Just got this:
Google Unnatural Links Message

I applaud Google for notifying site owners that they have some spammy-looking links. I don’t applaud them for not telling site owners which links in particular look spammy. If you have been link-building, then you probably know where to look, but if like me, you haven’t, then you have to spend time figuring out where the crap is and trying to squash it. And in my case, my blog posts get copied by all sorts of assholes like The Sam Schwartz who can probably be categorized as “bad neighborhoods”.

Boo-hoo for me right?

So whenever I have heard a Googler talk about solving problems, like spam or bad data in Google Maps, the typical response is that they like to solve things with software – which is why it can take a long time for them to solve some of those not-easily-solved-with-software problems.

So by Google’s standards, isn’t forcing me to conduct a manual witch hunt for bad links a failure on their part?

UPDATE: Apparently I have had my head in the sand today. According to Matt Cutts on Google+, if you got one of these messages, you don’t need to panic, although your search traffic might drop. 🙂

Some helpful articles on these shenanigans:

Google Sends Out New Batch Of Unnatural Link Notifications
Insanity: Google Sends New Link Warnings, Then Says You Can Ignore Them

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3 Response Comments

  • T  July 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    “you don’t need to panic, although your search traffic might drop”

    I got my notice in March but didn’t notice until May, when my search traffic had started dropping. I responded to the notice but there is no personal communication from the Goog. I did state that I had done no link building to my site in years and I have never bought or sold links of any kind.

    Unfortunately, that does not matter. I can’t locate the bad links and Goog will not tell me which links are less than stellar and my search traffic has flat lined. I am basically out of business at this point.

    I had planned on transitioning out of local search in about a year. Looks like I will come up a little short of that mark. If your site is your primary business, like mine was, I truly hope you have better luck than I did.

    Thanks to a very successful career in local search, my current client base is keeping me from looking for a J-O-B but there is a definite limit to my future online. I haven’t received a new prospect call from my website since the first week of June.

    I do want to say that it was your website several years back that made me realize there might be a future in local SEO services for small business. I have made a very good living helping local business owners across the country improve their local search rankings. It was fun and profitable while it lasted.

    I wish you luck with your notice. You will need it.

  • Andrew Shotland  July 24, 2012 at 12:40 pm

    Wow Terry. Sorry to hear about your site. Hopefully LSG will make it through the storm.

    Happy to send some leads your way if you want.

  • T  July 24, 2012 at 8:13 pm

    I never turn down referrals or good leads. Much of my new business is coming from referrals and relationships I have made with web design companies.

    One side affect of less work is more free time and I am still earning more than an employer would pay me.

    I try to always stay positive 🙂