My site is linked from over 900 "The Globe"-domains - disavow or not?
-
Hi!
As some of you may be familiar with, there is a giant spam-network with the same design and same page title on all domains: "The Globe - The world's most visited web pages". For example:
theglobe.at
theglobe.co.za
www.internet-search.usI've now discovered that over 900 of these spam-domains link to my site. My plan was of course to disavow them all, but Google is explicit on telling me to be careful. «Only disavow if you are certain that the links are damaging to your rankings». And to be honest, I'm not sure.
Also: it seems drastic to disavow almost a thousand pages. I'm afraid to mess something up. What would you do?
-
I don't entirely agree with this approach when it comes to disavowing links. In disavowing, a more strategic approach is crucial.
If you or your team of SEOs have intentionally built links to manipulate SERP rankings, particularly if they fall under Google's definition of a Link Scheme, it is advisable to disavow them.
Google takes a dim view of such manipulative tactics, and disavowing these links can help protect your website's SEO integrity.
As for links from low-quality or junk websites, they may not always be directly harmful, but it's important to exercise caution.
While Google's algorithms are smart enough to recognize and often ignore such links when calculating page rank, it's still a good practice to periodically review your backlink profile and consider disavowing links from spammy or irrelevant sources.
This helps to maintain a healthy and authoritative link profile, which is essential for long-term SEO success.
-
It is worth mentioning that whoever owns these websites does mass linking on purpose. They have introduced a charge for a 'Delete Link' service that costs $36. This is a textbook example of a soft form of "digital extortion".
-
I have read all over the place how ignoring these domains Is the best policy, but disavowing the globe does improve search presence, so always disavow them. I have built a utility to target the globe and others.
https://dynamic.domains/disavow-utility.zip
-
The utility is hardly refined, and a work in progress but entirely functional and will make short work of the Globe. It can scan all domains in your linking domains file and search for specific text. If you are like me and sorting through thousands of links this can be life saver, as it will open each domain and scan for whatever keywords you like
You can search multiple keywords, just separate by comma. The below search text will weed out the Globe and a ton more.
keyword research,See related links to what you are looking for,popstripeRs,Search_Engine_Optimization_Services,Keyword Suggestions,This domain may be for sale,data-adblockkey,List website,complete online resource for web host providers,URLs categories for query and submission,Estadísticas web y datos de valoración simplificados,Ashibka.ru,Check Website IP on Server,Recently Analyzed Sites,research and analysis,Tools check keyword with Search Engines,1000 domain,the_worlds_most_visited
If you want to just single out the globe use the_worlds_most_visited, and it will get them all, and build a nice list for you.
-
-
I just did the same thing today. I re-signed back up with Moz today and noticed 900+ spam links that I didn’t even know existed. It’s from weird sites that I never heard of before. I put them all in the .txt and uploaded the list. Let’s see what happens
-
Thanks, Sindre! Our current visibility is high and I am not sure these are actually hurting us, but there are a lot of them and I am nervous. Great to know that you didn't see any negative results from doing this. I really appreciate your help!
-
Hi!
Yes, I did actually. After disavowing all the "The Globe"-domains + a hundred other spam domains, our visibility in Google organic actually went up quite a bit. So it was a success, and I recommend doing the same thing seeing as we seemed to be punished for the links.
For me this makes sense. Yes, I believe Google is extremely good at finding and diminishing these domains. On the other hand; if 1000 spam domains link to my site, they should be disavowed. If that didn't work, I would probably never bother to disavow again.
My concern in this whole thing was that we would lose visibility instead of gaining. But seeing as these are 100 % spam domains, I trusted Google to know this as well.
Best regards!
-
Did you ever see a result from this? I am in the same situation and trying to decide if I should just ignore them or if I should disavow. Would love to know what happened with your website.
-
Thank you your answer!
We actually went ahead and disavowed them. A total of 916 domains. I will make sure to post the results her (if there are any). I personally don't think there will be any effect, but time will show. No matter what happens, it's nice to be sure that we aren't getting punished for the links.
-
Hello Sindre,
TL;DR;
I wouldn't worry that much for those links as long as you find them spammy probably google will consider them as spam and don't consider them when ranking your page.
Only if you consider that those links are hurting your rankings use the disavow tool.Long explanation:
On one hand, Google (though their spokesman) said that the algorithm is pretty good finding and diminishing the strength of spammy links. So, if you talk to someone from Google right now, they might said: leave them, probably the algorithm will consider those as spammy and there will be no harm.On the other hand, If you are absolutely sure that those links are spammy and malicious... then go ahead and disavow them. Remember that it's possible to disavow an entire domain.
