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CASE STUDY: Negative SEO - Results - Main Backlinks/SEO Discussion - Traffic Planet
Gets pretty crazy... 8 pages of gold. Comment here though so others can see. And your welcome.
#read
  • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
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  • Profile picture of the author song444
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    • Profile picture of the author ExRat
      Hi snhostsn,

      Absolutely fascinating, well worth a read, thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author webinventaekhlas
    I am following that link now!
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  • Profile picture of the author ElectricChili
    I wonder how many proxies he smoked through to do 1M blast! This is fascinating. Hopefully big G will see the environment they've created.
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  • Profile picture of the author georgem78
    It's news. The story shatters some myths regarding Negative SEO.
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    • Profile picture of the author jonathanleger
      Originally Posted by georgem78 View Post

      It's news. The story shatters some myths regarding Negative SEO.
      No it doesn't:

      So far, I have gained more Google traffic from this than I've "lost." They drove my site all the way to page 1 for [seo] before it fell back some, but it's still higher than before.

      Negative SEO is a big fat fail here. They selectively choose which rankings to measure when, but Analytics will show you....

      Twitter / Dan Thies: Say something stupid, get ...
      GoogleBowling, Negative SEO & Outing | SEO Book.com
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      • Profile picture of the author mrultra
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        • Profile picture of the author gearmonkey
          Originally Posted by mrultra View Post

          It shatters it at least as much as the anecdotal evidence you posted on your site disproves it.

          He was at number 8 before the experiment.....he's at 30-35 now. Make of that what you will.

          Meanwhile, something for folks to keep in mind....if negative seo isn't possible, then you no longer have to worry about building spam links, buying links, etc because they can't hurt you. If a competitor can't hurt you with spammy links, then you can't hurt yourself with spammy links. If you can hurt yourself with bad links however, then guess what? So can a competitor.
          Well said! Nobody is willing to blast 200,000 spam links to their money site because they know the negative impact it will have. Blast 200,000 spam links to the website in the #1 position you are targeting and you'll see it drop like a rock.

          I suspect Google will be reverting back to the old algorithm within the next couple weeks till they figure out what to do. The last thing they want is negative publicity, and that is exactly what they have right now.

          They certainly opened up a big smelly can of worms!
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  • Profile picture of the author snhostsn
    You see rand hopping in the mix?... lol... the truth is probably that despite the widespread penalties, it is going to be hard to effectively execute negative seo... this is primarily because its likely the case that the negative impact of a penalty is proportionate to the possitive impact the activity initially had.

    Take bmr for example... i know that i got years of positive juice from its use... so applying a penalty would make sense. Why would someone increase my rankings for me for months or years with the hopes that eventually it would backfire?

    It has always been the case that large link blasts on other sites would make them drop like a rock for a couple of days. What has yet to be proven is whether or not a longer lasting penalty like many bmr users are suffering can be intentionally caused without the offending activity first providing long term benefits.

    Its my hunch this is googles formula. Only when an acivity is beneficial to a sites rank for a long period will it incur a longer penalty when identified. By further limiting the penalty to being keyword/page specific... Google makes virtually impossible to hurt another site without first helping them tremendously.

    Love Dan and Rand finding jesus a little though. This thread is seo drama as a high art.
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  • Profile picture of the author Oranges
    People at TP are going crazy over this.
    Google have created a huge mess with this "Unnatural Links" penalty.
    And the moment average joe know about it, it will be mayhem and going to get ugly.
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  • Profile picture of the author soldoni
    Its helpful to all.. nice one good.
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  • Profile picture of the author snhostsn
    wild right?
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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Google is in a huge mess right now... HUGE MESS.
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    People make good money selling to the rich. But the rich got rich selling to the masses.
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    • Profile picture of the author remodeler
      Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso View Post

      Google is in a huge mess right now... HUGE MESS.
      I second that. They have created quite a situation that is beginning to get worse by the day.
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      • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
        Originally Posted by remodeler View Post

        I second that. They have created quite a situation that is beginning to get worse by the day.
        I was discussing this with my partner and she simply CAN'T understand how Google let this go for so long.

        Last couple months it was dead obvious this would happen.
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        People make good money selling to the rich. But the rich got rich selling to the masses.
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  • Profile picture of the author JeanneLynn
    I read it and I'm worried. Scary...

    Why does Google penalize for spam links? They should just ignore them instead. Anyone could be attacked at any time.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    IMO, the whole thing is a publicity spamfest! :rolleyes:

    Stop looking at what you want to be wrong & look at what's happening, he is driving lots of traffic from the drama.
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    • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      IMO, the whole thing is a publicity spamfest! :rolleyes:

      Stop looking at what you want to be wrong & look at what's happening, he is driving lots of traffic from the drama.
      Sorry Yuk, but **** just hit the fan.

