joi, 14 august 2014

Lessons from the link penalty removal furnace

Lessons from the link penalty removal furnace

Link to White.net

Lessons from the link penalty removal furnace

Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:50 AM PDT

It’s a disappointing fact for many that the primary way we help some sites today is not by creating exciting content to entertain or educate, nor by helping launch an exciting new product or raising brand awareness. Instead we have to remove a manual link penalty applied by Google.

Indeed, a whole subset of our industry has evolved to help us undo work that others have sold to our clients or to frantically make edits as Google’s Quality Guidelines change.

Here at White.net we’ve helped a range of sites have differing types of manual penalties removed. It’s usually time-, budget- and energy-sapping work, and we’ve learnt a few lessons (sometimes the hard way) in the process.

Here are some of my favourite notes from this work. Hopefully, some of these tips will help you next time you’re facing that unassuming notification in Webmaster Tools…

Ask the client for any link building records & site log-ins

Just because we know it as link building, it doesn’t mean your client thinks of it that way. So, the first step, before all else, is to quiz your client or the person in charge of the website’s marketing if you are in-house. Ask them what SEO or promotional efforts were made in the past; not just link building but also guest posting, article submissions, widget creation, banner advertising etc. We want to learn of any promotion or activity on other sites.

Understanding what activity has occurred not only helps us analyse the backlink profile, it gives a starting point for finding contact details, log-ins and general access to potentially harmful links. If you’re cleaning up after a paid link building service, getting the reports of the links built is a helpful quick win – these are certain to be links to remove or disavow. Get this information, and get it early to help speed up some of the later elements of the process.

Gather *all* the links

Whatever your preferred link tool for most tasks, you need to grab links from as many different sources as possible to build up a complete, workable picture.

MajesticSEO, Ahrefs, Open Site Explorer, SEMRush are all sources of backlinks and downloading as many comprehensive reports from these tools as you have access to makes big difference. Of course, webmaster tools information is a must. If you have it, Bing Webmaster Tools is an excellent source, and if you want to see which links are getting you in trouble with Google, working with the links they show you in their Webmaster Tools is imperative. Google says that using only the data from Webmaster Tools is all you need, but I think getting as much data as possible is a safer bet.

Hit Google Webmaster Tools mutiple times

However, Google Webmaster Tools only gives you a sample of the links to your site that they know of. Even more frustratingly, it’s been reported multiple times that sites have received reconsideration request rejections with example links that were not shown in Webmaster Tools exports.

In his very informative write-up of Bronco’s link removal work, Dave Naylor notes that they download Webmaster Tools link exports daily and use  use an automated program to compare against previous downloads until they stop finding new links. This is very cool, but you don’t need to worry if this tech is beyond you. We started by simply exporting from Webmaster Tools every day for multiple days and de-duplicating in Excel until we didn’t find new links for several days in a row. Even then, we still check weekly for new links just to be on the safe side until the cleanup work is complete.

Use a tool to check the link profile

To manage the scale of many link-analysis projects there’s a range of tools now available to help identify potential issues. We’ve had success using LinkRisk, Link Detox, and URL Profiler.

What we have learnt is to use these tools to help spot the patterns of link building that are causing the issues. What we don’t do is rely on them – they are great tools, and boast an ever increasing number of cool features (LinkRisk can be linked with your aHrefs, Majestic and GWT accounts to auto pull in newly discovered links for example, and URL Profiler has a boatload of potential functions away from penalties), and can help classify your profile into manageable chunks…

…But, check every linking domain manually

No tool can tell you every link that needs removing or is worth keeping with 100% accuracy. There are many exceptions, unique circumstances and false positives (and false negatives, if that’s a real thing). As such, the only way to be sure you are casting an iron-clad removal list is to check each and every linking domain manually.

Yeah, this can be painful. And slow. And dull. It is, however, the only way to be sure. Once you’ve established the pattern of spam links it can become quick to categorise each domain as keep or remove – it is then just a matter of scale.

We’ve found that by using the tools to help us understand the link building patterns (directories, article submissions, guest posts etc.) and where to start (if using LinkRisk you’d start by checking the Bad, Suspect and Neutral links for example) we get a great head start. But the fastest way to eliminating all harmful links, and retaining genuine ones, is through good-old graft.

Write to sites, but only those you’ve a chance of getting a response from

Google wants you to clean up your profile, and show sufficient contrition for your crimes by having as many links removed as possible rather than just purely disavowing. They even ask you to wait several weeks between a reconsideration rejection and submitting a new request to ‘give sufficient time’ for removal work.

Tim Grice, someone with great expertise on penalty removal , notes here that his preferred method is to disavow all suspect links, and not to try and get links removed. Indeed, here at White.net we’ve seen one example of a site with a horrendous backlink profile (over 3,500 links we recommended removing) simply disavow nearly all their links and successfully get their penalty lifted without removing a single one.

