Negative SEO attack on Which Bingo UK

[Nibor]

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately it would appear that we are currently being subject to a negative SEO campaign - involving the creation of what are primarily comment spam links - with the exact match anchor text 'bingo sites' or our URL 'www.whichbingo.co.uk'. You can see some examples of this here:

• http://www.blackgirlscode.com/1/post...ming-soon.html
• http://www.lecoinbio.com/20100928132...-durgence.html
• http://www.indyopera.org/2/post/2012...to-expect.html
• http://www.kurthanson.com/news/music...s-are-punished
• http://www.leoweekly.com/guest-comme...te-my-own-guts

Over the last week we have seen the creation of over 300 of these.
We have already e-mailed these sites to get these links removed, but unfortunately with no response thus far.


As some of you may know this is not the first time that we have been targeted. Last time this happened, there were other websites targeted also. You can read about it here http://moz.com/blog/to-catch-a-spamm...g-negative-seo

Does anyone else know if they are being targeted? It may be worth checking your back-link profile if you operate in our niche.
Does anyone have any idea who could be behind this?

We'd appreciate any insight anyone else may be able to provide.

[-Shay-]

Was there any "damage" done? If not, either ignore or just disavow and move on (which is the same advice Michael Martinez gives in the comments of the Moz article you've linked to). Its not like your link profile is 100% natural anyway.

[TrevorE]

That sucks, having been on the receiving end of such an attack alongside you guys with sunlight-bingo.co.uk last year. that was mentioned on your moz article. I understand how frustrating this is.. even when we found out who was behind it there wasn't much we could do. as there excuse was it was a rogue freelancer that feared he would lose his seo contract if he didnt get results. so he targeted the sites above his clients site with negative seo so that his clients site could take the top spot.

I will have a nosy around for you and see if they have left any bread crumbs again that can lead us to the scumbag.

[Nibor]

Thanks Trevor, that's great. We're still working on it, luckily we've managed to have some success getting these spam comments removed. It sucks like you said, because it takes time and causes extra work and hassle to clean it up - and it's so easy for people to get away with it.

[PeeP]

That really sucks big time! If you cannot get those bad links off, just go with a disavow tool. All you can do then..

[Nibor]

That really sucks big time! If you cannot get those bad links off, just go with a disavow tool. All you can do then..

Yeah it does suck, and we probably will have to disavow at some point I guess, but IMO disavow is really just a last resort method. It's better to take care of your backlink profile issues internally.

[Maria F]

I am very sorry to hear this. I wish you success getting this issue sorted.

[Nibor]

Right so here is the update on the attack. It has been almost two months since I first posted this thread and the attack is ongoing. The spammer creates around 100 negtive links per day, and does not let up. I have already disavowed any links new or historical that might be seen as spam or unnatural in the eyes of Google. However, because the attack keeps on happening I am constantly having to update the disavow file, which is wasting a considerable amount of my time.

Recently we have seen fairly significant drops in our rankings, and impressions. This is down to the attack whether directly, or indirectly as it impedes me from getting on with other work that would be beneficial to my site. I have however noticed that the same spammer is not only attacking us. Interestingly he is also going after this website too http://www.goldentigercasino.de/ it's odd as it is a completely different niche. I have tried to get in touch with the webmaster, but to no avail thus far. Does anyone know if the webmaster is on GPWA?

I have also found an e-mail address which I have seen associated with the comment spam a few times. It is probably a fake, but I was wondering if anyone might have seen it before for any reason although unlikely lulu@yahoo.com?

Anyway have a great Christmas everyone!

[JackTenSuited]

Do you and http://www.goldentigercasino.de/ go after the same keywords in Google? if there happens to be one keyword you are both after then you have probably found the keyword your spammer is trying to go after and maybe find his site?

[Nibor]

Do you and http://www.goldentigercasino.de/ go after the same keywords in Google? if there happens to be one keyword you are both after then you have probably found the keyword your spammer is trying to go after and maybe find his site?

I see what you're saying, but in this case I don't think so. The spammer is trying to either hurt us for the term 'bingo sites' or more recently he has tried to attack our overall domain by setting up links with the full URL http://www.whichbingo.co.uk. Being a bingo based company, we want to rank for bingo terms - which I don't think http://www.goldentigercasino.de/ wants to do. In the case of the later, of the spam links I have seen set up the spammer is trying to target the goldentigercasino.de domain name also.

[-Shay-]

I've PM'd you some thoughts on the matter.