      This is very real, and I see Google having to come forward about this pretty soon.

      Remember my thread LAST YEAR about this? Remember when I told you guys repeatedly that negative seo is possible? Remember when I said Portugal is some sort of ground test for major updates - hence we get them before the community over here, sometimes with months in advance?

      I am a low profile guy, and most of you don't listen to me - which is fine, I don't want to be a guru or anything and I live just fine this way. But I have been warning you guys here and there for months now.

      Not only me, more people in this forum have provided CLUES of what was coming.

      **** is hitting the fan for Google.
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      • Profile picture of the author JEasy
        Yeah this is really going to get really ugly. I can't believe those dudes went through the trouble of doing this.

        Anyone who doesn't like you can now trash your site and make you look like the spammer! Google does it again. They have no idea what they've started.
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
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        Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso View Post

        Sorry Yuk, but **** just hit the fan.

        This is very real, and I see Google having to come forward about this pretty soon.

        Remember my thread LAST YEAR about this? Remember when I told you guys repeatedly that negative seo is possible? Remember when I said Portugal is some sort of ground test for major updates - hence we get them before the community over here, sometimes with months in advance?

        I am a low profile guy, and most of you don't listen to me - which is fine, I don't want to be a guru or anything and I live just fine this way. But I have been warning you guys here and there for months now.

        Not only me, more people in this forum have provided CLUES of what was coming.

        **** is hitting the fan for Google.
        All I see in the related threads/post here on WF & the external links that people keep posting is free advertising.

        What would be funny is If both parties were the same person, promoting the negative seo site/business, lol.

        The last time this subject came up I asked one of the negative seo promoters to bury the Warrior forum thread (single page) in the SERPs, nobody did anything besides talk.
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        • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
          Originally Posted by yukon View Post

          All I see in the related threads/post here on WF & the external links that people keep posting is free advertising.

          What would be funny is If both parties were the same person, promoting the negative seo site/business, lol.

          The last time this subject came up I asked one of the negative seo promoters to bury the Warrior forum thread (single page) in the SERPs, nobody did anything besides talk.
          So you're saying negative SEO is factually not real?
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          • Profile picture of the author yukon
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            Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso View Post

            So you're saying negative SEO is factually not real?
            All I know is what I see, & so far that's just 2 parties getting lots of free traffic.

            I have no interest in anything related to negative SEO, it's counterproductive & serves no purpose to sabotage other sites. What happens when the first site is removed from the first SERP position, then what, are they going to keep spending money to eliminate the other competition that keeps popping up over the next 10 years (I doubt it)?

            I would rather spend my time building content & traffic than worrying about any other sites that I don't own. I get less than 50% of my traffic from the SERPs, that didn't happen by accident, that happened by planning & having good content, well that & a few related niche forums.

            Create good content that people want & focus on multiple targeted traffic sources, you can't go wrong.
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            • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
              Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso View Post

              So you're saying negative SEO is factually not real?
              Originally Posted by yukon View Post

              All I know is what I see
              You can't see the bottom of the ocean - YET it's there and it's perfectly real.

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              • Profile picture of the author yukon
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                Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso View Post

                You can't see the bottom of the ocean - YET it's there and it's perfectly real.

                Actually, I've seen the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, been a while but I'm sure it's still there.

                All I see with this wave of negative seo drama is people cashing in on free traffic.
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                • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
                  Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                  All I see with this wave of negative seo drama is people cashing in on free traffic.
                  So,

                  You never made any personal test...

                  and at same time...

                  You don't believe the test others made?

                  That makes sense...
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                  People make good money selling to the rich. But the rich got rich selling to the masses.
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                  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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                    Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso View Post

                    So,

                    You never made any personal test...

                    and at same time...

                    You don't believe the test others made?

                    That makes sense...
                    Correct, I've never sabotaged another persons business, & won't.

                    I believe that a few guys (maybe one) are trying to get free traffic, that's what I believe.

                    Have you personally tested negative SEO & had your competitions pages removed from the SERPs?
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      • Profile picture of the author dburk
        Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso View Post

        Sorry Yuk, but **** just hit the fan.

        This is very real, and I see Google having to come forward about this pretty soon.

        Remember my thread LAST YEAR about this? Remember when I told you guys repeatedly that negative seo is possible? Remember when I said Portugal is some sort of ground test for major updates - hence we get them before the community over here, sometimes with months in advance?

        I am a low profile guy, and most of you don't listen to me - which is fine, I don't want to be a guru or anything and I live just fine this way. But I have been warning you guys here and there for months now.

        Not only me, more people in this forum have provided CLUES of what was coming.

