digitalFAQ.com Forum - How NOT to do SEO: fake URL takedown requests

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How NOT to do SEO: fake URL takedown requests

Today, we got this nonsense gem in our inbox: :screwy:

Quote:

Chris (chris.michaelpaulholidays@gmail.com) is e-mailing you about
General comments and site feedback. (Praise preferred, constructive criticism welcomed, venom ignored.)

Message: Dear Sir/Madam,

I'm working on behalf of Michael Paul Holidays, a holiday agency in the UK, whose site is linked to from your domain. I'm writing to request the removal of links from your website (anywhere on your domain) which are pointing to the domain michaelpaulholidays.co.uk.

We are concerned that these links may go against Google’s guidelines (e.g. mass-linking/link schemes), which could result in either of the sites being penalised in Google. If you cannot find any such links on your site, they may have been removed since we acquired this information, particularly if you recently became the owner of this domain.

I would be very grateful if you could let me know if you are able to remove these links. Please get in touch if you require any further clarification or help.

Thanks in advance,

Chris Mastris
Digital Marketing Executive

Michael Paul Holidays
01275 371133

Contact Details:
IP: 85.118.9.18
E-mail: chris.michaelpaulholidays@gmail.com
Forum Username: Unregistered (ID=0)
Referring Page: http://www.digitalfaq.com/search-res...1489j226565j12

// BEGIN RANT

A few quick points:

Until now, 'michaelpaulholidays.co.uk' had never been linked on our site. (Streisand effect, anybody?) That URL literally pulled up nothing at all. It grabbed two whole posts from the archive forum (former KVCD), because the posts had the words "Paul" (McCartney) and "Michael" (J. Fox).

Furthermore, the idea that Google punishes sites for links is nonsense.
(a) you can disavow -- learn to use Google Webmaster Tools
(b) linking is the ENTIRE POINT of the internet. You know, the web. Web. Get it?

85.118.9.18's hostname is for a domain that doesn't exist (kaplaninc.com), and is probably trademark infringing if it did. Hmm, interesting.

Chris is here: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/chrismastris
... and works here: https://www.optixsolutions.co.uk
... and such a stupid company should never be used. Seriously, "we want you to remove links (that do not exist)". Any hack can claim himself an "SEO expert" or "marketer" -- and indeed, here's the proof!

We get so tired of stupid requests -- especially when it comes to "SEO" goobers that don't know their ass from their elbow.

This is the kind of crap service you get from Fiverr.

\\ END RANT

We received more stupidity:

Quote:

Hi,

I was informed that you'd posted about this request (and also publicly called me out) in the post here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/web-...-seo-fake.html. I just wanted to respond and clarify a few points.

Firstly, I'm sorry that we have to send these out- I understand that it's not something that most people want to receive, and to be honest sending them out isn't the most enjoyable task either. However, it is a task which we believe is necessary in terms of SEO- you're completely right that the disavow tool is a useful option (and we utilise this as well), but Google's guidelines also indicate that all links should be attempted to be removed first, before disavowing. In some cases, a large collection of bad links can result in a manual penalty, which is naturally something we're trying to avoid.

As for your site being contacted, I understand that it seems stupid (and annoying) when such a link doesn't appear to be present. As I said in the original email, links aren't always still present: "If you cannot find any such links on your site, they may have been removed since we acquired this information, particularly if you recently became the owner of this domain." We use a combination of tools (e.g. Search Console and Google Analytics) that are very unlikely to result in a false positive, though some of this is historical data. The only real exception is in the case of Google Analytics referral spam, which I doubt is the case here. It could be that the link was posted on your forums and then removed/moderated, or hidden if your site has ever been hacked. Based on the fact that I was unable to find any legitimate linking, I assumed that it could have been spam, hence why I requested that you take a look to see if you could find or knew anything about it.

Finally, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could edit out the identifying information in your post- this is a personal request, and as I'm sure you can understand it's a bit tarnishing for both me and the agency I work for. If you're not willing to do that, I'd be grateful if you could at least remove references to my client (Michael Paul Holidays), as they're not deserving of the bad rep even if I am.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope it at least clears a few things up.

Best wishes,
Chris

Well, let me address this:

Quote:

Finally, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could edit out the identifying informatio

And for this very reason:

Quote:

As for your site being contacted, I understand that it seems stupid (and annoying) when such a link doesn't appear to be present. As I said in the original email, links aren't always still present: "If you cannot find any such links on your site, they may have been removed since we acquired this information, particularly if you recently became the owner of this domain." We use a combination of tools (e.g. Search Console and Google Analytics) that are very unlikely to result in a false positive, though some of this is historical data. The only real exception is in the case of Google Analytics referral spam, which I doubt is the case here. It could be that the link was posted on your forums and then removed/moderated, or hidden if your site has ever been hacked.

... the answer is no.

Hell no.

What a truly stupid asshole. :rolleyes:

We already said that no such link ever existed on this site. Their service is a sham, and clearly just relies on automated nonsense information. And FYI, this is what sites like Ars Technica and Torrent Freak report all the time. Bogus takedowns are often sent to sites, individuals, and search engines. And condescending "we're never wrong" pricks like this are the sorts of people that send them.

This would have been different had we received either (A) an apology, or (B) an admission of having made a mistake. But no, that didn't happen.

These people are nothing but trolls.

Quote:

could at least remove references to my client (Michael Paul Holidays), as they're not deserving of the bad rep even if I am

Agreed. Link removed. :2cents:

These so called SEO experts are insane. I once see an offer where another so called SEO expert is trying to convince website owner to hire their services by mentioning him that they own google first page for their targeted keywords :)

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