Do you have unnatural links? If so, you’ll want to do your best to prevent them from damaging your SEO efforts. Here’s a look at some things that you can do:<\/em><\/h4>\nGenerate an Inbound Link List<\/h3>\n
Even if you keep careful records of all of the links that you\u2019ve built over the years it\u2019s likely that there are plenty more that exist that you don\u2019t know about. You will need to use a tool to generate a complete list of all of your inbound links. Start with Google Webmaster Tools although it\u2019s also recommended to use other programs. SEO Moz and Majestic SEO are alternative options to generate a list of all inbound links. Since each program pulls data slightly differently it\u2019s likely that each will find a different set of links.<\/p>\n
Analyze and Remove Bad Links<\/h3>\n
Once you\u2019ve generated a list of all of your inbound links you\u2019ll need to go through and determine which of them are bad. This unfortunately is a manual process that takes time. Once you\u2019ve picked out the \u201cbad eggs\u201d reach out to the website owners and bloggers and ask them to remove the links to your site. It\u2019s important to stay organized throughout the process and keep track of when you sent requests and which ones have been removed.<\/p>\n
Build Quality Links the Right Way<\/h3>\n
Sometimes there is nothing that you can do about a bad link, even if you\u2019ve tried your hardest to get rid of it. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to spend time building good links that can outweigh the bad. Research link opportunities that are niche specific, start networking with others in the industry, get active in social media, and be on the lookout for guest blogging opportunities.<\/p>\n
If the bad links are only a small fraction of your total links it isn\u2019t as much of an issue. Keep in mind that these days, it is much better to take a long time to build high quality links the right way, by using social media, creating valuable content, and having a lot of patience. Over time, your good, high quality links will overshadow the bad ones.<\/p>\n
Create Great Content<\/h3>\n
The best links that you want your site to have are the ones that occur naturally and it\u2019s the content that you create that generates these links. Think about it. People aren\u2019t going to be sharing your directory listings or your industry profiles. They are going to be sharing what they actually find useful and beneficial. If you are continually writing great, original content people will notice it and share it and Google takes note of that. Google rewards websites that are \u201cfresh\u201d and continually providing great content. Setting up a blog on your website is a great way to do this. It keeps your site active, adds additional pages of content that can be crawled and indexed, and helps fuel social media.<\/p>\n
When it comes to creating a good link portfolio, patience is key! By doing things right, you will have a great list of links that will add value to your SEO program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a part of its effort to be more transparent about its practices, Google has been sending out a notification to webmasters alerting them when unnatural links are detected. The… More Info<\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22624,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat to Do if You Have Unnatural Links | Brick Marketing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you\u2019ve been handed an unnatural link penalty, it\u2019s important to do everything that you can in order to remedy the situation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brickmarketing.com\/blog\/unnatural-links\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What to Do if You Have Unnatural Links | Brick Marketing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you\u2019ve been handed an unnatural link penalty, it\u2019s important to do everything that you can in order to remedy the situation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.brickmarketing.com\/blog\/unnatural-links\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brick Marketing - Digital Marketing Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-04T05:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T17:06:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.brickmarketing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/bad-links.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2083\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2083\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nick Stamoulis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nick Stamoulis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nick Stamoulis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dd420fc038644ad2ee1a62912b6368fb\"},\"headline\":\"What to Do if You Have Unnatural Links\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-04T05:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-01T17:06:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links\"},\"wordCount\":636,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eqo6k4wde6o.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/bad-links.jpg?strip=all\",\"articleSection\":[\"SEO\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links\",\"name\":\"What to Do if You Have Unnatural Links | Brick Marketing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eqo6k4wde6o.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/bad-links.jpg?strip=all\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-04T05:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-01T17:06:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/dd420fc038644ad2ee1a62912b6368fb\"},\"description\":\"If you\u2019ve been handed an unnatural link penalty, it\u2019s important to do everything that you can in order to remedy the situation.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eqo6k4wde6o.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/bad-links.jpg?strip=all\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eqo6k4wde6o.exactdn.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/bad-links.jpg?strip=all\",\"width\":2083,\"height\":2083},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/blog\\\/unnatural-links#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What to Do if You Have Unnatural Links\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.brickmarketing.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Brick Marketing - 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As a part of its effort to be more transparent about its practices, Google has been sending out a notification to webmasters alerting them when unnatural links are detected. The notice itself serves as an FYI and doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that a penalty has occurred (yet).<\/p>\n