        **** is hitting the fan for Google.
        Hi Fernando,

        I think you may be making an over generalization in your conclusions on this case study. This sounds like a case of of identity theft/fraud techniques and methods used to attack the existing links that supported the previously ranking pages.

        I will remind you that Google, and Matt Cutts, has always said there is "almost" nothing your competitors can due to harm your rankings, this is a case of exploring what is meant by "almost" and goes into the dark realm of personalized attacks.

        It's a classic case of deception. You were baited with the idea of "negative SEO", as a distraction, while the damage was done by the other hand you were not watching. Read more carefully the details of the so called negative "SEO" campaign. It involved far more than SEO and included active sabotage through fraud, and deceitful threats to the support network of the attacked website. It's a classic "pick a target, freeze it, isolate it, attack it" method used by the most vile groups of people that attack innocent individuals.

        This attack method comes very close to, and may even cross the line into, criminal activity. I am sure that we will see "negative SEO" services spring up and for the most part they will be ripping off their clients, or delving into some dark places to get the negative results desired by their clients. I wouldn't be surprised to see youtube videos of so called "negative SEO" specialists in perp walks at some point in the future. I remember how people celebrated when they heard the news of the Spam King 's murder. This seems to be going in that same general direction. How long can it be before we see the first arrest?
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  • Profile picture of the author DPM70
    There are little girls pooing their pants because neg seo might be a possibility. Those of us that have been following along don't have a lot to worry about. I don't expect Dan Thies will have a problem a month from now.
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  • Profile picture of the author dracoboar
    Negative SEO is the just a bad decision but I doubt Google will man up and own up to it.

    While we destroy each-other the large companies with big resources will benefit greatly which is exactly what google wants.
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  • Profile picture of the author dracoboar
    As I keep reading this thread the section where dan thies pops up and comments is epic this is a great read.
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  • Profile picture of the author jsherloc
    Posts and discussions like the following just illustrate the type of storm we have brewing it seems...

    Google the following for an example: "[METHOD] Illuminati Link Domination Strategy"

    Or this Google search:

    "Successful Negative SEO Case Study - Main Backlinks/SEO Discussion - Traffic Planet"

    AdWords advertisers can ofcourse use their account reps for "sway" in this regard as well, reporting sites they might find minor issues with etc this can be heavily abused certain ways...

    301 redirects can be used to funnel "spammy" linkjuice and force subsequent link loss in all kinds of devious ways as well...

    Many, many options out there for people that don't necessarily include just blasting crappy links, reporting their competitors for linkbuilding, etc...

    It is hilarious to see so many people's public attitudes towards this topic rapidly take a 180...

    Variations/combos/tweaks of all these types of approaches would lead to interesting SERP results you'd think...

    IMO stuff like the above is just the tip of the iceburg in terms of negative SEO posssibilites out there and probably heavily in action today. This does not paint a pretty outlook for the overall SERP environment when it comes to "typical" websites out there and "typical" webmasters... YIKES

    But I 100% agree with yukon about spending your time doing something productive. It is just a shame that this type of ecosystem has been allowed to fester for so long, and now it seems to be at its worst.
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  • Profile picture of the author rado0
    Thank you for the share!
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  • Profile picture of the author carlamax
    Now i m following these links much informative. but there are some sort of questions i want to ask. is it possible.?
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  • Profile picture of the author alistair
    I thought this was obvious, isn't this why people have always been saying don't do mass scrapebox blog comments, profile links etc straight to your money sites?
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  • Profile picture of the author gearmonkey
    Wonder how long it will take for Google to start de-indexing website that have negative SEO case studies or services.

    I could see them "punishing" those who are known to offer negative SEO services.
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  • Profile picture of the author Oranges
    LOL it sounds like Terminator 5 - Man vs Machines.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mantasmo
    It's such a simple concept - there's nothing to prove. I don't get it.

    Here:

    I have killed loads of my own sites while experimenting/testing/learning SEO. Mostly with links (bad links, lol). I can do the same to your sites - unless your sites are established, well known brands.

    I could kill all of my existing sites today. None of them are strong brands - some have quality backlinks, social media profiles, thousands of visits a day, etc but that doesn't make them invincible. In fact it's so easy - I could send all 10 sites from pages 1 to 5/10 with about 2 hours of work. Sitewide. It's ridiculous.

    Simple as that. Of course negative SEO is possible.
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  • Profile picture of the author opensky
    Ok. negative SEO is precisely as possible as getting a penalty for unnatural links is. Google don't really know or care who built unnatural links, they just penalize the site (and probably get off on doing so, too).

    In other words, if negative SEO doesn't work, then 'unnatural link penalties' don't exist either. Well!

    Can't have it both ways.

    See my point?

    To reliably argue that negative seo doesn't work then you have to live in denial about all these so called unnatural link penalties going around.
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