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Harold Mansfield
04-07-2016, 12:04 PM
Since most blackhat techniques are dead, unscrupulous webmasters and SEO companies have resorted to raising their own sites, by taking down yours. It gets more and more common everyday and I see it A LOT.


One thing many Web professionals have noticed over the last two or three years is the enormous rise in negative SEO techniques. Negative SEO is threatening safe, organic and natural search engine growth. Before we dive into the finer details, let’s answer the burning question: -


Read more here: Identifying and Preventing Negative SEO Attacks - 'Net Features - Website Magazine (http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2016/02/16/identifying-and-preventing-negative-seo-attacks.aspx)

KristineS
04-07-2016, 12:26 PM
Good article. Sad that the blackhats simply moved on to something else when their original techniques were discovered and banned, but I suppose that's the way it is. The best defense is to know what might be tried and to have a defense for it.

vangogh
04-07-2016, 12:27 PM
The thing about negative seo is that the more you do good seo, the less effect the negative seo has. That's been the case for the last decade. For example another site points spammy links at your site making it look like you're using techniques that go against search guidelines. The best counter is already having a lot of links that work within the guidelines, making the spammy ones a small percentage of your overall links. I'm sure Google won't count the bad links, but it's unlikely they're going to penalize you if they make up a small percentage of links.

On the other hand if your site hasn't earned good links a few bad links will make it appear like you're spamming and the odds in increase that it will hurt you.

My point being focus on doing the right things and the negative seo another company might engage in will be less effective.

cheta
08-22-2016, 02:21 AM
How are they taking down other webmasters' websites? it is just simply a matter of competition where those that invest his time, effort and energy into SEO promotions properly surely will get his website ranked higher in SERP rankings than others for the same or similar niche keywords. Nobody has any right to bring other sites down, it is just a matter fo competition and finally who wins!!!

Harold Mansfield
08-22-2016, 12:28 PM
How are they taking down other webmasters' websites?
Depends who the "they" is your talking about. Other websites ranking higher than yours isn't about them physically getting your site taken down, they're just beating you.


it is just simply a matter of competition where those that invest his time, effort and energy into SEO promotions properly surely will get his website ranked higher in SERP rankings than others for the same or similar niche keywords.
No. There are no guarantees. There are over 1.6 billion websites online, and it grows by about 140k new sites every day. Everyone can't be #1 or on the first page.
Yes, you have to put in the time to learn what you're doing and execute it consistently, but that is no guarantee that just because you put in the time that you'll beat the thousands of other people trying to beat you.

It's not just about putting in the work, you also have to be right, and good at it.


Nobody has any right to bring other sites down, it is just a matter fo competition and finally who wins!!!

Actually that's not true. There are plenty of ways that other people can physically take down your site. Your host could deactivate it for violating their terms of service. Google could delist or put you in the sandbox for violating theirs. ICANN can revoke your domain registration for violating thiers or any number of laws. Local, National or International Law enforcement can shut it down for breaking the law.

Who wins? The people who are the best. Just like everything else in life.

The article that started this thread is about black hat techniques and website hacks. Yes you're right, no one has a right to do that, but this is the real world and it's the WORLD wide web. It's almost impossible to control or govern something that doesn't technically fall under any jurisdiction and is open to anyone in the world.

Sarah K
09-27-2016, 11:13 PM
I wouldn't say Blackhat techniques are completely dead...some of the classic blackhat methods are, but a lot of people have just invented new ways to getting their website traffic. There's always a new trick out there that someone figures out, I hear about it pretty often on other forums actually.

jeffscott
07-02-2018, 11:50 PM
Negative attacks from SEO practitioners are already knew by Google and it will only ignore usually on spam links directing on the competitors sites.

Harold Mansfield
07-03-2018, 12:01 PM
Negative attacks from SEO practitioners are already knew by Google and it will only ignore usually on spam links directing on the competitors sites.
Google can't ignore links from other sites, that defeats the purpose of it's entire SEO algorithm. Individual sites can be delisted or sandboxed if they are link farms or break some other Google terms, but it's doubtful that they will look at your site alone, determine which links are "good' and "bad" and one by one discount that ones that you don't like.

It doesn't have to be from "rogue" sites. They can simply be from unrelated sites, sites in different languages, articles that say your site is incorrect, bad reviews and so on and so on. You can't look at it according to a set of rules that you've learned, you have to understand people who set out to break the rules to "beat the system". They are always finding ways to beat it.

And even if some of what you are saying is correct and "kicks in", how much time will it take? How long will your site be affected? How much money will you lose waiting?
Just like the lock on your front door, the best defense is prevent it from happening in the first place, and then having a plan to compensate and get back up and running quickly if/when it does. The last place you want to be is caught off guard.