Google’s John Mueller was asked if a website was being penalized since of receiving thousands of adult links. John Mueller suggested the issue was not the links but the domain itself. John’s reaction amazed the publisher by explaining a much deeper issue that was the likelier cause of the ranking concern.
Finding Solutions to Ranking Issues
It’s not uncommon for sites to receive low quality links, including adult themed links. Poor quality spam links are simple to blame as the reason a site is underperforming.
Lots of publishers who think their websites are victims of low quality spam links will disavow those links yet continue to experience poor rankings.
From an outdoors viewpoint it is easy to understand that if a service does not solve the issue then possibly the diagnosis in inaccurate.
An inaccurate medical diagnosis resembles taking an aspirin for a headache when the issue is a broken arm.
Yet for lots of reasons, some publishers will continue insisting the issue needs to be the spammy links, neglecting that no quantity of link disavows provides relief.
Do not be among those publishers who settle on a medical diagnosis and refuse to consider that the issue might be something else. In almost every case, ranking problems are not due to random spammy links.
If the “pain” does not respond to disavows, then the probability is high that the problem is something else.
Related: How to Analyze the Reason For a Ranking Crash
This is what John Mueller encouraged:
” These sort of links from spammy sites are really typical. I wouldn’t always fret about that.”
I wish to stop briefly to explain that Mueller was stating that the countless adult links pointing at a site were not something to worry about which those type of links are common. What Mueller indicates by advising to not stress over those links is that Google is stopping them from adversely influencing a websites ranking.
Mueller continued:
” Something I did notice looking at your site is that it’s developed on an ended domain. There utilized to be entirely various content there. And that I believe is most likely the larger impact that you ‘d be seeing and not so much … the links from adult material sites.
But truly it’s like … your site is not what it utilized to be. There resembles a really big modification there, with concerns to the manner in which the material utilized to be and what you have there now.
So, on the one had I wouldn’t anticipate that your present website ranks the way that the old domain used to rank. I would anticipate that things are a little different.
On the other hand if you’re developing on an expired domain then certainly all of the important things that this domain has actually gathered throughout the years, they’re still around there too.”
A publisher who keeps an open mind and has the ability to accept that Google is discounting these kinds of spammy links will be able to look deeper and identify the likelier explanation for ranking problems.
Related: Google Advises About Spammy Backlinks
In this case the issue was the reality that the website was developed on an expired domain. It’s easy to point at the apparent perpetrator. However when it pertains to spam links that a publisher has nothing to do with, look elsewhere for the real reason why a site is having difficulty.
Mueller ended his action by stating:
” So it’s not that you can just state … they’re some random adult content links linking to my site and I do not know what the impact is.
However rather, you’re constructing on an extremely unsteady structure already and whether those particular links are the issue or like the entire shaky structure that’s kind of the question.”
Diagnosing Why a Website No Longer Ranks
An essential takeaway is that spam links that you have nothing to do with are not likely to be the reason a site is having ranking problems.
Look elsewhere for a reason why a website might not be underperforming. In taking a second look you might discover numerous more reasons, any among which might be a more likelier description.
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