Download pdf - Negative SEO: Myths and reality - BrightonSEO April 2013

@irishwonder BrightonSEO, April 2013

Myths and Reality

@irishwonder BrightonSEO, April 2013 @irishwonder


 Is Negative SEO Real?   And should I really be worried?


  Google has updated the text of a webmaster answer in May 2012 http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=34449

“There's almost nothing a competitor can do to harm your ranking“

“Google works hard to prevent other webmasters from being able to harm your ranking”

@irishwonder BrightonSEO, April 2013 @irishwonder http://www.seobook.com/stop-questioning-negative-seo



 Another extremity…


  Negative SEO is to blame for everything that goes wrong


  Self-inflicted


  Self-inflicted


  Self-inflicted ◦  Insecure plugins ◦  Incorrect redirects ◦  Robots errors ◦  Deindexing own site ◦  Duplicate content


  Self-inflicted in Wordpress ◦  Indexable search results   http://www.domain.com/search/buy+viagra   http://www.domain.com/?s=buy+viagra ◦  Default robots.txt or no robots.txt

◦  Result: duplicate content + can be indexed for any sketchy stuff



 Can I protect myself from negative SEO?


 No, sorry


  But you can make it economically unviable to run a negative SEO campaign against your site



  Watch your anchor texts

Bonus: How to spot a possible negative SEO campaign using MajesticSEO: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-to-use-majesticseo-to-identify-a-possible -negative-seo-campaign-by-irish-wonder/56921/


  Watch your links


  Negative SEO is real   So is people’s stupidity and laziness   Avoid mistakes that can make a negative SEO

campaign against you easier   Make it economically unviable to run a

negative campaign against your site


  Oh, and add this to your Wordpress site’s robots.txt: ◦  Disallow: /search/ ◦  Disallow: /*?s=


•  [email protected] •  Twitter: @irishwonder •  Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/irishwonder •  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/irishwonder

Who am I: •  Independent SEO consultant at

irishwonder.com •  CMO of ContentMango.com •  Chief SEO Scientist at SearchWorks.eu