Google won't spider sites with "spammy" link exchanges

[Paz]

Hi,

I don't know if you've heard already, but Google's SEO spokesman Matt Cutts has suggested to webmasters who've seen their sites disappear from Google's index that they have "excessive" reciprocal links and are part of spammy link networks...

I've blogged about it in more detail here:
http://www.digital-m.co.za/seo-blog/2006/05/google-speaks-out-on-excessive.html

Cheers,
Paz.

[daniel]

Hey there

Im sure this has caused a lot of panic amongst those SEO'ers out there that have been doing a lot of recips and some to potentially bad neighbourhoods.

Bit of a chicken and egg situation for them now, either they remove all their links and potentially get a massive downward spiral of backlinks

or

wait and face the consequences.

mm, tricky decision to make, glad im not the one making it.

D

[Blazingpie]

yeah, this lack of spidering has hit our sites hard, esp seeing how google has gone and deindexed most of the pages.

One thing that im wanting to know is what Google considers an 'excessive' amount of recips...

another thing to ponder is that now that Matt Cutts has said that inbound links can affect Google's trust in your site (seems like that this the implementation of Trustrank...), how will G handle abuse of this system? I mean, all a competitor had to do is point a few million spammy links in your direction...

[Paz]

As an update, I've seen site with absolutely no reciprocals go AWOL last week.

The more I'm following this story in other forums, the more I'm inclined to believe that Google are dropping pages because they have problems with the Bigdaddy update.

Here's a Google blog on some problems they are having with the site: operator
http://sitemaps.blogspot.com/2006/05/issues-with-site-operator-query.html

Hidden in the text is the suggestion that they won't be refreshing the supplemental index until they've sorted them out.

I think Matt Cutts is pulling a fast one, and that he'll lose a lot of credibility over this.

Cheers,
Paz.

[Blazingpie]

I think Matt Cutts is pulling a fast one, and that he'll lose a lot of credibility over this.

Cheers,
Paz.

yeah, I think that he's been forced by upstairs to downplay all of this, and his cred will take a knock. Funny how he's suddenly taking vacation at a time like this... (no, no tinhat on my head... yet...)

[Chatmaster]

That recips had to become an issue at some stage had to be expected. However there are different recips as well. Natural linking can be reciprocal as well, but should occur naturally when it is contextual and themed although, not even that is a rule. I wonder where exactly they draw the line for excessive reciprocal linking.

[Blazingpie]

I wonder where exactly they draw the line for excessive reciprocal linking.

Personally, I think it depends on the competitiveness of the industry the site is in.

[Broker Boy]

Personally i think that because there are so many "quality signals" ( over 200 according to google ) built into google it is impossible to point a finger at anything and blame it for a site being dropped or devalued within the SERPS. It is and IMHO allways will be a mere facet of the larger situation.

Lets take an example.

I know of a site run by a friend and it has been online for about 8 years.

It doesn't have that many links and almost all of them are recips ( from research approx 85%).

The site is updated very regularly ( new content @ rate of 1 page per 1 1/2 weeks or so ) for its market.

This site was unaffected.

Why could this happen ?

Well personally i always try and think of google as a checks and balances system.

Fresh content ( Big Tick )
Over keyword optomised ( Small Cross)
Themed one way links ( Big Tick )
Themed Reciprocals ( Small tick to Small Cross [ this depends on how trusted the partner site is in google IMHO])
Strong varied anchor text ( Big Tick )
Age > 2 years ( Small Tick )
Age < 2 years ( Small Cross )
etc

There are many more signals ofcourse but this is how i tend to visualise the way google works out its SERPS.

You can make mistakes but if your possitives outway your negatives then you are unlikely to be kicked out or have your pages dropped from Google.

The site in question was able to beat the BIG TICK for high percentage of recips with a BIG TICK in site age, link age, anchor text and freshness of content.

So to conclude IMHO recips arnn't ( although in the right circumstances can be a factor of ) the kiss of death Mr Cutts has labeled them to.

Just my take on the situation

Cheers,

Broker Boy

[Paz]

.....

So to conclude IMHO recips arnn't ( although in the right circumstances can be a factor of ) the kiss of death Mr Cutts has labeled them to.

Just my take on the situation :yeah:

Hi Broker Boy!

Welcome to the forum - great first post!

Cheers,
Paz.