How I Recovered From An Unnatural Links Manual Action

Have You been hit with a manual action from Google for “unnatural links” leaving your site? I have, and I fixed the problem, and my reconsideration request was successful.

In this installment of Feeling Fit For Bloggers, we explore a common issue faced by bloggers who review products or publish sponsored content. As bloggers, our relationship with Google is important — possibly second only to our relationship with our readers. Recently, Google reached out to many bloggers informing them of a manual action that affects their blogs placement in Google Search Rankings.

I was shocked and ashamed to discover this after noticing a dip in my organic search traffic. I visited my  Google Search Console account and discovered a manual action for “unnatural outbound links”.  My initial reaction was similar to the stages of grief… (Note: This is not intended to belittle anyone’s very real grief over major losses in life). 

My Initial Reaction to The Google Manual Action From Denial To Acceptance And Resolution.

First, I denied the problem!

The thing is, I have always used “nofollow” links for sponsored content and review items. I also always have been careful to include clear disclosures. I thought I was doing everything right. It turned out I was mistaken. After I worked through my initial reaction, I was able to identify and fix the problem. More about that later.

Next, I felt angry

Why was I singled out? I see so many bloggers who do not disclose and do not use “nofollow” links. At the time when I received my manual action, it was weeks before I learned other ethical and respectable bloggers also received the same action. Now, I realize I wasn’t exactly singled out.

Next, I started bargaining…

In my denial and anger, I actually submitted a request for reconsideration. Please, fellow bloggers, do not try this at home. Not yet anyway! In my request, I explained that I always follow Google’s Webmaster’s terms and could not understand why I was singled out. In hind sight, I wish I waited until I educated myself a little more.

Depression

I felt sad imagining that my site will be banned from Google searches. So far, I have been fortunate to receive a nice stream of organic traffic. 

Finally, I Accepted It And Decided To Fix The Problem

Unfortunately, Google didn’t offer much guidance. The guidance they offered said the issue was most likely paid links or participating in link schemes. As far as I knew, I had no do follow links that fit either category. So I did some research, by research I mean I did a Google search. 

Obviously, something was wrong with my site, and this is a chance to improve it! I decided to take on a major link cleanup. 

I realized, A Manual Action From Google In An Opportunity To Improve My Blog!

Before We Start, What Is A Manual Action From Google?

In this case, Google says it best, so I am sharing the following quote from Google’s site:

The Manual Actions report lists instances where a human reviewer has determined that pages on your site are not compliant with Google’s webmaster quality guidelines. Google’s algorithms can detect the vast majority of spam and demote it automatically; for the rest, we use human reviewers to manually review pages and flag them if they violate the guidelines. Flagged sites can be demoted or even removed entirely from Google search results. The Manual Actions page lists known issues on your site and provides information to help you address the problem. If your site’s ranking is affected by a manual spam action, we’ll also notify you by email and in the message center.”

Source Google’s Webmaster Quality Guidelines

There are a variety of “manual actions” including a hacked website, unnatural links pointing to your site, thin content, pure spam, and others. In my opinion, the “unnatural links coming from your site” it the easiest to fix as it involves something the blogger can control. 

It seems the recent surge in bloggers receiving this manual action may be a follow-up action to Google’s updated guidelines for bloggers that were posted mid-March 2016. 

I realize I should offer some explanation about dofollow vs nofollow links. The guidelines from Google and other sources I link to already offer clear explanations. Also,  here is a good description from Search Engine Land including an infographic on when and why to use “nofollow” links.

 

The 4-Step Short Cut Method:

1. Confirm You Have A Manual Action Against Your Site 

We all know bloggers must protect themselves from scammers, hackers, phishers, and trolls. For that reason, I strongly encourage everyone to verify! In addition to the email message from Google, there will be a notation on your Google Search Console Account. If you do not have a Google Search Console account, please open one. It is free and uses the same login as your Google Analytics account. Search Console (formerly Webmaster’s tools)  is where Google notifies you how well your site does in searches, which other sites link to you and any issues Google has noticed concerning your site. It is a wonderful, underrated, free resource. 

If your site has a manual action, you will find it listed in your account under the “search appearance” menu heading. Please do not disregard a manual action as it means your site is not performing as well in Google search results as it could.

2. Familiarize Yourself With Google’s Standards And Guidelines

Also please familiarize yourself with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and most specifically Best Practices for Bloggers Reviewing Free Products They Receive From Companies.

3. Fix Any “Unnatural Links” – Remove Them Or Code Them “nofollow”:

It seems that most of the bloggers hit with this action did not yet know about “nofollow” links. If this is you, correcting your links will most likely fix the issue. 

I recommend individually fixing each link by adding the “nofollow” code:

<a href=”http://yourwebsiteurl.com” rel=”nofollow”>Your Link Text</a>

However, there are shortcuts. Some plugins that will apply the code for you either to the links, to the page or even to your whole website. Some highly recommended plugins for WordPress include “Ultimate nofollow” and “Yoast SEO”. I use Yoast SEO for other reasons beyond “nofollow” but it also features an option to “nofollow” all links within a specific post. If you do a lot of reviews or sponsored posts, this may be an easier immediate fix.

However, I caution against relying on plugins too much. Some plugins slow site speed. Also, Plugins can sometimes be incompatible with certain themes or other plugins, and that can mess up the coding. When doing link cleanup, I discovered a few links were “dofollow” on posts where I used a plugin to add the “nofollow” code. I think this may have happened when my former host disabled all my plugins for a site migration. However, a good plugin is quick and easy solution for many bloggers!

