5 replies to this topic

[FredAt]

Over the past few days Google has been reporting a phenomenal increase in the number of links to my index page. While there are a few genunine new links, the majority come from a single site - in Japanese and hosted in Japan which seems to be causing Google to believe that it has over a 1000 new links to my site every day.

The site seems genunine enough so I am assuming that this is the result of a glitch whatever forum management software they are using. Given that I cannot translate the site using Google the option of politely writing and asking them to stop is out of the question. I assume that Google is smart enough but I am wondering if it could penalize me for flooding it with spurious external links in this way although I have no control over what is going on. Any ideas?

[Jill]

You can't put any stock in what Google reports for backward links (assuming you're doing link: check at Google). See the pinned thread here in the link building forum for more info on why.

Short answer is don't worry about it.

[FredAt]

Actually, I use Google Webmaster Tools to monitor how Google sees my site. I gather the links reported from there are more reliable. In any case it looks like there is nothing I can do about this particular issue so I will just have to ignore it and assume that Google is smart enough not to get confused.

[Jill]

Yeah, just pay attention to whether your traffic and/or conversions drop rather than the reported number of backward links. Sometimes people get caught up in looking at metrics that are only a means to an end, rather than the actual metrics that matter.

[FredAt]

Yeah, just pay attention to whether your traffic and/or conversions drop rather than the reported number of backward links. Sometimes people get caught up in looking at metrics that are only a means to an end, rather than the actual metrics that matter.

Thanks, Jill. I have to admit that there are times when I err myself - I forget my ever increasing visitor numbers (which is my current business goal) and start fretting about PR and stuff instead.

[Randy]

That's why it's easier to simply uninstall the silly toolbar, or at least disable it in your browser.

Try that for awhile. You'll probably find out in a few weeks that you don't miss it at all.