the Dark Side of SEO: Understanding Negative SEO

April 1, 2024 | By Shun Asaba, Co-Founder of MeU Media

Once in the big world of the internet, there were two websites fighting to be number one on the search engine list. They fought hard, trying everything fair to get to the top. But behind the scenes, something bad was happening – Negative SEO, a sneaky way to bring down competitors’ rankings.

Have you ever experienced one of your keywords suddenly dropping in rank like the image below, a drop in traffic, or/ and received a manual penalty notification from Google?

It is called “Negative SEO”, the dark counterpart of search engine optimization. It is the practice of sabotaging a competitor’s website to diminish its search engine rankings or even remove it from search results altogether.

It’s the digital equivalent of sabotage, where nefarious actors employ various underhanded tactics to undermine the online presence of their rivals.

But how prevalent is this malicious practice, and how can one identify and combat it effectively?

Content Overview

Spotting a negative SEO attack

Some telltale signs include:

Drop in Traffic: A sudden and significant decline in website traffic could indicate a negative SEO attack targeting the site’s search visibility. By artificially manipulating search engine rankings or spreading misinformation about the site, attackers aim to divert traffic away from the target site, ultimately impacting its online visibility and revenue.

Manual Penalty Notification: Receiving a manual penalty notification from search engines, indicating a violation of their guidelines, could be a result of malicious SEO tactics employed by a competitor. Manual penalties are often issued in response to blatant attempts to manipulate search engine rankings, such as the use of deceptive or manipulative practices to artificially inflate a site’s authority.

Drop in Individual Keyword Ranking: Monitoring keyword rankings and observing abrupt declines for specific keywords may signal an attack aimed at undermining the site’s relevance for those terms. By targeting key keywords essential to the site’s SEO strategy, attackers seek to diminish its visibility in search engine results pages and gain a competitive advantage.

The Mechanics Behind a Negative SEO Attack

Negative SEO attackers utilize an array of tactics to harm their competitors’ online visibility.

These tactics include:

Building Thousands of Spam Links: Flooding a website with an influx of low-quality or spammy backlinks in an attempt to trigger search engine penalties. These backlinks often come from dubious sources such as link farms, irrelevant directories, or sites with poor reputations. By artificially inflating the number of backlinks pointing to a competitor’s site, attackers aim to deceive search engine algorithms and undermine the site’s authority.

Sending Fake Link Removal Requests: Pretending to be the website owner, attackers may submit fake requests to search engines to remove legitimate backlinks, causing disruption to the site’s SEO strategy. This tactic aims to create confusion and chaos by disavowing valuable backlinks, ultimately harming the target site’s search engine rankings.
Creating Fake Reviews and Content: Fabricating negative reviews or generating irrelevant and low-quality content to tarnish the reputation and authority of the target site. By spreading false information and sowing distrust among users, attackers seek to erode the credibility of the competitor’s brand and drive potential customers away.

The Most Common Tactics

Among the myriad strategies employed by negative SEO practitioners, two stand out as particularly common:

Low-Quality/Spammy Backlinks:

Attackers inundate the target website with a barrage of low-quality backlinks from dubious sources, aiming to trigger search engine penalties and diminish the site’s authority. These backlinks often come from link farms, irrelevant directories, or sites with poor reputations, and they serve to artificially inflate the target site’s backlink profile while undermining its credibility and relevance.

Now, how can we identify this type of attack? Scrutinize the site’s backlink profile using tools like SEMrush.

Step 1: Go to SEMrush and type in your website’s URL
Step 2: Click on Referring Backlinks → If there is a sudden significant increase in new backlinks, there might be a negative SEO attack

Step 3: Export the backlinks in excel → Organize the columns by Source Title, Source url, Target url, Anchor texts, and First Seen

Step 4: Go back to SEMrush → Go to referring backlink chart → Look when there was a sudden increase in the backlinks
Step 5: Go back to the excel and filter the date
Step 6: Find the date and see all the backlinks → If there are some unknown source URLs, then those might be the negative SEO attack

Sudden spikes in backlink quantity, especially from unfamiliar or spammy domains, are red flags indicative of a negative SEO onslaught.

By monitoring changes in the site’s backlink profile and promptly addressing any suspicious activity, website owners can mitigate the impact of low-quality backlinks and protect their site’s search engine rankings.

Over-Optimized Anchor Texts or Irrelevant Keywords:

Malicious actors manipulate anchor texts by using irrelevant or over-optimized keywords to link to the target site, confusing search engine algorithms and potentially harming its rankings.

By targeting key keywords essential to the site’s SEO strategy, attackers seek to diminish its visibility in search engine results pages and gain a competitive advantage.

How can we identify such attacks? Website owners can analyze their anchor text distribution using tools like SEMrush.

On SEMrush, type in a website URL
Go to Anchors → See what the top anchor terms → If there are irrelevant keywords to your website (golf apparel brand has a keyword of “chocolate truffles”)

How to find these website?

Scroll down the page → Find irrelevant keywords → Click on the keyword.

You will see which websites are using those anchor texts and linking to your website.

Anomalies such as irrelevant keywords or disproportionate anchor text usage signal a potential negative SEO campaign. By monitoring changes in the site’s anchor text profile and promptly addressing any suspicious activity, website owners can mitigate the impact of over-optimized anchor texts and protect their site’s search engine rankings.

Protecting Your Digital Fortress

Preventing and mitigating the damage caused by negative SEO requires proactive measures and swift action. Here are some effective strategies:

Request Removal of Harmful Backlinks: Contact the webmasters of dubious sites linking to your site and request the removal of harmful backlinks. By reaching out to site owners and requesting the removal of harmful backlinks, website owners can mitigate the impact of negative SEO attacks and protect their site’s search engine rankings.

Disavow Backlinks and Keywords: Utilize Google’s Disavow Tool to disavow harmful backlinks, signaling to search engines that you disassociate from these links. By disavowing harmful backlinks, website owners can prevent them from negatively impacting their site’s search engine rankings and protect their online reputation.

Here is what you need to do.

Step 1: On SEM, type in your website URL.

Step 2: Go to Backlinks

Step 3: Click on + to disavow the backlink

Step 4: Choose Domain, not URL (disavow every single link that comes from the domain.

Step 5: Download the list (export to TXT) and upload to Google

Step 6: Go to your Google Search Console to disavow the links

By staying vigilant and implementing robust defensive measures, website owners can fortify their digital assets against the malevolent forces of negative SEO. In the ever-evolving landscape of online competition, understanding and guarding against negative SEO is paramount to maintaining and enhancing one’s digital presence. By equipping themselves with knowledge and employing proactive defenses, Website owners can protect their online domains from the dangers of malicious manipulation, securing their rightful position at the top of the search engine hierarchy. If you need any further assistance, feel free to reach out to us at support@meumedia.com or visit our website at meumedia.com. We’re here to help!