The Types of Links That Should Be “nofollow”

• Any links to companies or brands included in sponsored content. This includes links to their social media channels.
• Any links to products that you review when you received the product for free or special reviewers discount.
• Any affiliate or referral links where you may receive some kind of compensation, prize or reward.
• Any links that could be considered a “link exchange”
• Links left by others in comments especially if you are not carefully screening these links (though this actually relates to a different manual action). 

Resource: After I started writing this post, I discovered another post from the blog Beauty and Fashion Tech. In some ways, this is the post I wanted to write, so reading it inspired me to focus more on my personal experience. This link offers great practical tips. I don’t fully agree with the types of links she suggests “nofollowing” (though I mostly agree). One exception is guest post links. I left those links as “dofollow” and my request for reconsideration was still successful. However, others may have a different experience. 

4.  Submit Your Request For Reconsideration

Once you have corrected links that may be in violation of Google’s standards, submit your request for reconsideration. Explain what actions you took to correct the problem.

I tracked my efforts in a Google Document and shared the link in my request. I should have waited to do this after I cleaned up my links. I submitted one request immediately then a second after I learned more about this issue and started my link cleanup. Google stated it may take a few weeks to respond. My reconsideration was accepted after about two weeks.

A More Detailed 7-Step Link Cleanup

Please keep in mind, some of this may actually be beyond the scope of this particular manual action. I am not an SEO expert and reading free SEO advice can result in seeing conflicting and often confusing advice.

My advice is to consider whether the advice makes sense.

• First, does it contribute to a good experience for readers?
• Second, does following this advice make it easier for search engines to categorize and “understand” your site? I point this out because there is some SEO advice that seems almost like black magic that you might want to stay clear of. 

Step 1: Login (or Signup) for Google Search Console Then Confirm You Site Has A Manual Action…

As mentioned earlier, check your Google Consult account for a manual action before proceeding. See step one in the shortcut method for more details.

Step 2: Familiarize Yourself With Google’s Terms And Conditions

Also please familiarize yourself with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and most specifically Best Practices for Bloggers Reviewing Free Products They Receive From Companies.

Step 3: Start Documenting Your Efforts

I used a Google Document to keep a journal of my link cleanup efforts. I eventually shared a link to my document with Google staff in my reconsideration request. If you simply need to turn “dofollow” links into “nofollow” this may not be necessary. In my case, I have over 400 posts and felt I was already following the guidelines, so it felt a little more complicated.

Step 4: Check To Ensure You Have Used Nofollow links for any “sponsored content” and correct

This one is obvious and pretty much the same as step three in the shorter method.

Step 5: Consider whether any of your links may be considered link schemes

The unnatural links manual action also includes “excessive link exchanges” and participation in “link schemes”. I am not sure exactly what Google considers a link scheme or excessive. However, I suspected this might have been part of my issue.

I participate in blogger linkups, giveaway hops, was co-hosting a weekly link up and participate in blogging networks that require I display their badge on my site. I always thought of these as networking. The blogging world is about networking and community. However, after researching this issue, I realize these may seem like link schemes to Google.

What Is A Link Scheme?

According to Google:

Excessive link exchanges (“Link to me and I’ll link to you”) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking… Additionally, creating links that weren’t editorially placed or vouched for by the site’s owner on a page, otherwise known as unnatural links, can be considered a violation of our guidelines. “

Source: Link schemes

While the real goal of most linkups and hops is not to boost “PageRank”, I can see that Google might see it that way. The links in Linkups are not editorially placed by the individual blogger so may fall into that category. 

In my cleanup efforts, I removed some of the outdated giveaway hop codes and links. I also noindexed and “nofollowed” any linky’s where the page content was not unique to my page. Some linky scripts already include the “nofollow” coding, and others do not. That may be one thing to look at if you are a blogger who habitually uses “nofollow” links as appropriate and still saw this manual action.

I also “nofollowed” the sidebar badges that link to networks and ambassador programs. I did not consider them advertisements, but sometimes the connections made through these programs led to review items, freebies, event invitations, and sponsorships.

Step 6: Consider Any Other Potentially Unnatural Links

Think about the types of outbound links you have on your site. For example, I have links to products I review, links to information resources, links in advertising, links to ambassador programs, links in my comment section and links to other bloggers in linkups. Knowing what you now know about Google’s recommended link practices, which links may be an issue. 

This is where it can get tricky. When I reflected on this, I realized that my display advertisements were Javascript and didn’t appear to contain the “nofollow” tag. I added that tag, but am not sure whether it made a difference. 

The other potentially troublesome link is links left in user comments. One week before I received the manual action I transitioned from using the Discus commenting system to native WordPress. Then I also added the plugin CommentLuv, which allows a commenter to list their most recent blog post. I did this as many readers discover new blogs from the comments section of other blogs. I had my comment links set as do follow links. I changed this to “nofollow” in case Google saw this as a link scheme. 

Step 7: Submit Your Request For Reconsideration

Once your link cleanup is done, submit a request for reconsideration through your Google Search Console Account. Google states it may take their staff a few weeks to visit, review and respond to your request. My request was successful, so I know first-hand that if you find and fix the issue, Google may remove the manual action.

 Whatever you do, don’t panic! An unnatural link manual action is an opportunity to improve your site and to improve your relationship with Google!