If an inbound link contains words like “Designed by” or taiwan phone code “Developed by,” especially if they are keywords, we strongly recommend that you analyze these types of links as quickly as possible to clarify to what extent they may affect you.
Tips to avoid penalties:
Set the rel=”nofollow” attribute.
In some cases replacing the anchor text works.
Remove the link.
Disavow the link.
Minor cases
The following cases represent less than 1% of our research.
Old job postings. Google usually warns webmasters who own job sites. It is your responsibility to remove old listings if you do not want to be penalized.
Product review links.
Links in podcasts. A link to a company (branded and naked URL links), money links, and keyword stuffing descriptions.
Scholarship links. These links are aimed at getting traffic from .edu resources. If your offer is not related to the topic, you will be penalized.
Hotlinking. A direct link to content on another website (images, videos, documents, audio files, etc.), which results in bandwidth theft from the website hosting the content and copyright infringement.
Adult content links.
Links in automatically generated content.
Reciprocal links.
Links in infographics.
How to avoid a Google penalty for unnatural inbound links?
If you want your link building strategy to pay off, keep an eye on your backlink profile.
Use the SEMrush Backlink Audit tool to find problematic links.
Here are some steps to follow:
Perform a detailed audit of your profile's backlinks on a regular basis (at least once a month).
Monitor your backlink profile for an excessive amount of suspicious inbound links.
Review your anchor texts from time to time and avoid an excessive number of exact anchors. If you are using money anchors, add variety with SEMrush's Keyword Magic Tool . Use similar or related keywords.
If in doubt, use the rel=”nofollow” attribute.
Get rid of pure spam: remove and disavow those links.
How to recover from a Google penalty for unnatural inbound links?
Google Penalties - Webmaster Guidelines
Google Notification of a Penalty for Unnatural Inbound Links
Google Penalties - Organic Research
Example of a drop in traffic after a penalty
Be patient!
Don't try to trick Google.
Just follow these simple steps.
1.- Collect this information
How exactly has the penalty affected you? Was it site-wide or did it only affect a specific property, page or section of the website?
Examples of unnatural Google URLs.
Rankings, traffic, keywords and pages on your website, as well as noticeable drops in rankings.
The speed of your website's links. Pay attention to irregular changes in the data.
Backlink data from different sources, Google Search Console data is a must (you can easily upload the data with the Backlink Audit tool).