Link bombing - How can you protect against it?

Mihai · 08-14-2007, 03:55 AM

Recently I have came across somebody threatening a possible competitor with link bombing of his website - respectively link spamming so that Google would pick that up and lower the value of the target website in SERPs.

Now I have a few questions:

- Not being able to control who links to you, would Google penalize a website if such an attack happens ?
- What is to be done in order to protect / report such happenings and avoid being blackmailed by spammers ?

Thank you all for your time and experience.

WorldwideTrading · 08-14-2007, 03:58 AM

This is a proven black hat seo tactic called google bowling.

To find out more click here:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourc...google+bowling

Mihai · 08-14-2007, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cgreen

This is a proven black hat seo tactic called google bowling.

To find out more click here:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourc...google+bowling

Thank you for this tip, reputation given.

Mihai · 08-14-2007, 07:25 AM

Ok, after reading here and there I can see that this problem has been very public since 2005 and nothing has been done against it until today, middle of 2007.

I kindly ask more experienced SEOs to tell me what is to be done when you are threatened with such tactics.

Thank you.

toinkzzz · 08-14-2007, 09:40 AM

regular monitoring of your links can be the best move to prevent it.. get softwares that can detect all your possible links and check if your link is in good site...

coolguy27 · 08-14-2007, 09:42 AM

Google Bombing = Black Hat. Link Building = White Hat

It’s interesting that Google bombing is exactly the same as a link building campaign. Bombing is unethical, but link building is not....

Here is the link

Mihai · 08-14-2007, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toinkzzz

regular monitoring of your links can be the best move to prevent it.. get softwares that can detect all your possible links and check if your link is in good site...

Ok, lets say I detect Google bowling actions. I was already clear: in the scenario that I am aware of being spammed with IBLs, what can I do to protect myself? Is there any way to report / fight against this ? Will Google care to listen to you if such things happen ? I am asking advices according to real experience.

toinkzzz · 08-14-2007, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mihai

Ok, lets say I detect Google bowling actions. I was already clear: in the scenario that I am aware of being spammed with IBLs, what can I do to protect myself? Is there any way to report / fight against this ? Will Google care to listen to you if such things happen ? I am asking advices according to real experience.

I think google will possibly help you if you explain them well your side... you can tell them 'nobody wants to have a link in a bad sites,right?' but I think it is really hard to detect who's doing that to you... maybe if google can detect the IP of those who have done it and can track what are the sites they've visited....

Mihai · 08-14-2007, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toinkzzz

I think google will possibly help you if you explain them well your side... you can tell them 'nobody wants to have a link in a bad sites,right?' but I think it is really hard to detect who's doing that to you... maybe if google can detect the IP of those who have done it and can track what are the sites they've visited....

Google bowling is done automatically using proxy based tools similar to modern black hat spam utilities. In the case that I detect thousands of IBLs coming up from irrelevant sources, making it spam 100%, you really think Google will listen to my explanations ? My business would be probably already down in the SERPs by then...

toinkzzz · 08-14-2007, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mihai

Google bowling is done automatically using proxy based tools similar to modern black hat spam utilities. In the case that I detect thousands of IBLs coming up from irrelevant sources, making it spam 100%, you really think Google will listen to my explanations ? My business would be probably already down in the SERPs by then...

yup... you got the point...

i admit it is really hard to figure out what are the best way to prevent it...

Mihai · 08-14-2007, 10:05 AM

Somebody that has faced Google bowling - please reply to this thread

toinkzzz · 08-14-2007, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mihai

Somebody that has faced Google bowling - please reply to this thread

does you site is facing this google bowling?

Mihai · 08-14-2007, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toinkzzz

does you site is facing this google bowling?

No but I was threatened with link spamming by somebody that doesn't like a bit of competition in his niche and I am not sure what Google can do about people that find themselves in my situation. Having this said I would like to rely on my own defence methods rather than base my business on Google in case such things happen, reason why I posted this thread for advice from people that faced such problems already.