It is possible therefore to have penalties removed without the effort to contact all linking sites, and this is a tactic worth considering. However, we have found that the sweet point is to contact the sites you know you can get a potential response from. Once you have examined all linking sites manually it is easy to classify links by the directory, article or link network they belong to.

Simply write to one of these, see if they respond, and only write to the others with a positive result (as you’re likely writing to the same person for each network’s sites). That way you can still contact every site, but where it is clear you are not getting a response and there’s tens of sites with the same template, you are not butting your head against a wall. Otherwise, concentrate on contacting other sites where you have a shot of getting a link removed, or nofollowed in the case of sponsored posts, banner ads and so on.

Be brutal

This is no time for subtlety. Nor sentimentality or giving the benefit of the doubt. If you can see this link pointing to the domain in question, the chances are your Google reviewer can see it. At this point your site is considered suspect in its activities, so what you think might not look too bad in isolation can absolutely still keep you in trouble.

This is a manual review, so you can’t always tell which links they will consider demonstrate you are still trying to be manipulative, so if in any doubt, get rid. Usually, it is clear what pattern of link building has occurred, so you can separate the genuine from the spammy, but err on the side of caution, even though it will sometimes hurt.

This is of course not a complete how-to list of removing a Google manual penalty (there’s plenty of those available), but does show the ethos of the successful penalty removal projects we have had. There’s some highly insightful articles that have helped shape our process, such as these thoughts from Chris Dyson and the various writings of Dr Marie Haynes - go check them out.

We’d love to hear what lessons you’ve learnt about penalty removal, or if you have had a different experience to us, so share here or let us know via Twitter!

The post Lessons from the link penalty removal furnace appeared first on White.net.

Seth's Blog : Doing the best I can

 

Doing the best I can

...is actually not the same as, "doing everything I can."

When we tell people we're doing the best we can, we're actually saying, "I'm doing the best I'm comfortable doing."

As you've probably discovered, great work makes us uncomfortable.

       

 

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miercuri, 13 august 2014

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Capital Flight From China, One Person at a Time, Via ATM and Bitcoin

Posted: 13 Aug 2014 12:55 PM PDT

In response to New Yuan Loans and Shadow Banking Collapse in China; Record Bank Deposit Slump reader "CF" from Hong Kong who works in China explains how he is pulling every cent he can out of renminbi (yuan) , converting instead to Hong Kong dollars.

From "CF" regarding his personal "capital flight" experiences ...
Hey Mish,

I am a reader from Hong Kong who works and lives in China and earns RMB. I never doubted a collapse in Chinese shadow banking would happen. I have been constantly converting my RMB into HKD. Before, I would just take 20,000 RMB (max allowed by customs) and withdraw the max from ATMs in Hong Kong each day and just eat the 15RMB fee/bank exchange rate.

[Mish note: 20,000 RMB is about $3248 at current pricing]

Now with bitcoin. I can convert RMB to bitcoin, send it to myself and put it back in my bank in Hong Kong as HKD without any currency controls. However, bitcoin is volatile so I only keep my cash in BTC for as little time as possible. The alternative is to sit hours at a tax bureau to obtain a certificate saying you paid taxes before you can remit any money at a bank that charges 200 RMB [$32.50] per wire transfer.

China is going to face some serious issues in the next decade or so. I've lived here for a few years and I can say that the apartment I rent which was built in late 2000's will not last 30 years. I've had pipe bursts, and cardboard walls fall apart.

My landlord told me she bought this apartment for her 5 year old when he gets married. It will never last. I'm willing to bet the building will be torn down. Starting over will be cheaper than fixing.

The scary thing is this is central Beijing - the capital. In engineering, there is a saying, "Cost, Speed, Quality; Choose 2", China clearly chose the Cheap, Fast building route.

Keep the articles coming.
"CF"
One person at a time adds up if enough do it. And I highly suspect they are.

Those in China may wish to consider GoldMoney which has Vaults in Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK.

GoldMoney allows Precious Metals Trading in Hong Kong Dollars, Australian Dollars, and New Zealand dollars , US dollars, and 5 other currencies.

For those looking for an EFT, please consider OUNZ.

I discuss OUNZ in How Much Gold Should Someone Own? Where and How To Own It?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Multi-Pronged Attack on Donetsk Rebels Likely Within Days

Posted: 13 Aug 2014 09:08 AM PDT

Donetsk is surrounded and rebels expect a major coordinated attack within days.

