How to Remove Spam Links to Your Website: 8 Tips for Interacting with Webmasters

Using a disavow link tool may sometimes not be enough to zero out the impact of bad links on your website. If this is the case, you need to write to the website owners. Do you think it’s a waste of time since most webmasters would ignore your request? With Linkbox backlink anchor text checker you can locate all unnatural backlinks and then use the techniques described below to increase the likelihood of removing spam links.

1. Use the correct e-mail address

When requesting to remove links, you should use a corporate email address like name@yoursite.com. Consider this advice if you use the services of freelance SEOs. Set up an email account for them on your corporate domain.

Try putting yourself in the webmaster’s shoes. Imagine that some vbnz is asking you to remove a link to a reputable resource. It might be a vicious competitor or a wicked SEO trying to deprive your customers. You would make a rational decision if you decide to ignore such a request.

2. Be clear when explaining what you want

Imagine this: you have an e-mail address iamseobitch@facetop.com, from which you send an e-mail to the webmaster asking to remove the link to your facetop.com website. The webmaster receives your e-mail and agrees to help you. But the problem is that this person has 24 websites that he sells links from. He would be glad to contact you and get the details, but the webmaster gets 50 emails a day with a request to remove links.

When you send an email requesting to remove a link, specify the page URL where the unwanted backlink is located. Be sure to provide your website URL as well. This increases the chances that the letter will be effective.

3. Reason the request

Tell the webmasters why you are asking them to remove the link. Explain, for example, that you have changed the strategy for the promotion of your website and no longer need paid links. Claim that the search engines penalized your web resource for an unnatural link environment. Talk to him or her like a webmaster to a webmaster. Professional solidarity may make your interlocutor meet you halfway.

Your explanation shouldn’t be too big and detailed. Writing a few sentences to show the motivation behind your application will suffice.

4. Be polite

Don’t threaten the webmaster and don’t call his/her website a link dump. What would you do if you received a letter threatening you with search engine penalties or jail time if you refused to remove the link? How would you react if you were asked to remove the link because your website is of poor quality?

Keep in mind that there are no real laws that can force a webmaster to remove a link. Unless, of course, your website is distributing extremist content. So you need to find common ground with the webmaster. Threats and insults won’t do the trick.

5. Give important details in your letter

Do you want to save time? Then add the following items to your link removal request:

Yes, you are aware of the link disavow tool, but you specifically want to remove the link.
No, it will not be enough just to close the link with a nofollow attribute. You are asking to remove it.
You thank the webmaster beforehand for complying with your request and responding in any way to your e-mail.

The worst-case scenario is if the website owner will simply ignore your message. You’ll have a chance to bargain even if he turns you down. So try to establish a dialogue.

6. Be brief

The webmaster will never delete the link if he falls asleep while reading your email. Try to limit it to two or three paragraphs. In doing so, you must follow the recommendations mentioned above: explain and justify the request and establish a dialogue.

7. Contact the webmaster personally

If possible, find the personal data of the website owner or webmaster. Call your interlocutor by name. This will help establish personal communication and increase your chances of success.

How can we find the personal data of the website owner? Here are some ideas:

Use the whois service. Bad website owners usually hide their personal data, although you might get lucky.
Check the Contact Us section on the website.
Use a search engine to find the email owner.
Find the personal e-mail address of the website owner by the domain.

8. Promise something in return

You should use this technique only in extreme cases if persuasion does not work, and you must remove this link at all costs. Remember, you risk being blackmailed: webmasters can put links on your website to get some kind of bonus for removing them. Should you still choose to take the risk, offer the following in return:

Buy a dozen links to abandoned blogs from a webmaster.
Tell your friends about his/her wonderful link farm.
Give a discount on your product.
Refer to the webmaster’s website from your personal blog or social media profile.

Recommendations offered…

…do not guarantee that every link will be removed. However, with their help, you will greatly increase the effectiveness of removal requests. This will help you drastically reduce the number of spam links to your website and improve its reputation in the eyes of search engines. It is also essential to detect spam links in time. Linkbox can help you with this.

Have you ever had to ask to remove links? How did website owners respond to this request? Share your experiences in the comments.