pointing to your site, we have all areas completed in 30 to 90 days. The results are explosive increases in traffic and revenue; even if you don’t have a penalty, EVERY SITE NEEDS TO HAVE A LINK DETOX. If you have questions or concerns regarding your link profile, you can schedule a call directly with our CEO Garry Grant. You can schedule a call with Garry by clicking here!
- Monitor Google My Business
Although negative reviews are not disastrous, a sudden influx can negatively impact your rankings. If you receive multiple negative reviews without a public relations issue, it may signify a malicious review attack. Respond promptly by flagging fake reviews and using social listening tools to monitor reviews across platforms.
- Watch for Scraped Content
Employ Copyscape to detect instances of your website content duplicated on other sites. To prevent accidental duplication, store your content in a private library and cross-check new content before publishing.
- Track Keyword Clickthrough Rates
By monitoring your clickthrough rates in Google Search Console, you can identify abnormal spikes potentially caused by bots targeting specific keywords to create false bounce rates. If you detect such activity, contact Google and disavow the problematic links.
- Implement Robust Site Security
Invest in comprehensive site security, such as the WordFence security plugin for WordPress, which scans your files for malware. The premium version also protects your site from spam attacks and blocks unauthorized sign-in attempts, specific IPs, and traffic from select countries.
Although negative SEO attacks remain uncommon, their frequency has increased. If your site’s performance suffers due to such an attack, remain calm and address the issue promptly. Inform Google of the situation and undertake appropriate measures, such as disavowing bad backlinks, issuing DMCA takedown notices for scraped content, or reporting fake reviews. Recovery is achievable.
Google Search Console is Your Best Friend
If you haven’t already, sign into the Google Search Console and set up your website for monitoring. Set up email alerts so you are notified if and when Google notices something wrong with your website. The Google Search Console will let you know if:
- The servers are having connectivity issues
- Pages are unable to be indexed
- Malware has been detected on your website
- Your site has received a manual penalty from Google
Using this alongside Google Analytics can help to get a better look at the big picture of your website activity.
More Testing Regarding Site Speed
Your site speed is a major ranking factor. You can use several tools like PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom to check how quickly your pages load. Remember that 47% of users expect a page to load in two seconds or less, and 40% will abandon sites that take longer than three seconds to load.
If you suspect your site is being attacked with forced crawling, contact your webmaster or hosting company for help determining where the load is coming from. Only then will you be able to take steps to stop it?
If you are struggling and are unsure what defines toxic or negative links, SEO Inc can help! We have an impressive 100% success rate of 35 out of 35 Google penalties removed using our proprietary Link Detox methodology and Backlink Profile Enhancement services. Although the timeline to detox your site depends on the number of links pointing to your site, we have all areas completed in 30 to 90 days. The results are explosive increases in traffic and revenue; even if you don’t have a penalty, EVERY SITE NEEDS TO HAVE A LINK DETOX. If you have questions or concerns regarding your link profile, you can schedule a call directly with our CEO Garry Grant. You can schedule a call with Garry by clicking here!
Rare But on the Rise
Though negative SEO attacks are rare, there have been more of them now than in the past. Don’t panic if you find your site tanking because someone has unleashed a fury on you, don’t panic. The search engine bots can tell you’re not the one behind the crazy activity and, as a result, aren’t likely to penalize you. As soon as you notice the issue, you can alert Google to let them know while you repair it. If it’s an issue of backlinks, create a list of the bad ones and disavow them. If it’s scraped content, send DMCA takedowns. If it’s a swarm of fake reviews, report them. You can and will recover.