More info here: Disavow backlinks - Search Console HelpHope it helps.
Best luck
GR
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Impact of "noopener" Links
Hey all, Recently got a PR piece published with a link back to our website. The link was not showing up in the Moz crawler, but I did find it under unlinked mentions. When I checked the page with the link, I saw that it contained rel="noopener". So a couple questions: Is this similar to a nofollow link? If the Moz Crawler is not registering it as a dofollow link, does that mean that Google will view it similarly? Thanks!
Link Building | | mostcg0 -
How do the powerful links of an old domain help my new domain?
I recently purchased a domain with over twenty years age, a few .gov links and A LOT of .edu links. Of course, the domain is relevant to my site's content. I'm hosting the domain on my shared server and have setup 301 redirects for each page that had external links pointing to it via the htaccess file within the domain's root directory. These 301 redirects, of course, point to my new domain, which is on a dedicated server. Specifically, they point to a directory on my new domain. I've also verified the purchased domain and my new domain on Google Search Console/Webmaster Tools. Finally, I've completed a google site change request for the old site to point to my new site. My questions: Should I also list my old domain on the dedicated server over the shared server or does it matter? Will the backlinks of the old site show up in my new site's links via Google's search console, Open Site Explorer, etc.? Will the backlinks of the old site improve the authority of my domain? Also, keep in mind that I have the 301 redirects pointing to a directory on my new site, not the root page of the new domain. Will the backlinks of the old site help my new domain's authority? In the eyes of Moz I've read, NO. I understand it's just a MOZ metric but from what I understand it also correlates with Google's actual 'authority' metric/method of giving value to a particular domain over another based on the backlinks. How exactly do the backlinks of the old domain benefit my new domain and is there a way to measure this/see the relationship? Thank you for any help you're willing to give!
Link Building | | ninel_P0 -
Quote + Link from Associated Press
So almost everyone here has talked about the marvel (for a small business like me, at least) that is HARO. Recently, I was quoted in a story that was written by the Associated Press, by responding to a HARO inquiry. (story resides on their site here in case you want to look). So looking at it with a critical mindset, is this a glorified press release at this point (the thing shows up virtually everywhere since after all, it was written by the AP). Should I be expecting any SEO help from this?
Link Building | | MarkAselstine0 -
Should I ask sites that link to me to update links that redirect?
I have found some links to my site that go through a single 301 redirect to get to my site. Should I contact these websites to ask them to update the link, or is that not worth the time?
Link Building | | RCF0 -
A link with "return false"- OSE sees as a No Followed Link
Hello, I couldn't find a clear answer to the impact on SEO for a link written in this way: [" class="expert_info" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">](w</span>ww.yourwebsite.com<span style=) [Does the "return false" act as a "no follow"? I came across this in our link data in Open Site Explorer which lists these links all as "no follows." However, an engineer I spoke to said that it shouldn't impact search engine behavior. Any ideas? Thank you in advance! -Sarah K.](w</span>ww.yourwebsite.com<span style=)
Link Building | | OneMedical0 -
9306 inbound links but onle 143 root domains?
I need help with my link building efforts so I have started to search around for companies and/or freelance contractors to hire. I always ask for examples of sites they are working on. In many cases the number of inbound links are high (9306) compared to the number of root domains that are linked to (143). Or as in this sample (120792) inbound links compared to (157) linking domains http://www.shortsalesafe.com. How can this be? To me the only logical answer is "link farms" or some other form of black hat magic. Am I right in my assumption, or is there another logical answer for so many links with so few linking domains.? Thanks Gary
Link Building | | fun52dig0 -
If I write a PR release on a site such as PRweb with anchor-text links that is picked up and published by other news sites, do the engines consider this duplicate content or additional, beneficial links?
I recently wrote a news release on PRweb that was picked up identically by 8 other news websites, with the same anchor-text links as the original. Is the reproduction of duplicate content and links across different websites like this to the benefit or detriment of SEO and ranking power? Some of the links are: http://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/view/pressrelease/eventa-new-eventa-christmas-parties-website-is-launched-648923?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Alert&utm_content=pressrelease http://www.prweb.com/releases/christmasparties/neweventasite/prweb8562064.htm Many thanks!!
Link Building | | RobertHill0 -
Follow or Nofollow outbound links to resourceful, related site?
As I am going through and redeveloping a website, I am trying to add some external links to resourceful information regarding this page. Should I put a nofollow or follow attribute on these? I am only putting 1-5 links per page to associations and other organizations that would be beneficial to the visitor. I am worried about the number of outbound links causing me to get penalized. Ideas?
Link Building | | TKIGWebTeam0