Here is a map of major military operations by both sides from August 1 to August 10.



click on map for sharper image

Legend

  • Blue jets inside red circles are locations where Ukrainian military planes are confirmed to have crashed after being shot down. (This is only for the period of the map, August 1-10.
  • Blue jets shooting into blue circles are locations of Ukrainian air raids, again just for the period August 1-10.
  • Blue circles with "X" inside them are Ukrainian artillery strikes.
  • Red circles with "X" inside them are rebel artillery strikes.
  • Red lines with arrows are rebel advances
  • Blue lines with arrows are Ukrainian advances
  • Solid red lines (no arrow tips) are rebel defense lines

The original map is in Russian. I asked reader Jacob Dreizin, a US citizen who speaks Russian and reads Ukrainian, to put the cities and captions in English.

The edited map above is what you see above. Click on first link for the original.

Jacob writes ...
Don't be fooled by the appearance of the site. This is a very well-informed, pro-rebel news and analysis site. You won't find any maps like this in American sources. The rebel-held area is in pink.

As you can see, the Ukrainians have made a very significant dent in the rebel south-center even as the encircled Ukrainian "cauldron" directly to the east was liquidated.

As you can also see, the city of Donetsk is hard-pressed. According to all rebel sources, a full multi-pronged advance on Donetsk is very likely to commence within the next few days.

I saw a headline about Kiev telling civilians to get out of the city. Good luck with that. Donetsk has almost a million residents. And the rebels have indicated that they finally have resources for a counterattack.

Here are some possible weapons Ukraine may use to take Donetsk:


As you can see, there are fates worse than "Grad".
In a follow-up just a bit ago Jacob commented "Two more Ukrainian combat detachments have been surrounded in the last 3 days or so, since the end of the period represented in that map. Understand that the rebel area functions as an amoeba that is capable of swallowing and liquidating Ukrainian units."

If the rebels can mount a counter-attack it will be because of equipment captured and men freed up from  the Southern cauldron. Regardless, an all-out surge on Donetsk will take many lives, and destroy the property of thousands. Scars will last for decades.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

New Yuan Loans and Shadow Banking Collapse in China; Record Bank Deposit Slump

Posted: 13 Aug 2014 12:05 AM PDT

A major alarm bell just rang in China with the release of July credit figures according to Macro Business Australia. Chinese Credit Just Collapsed and shadow banking with it.

Here are a couple of charts.

Yuan Loans



New yuan loans were 385.2 bn versus 780.0 bn expected and prior was 1080.

Shadow Banking



Aggregate social financing was 273 bn yuan versus 1500.0 bn expected and prior was 1970 bn implying that shadow banking credit contracted 112 bn in the month.

Record Bank Deposit Slump

Bloomberg reports China Record Bank-Deposit Slump in July Erodes Lending Capacity.
China's local-currency bank deposits fell by a record in July, eroding lenders' capacity to extend new credit just as the world's second-biggest economy shows signs of faltering.

Yuan-denominated deposits fell by 1.98 trillion yuan ($321 billion) to 111.62 trillion yuan from the previous month, the central bank said today. That's the biggest monthly decline in figures dating back to 2000.

A plunge in China's broadest measure of new credit last month and new yuan lending that was less than half of the median analyst estimate underscored risks of a deeper economic slowdown as a property slump bites.
China Credit Growth Declines Sharply

The Wall Street Journal reports China Credit Growth Declines Sharply.
China's credit growth dropped sharply in July after surging a month earlier, reflecting Beijing's concern over a rapid buildup of debt in the world's second-largest economy.

The growth of both bank loans and total aggregate credit hit their lowest single-month levels in over four years, although the decline in credit seemed to reflect moves by the central bank to rein in June's steep credit rise. Some economists suggested that it also reflected lower appetite for risk among banks.

In an unusual move, China's central bank released a statement following the data's release. July's slower credit growth is still within "a reasonable range," it said, adding that it would maintain steady credit growth in the coming months. Stock markets in China and Hong Kong fell on the surprisingly weak data.

The sharp decline in total credit was due to slower growth in bank loans as well as a decline in nonbank financing activities such as trust financing as Beijing cracks down on the country's ballooning shadow banking activities.

"If such slow credit growth continues over the next months, it will definitely affect the economy," said Standard Chartered economist Li Wei.

However, the credit growth in June and July combined didn't fall far from historical levels, suggesting that July's weak level may represent a correction from the previous month's strong credit growth.
Expect many more reports like these and dramatically lower GDP growth as well, if China makes any effort to rebalance its economy as I suspect it will be forced to do.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics


Memorable Moments From The Life Of Robin Williams

Posted: 13 Aug 2014 06:18 PM PDT

Robin Williams is gone way too soon. May he rest in peace.














What to Consider When Choosing Your Wedding Rings [Infographic]

Posted: 13 Aug 2014 03:05 PM PDT

You've got the all important engagement ring, so now it's time to start thinking about the wedding ring. Whether you want classic yellow gold or to opt for something a little different like white gold or rose gold, take a look at our latest infographic with all you could need to know when picking your wedding bands.

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Via hitched.co.in