More SEO preparation for Google’s Penguin update

If you remember, we had an episode a few weeks ago that listed four different ways to make sure your website is free of spammy back links, prior to the upcoming Google Penguin update.

All of them were good advice but what if you’ve got a site that’s got hundreds of links? You can’t afford to take the time to click on every single link to find out whether or not the site is spammy and something you’d never want your website associated with. You need a way to generally streamline the process without having to take hours or days to finish.

The best way is to look at all of your links in a general way by going to majestic.com or one of the other sites that allow you to see all of your backlinks in one spot. Once you’ve pulled up your list, you’re going to be looking for some general red flags. In general, any domain name with the words article, directory, press, SEO, or submit in the URL are spammy sites. You can feel safe adding those links to your disavow file.

After you’ve cleaned out those obvious candidates, look for the originating country that the site is coming from. If the URL ends in .ru, .pl, .mx, .pk, or any other of the dozens of countries that are riddled with spammers, you’re pretty safe eliminating the link. The odds are good that it’s a spammy, useless link that will do you more harm than good when Google finally updates Penguin.

If you’ll look at a Google page listing for popular keywords like “skip bins,” you’ll see sites in the number one and two positions that won’t be there once the update happens. After that day, your site will be perfectly positioned to rise up in the ranks if you’ve done your homework ahead of time.

For more information, visit the StewArt Media website.

Jim Stewart is a leading expert in search engine optimisation. His business StewArt Media has worked with clients including Mars, M2 and the City of Melbourne.