Author: Metka Volmajer
The importance of ensuring brand credibility lies within genuine testimonials. Client reviews can support success as much as collaborator referrals or other publications. Accordingly, it is no surprise that website collaborators use marketing tools like search engine optimization (SEO) to solidify their partnerships. Although a backlink exchange strategy is a popular practice, we must remember that its end can be decided by any of the parties included. Therefore, it is important to handle the backlink removal requests in a professional and unbiased manner.
The Start Of The Backlink Exchange Strategy - Why?
To understand why a collaborator would request backlink removal, we must know how the backlink exchange strategy functions. At its core, mutual linking is a partnership of two websites or more, that link between each other. The probability of users clicking on the collaborator backlink is higher, increasing the traffic on the linking website. Moreover, it is considered a vote of credibility by SEO standards, boosting the search ranks.
The End Of The Backlink Exchange Strategy - Why?
Consequently, if backlink practices harm the credibility of the collaborator, a backlink removal request is unavoidable.
The most common causes, connected directly to backlinks, are:
● irrelevant backlinks, not matching the industry of the collaborator,
● broken or dead backlinks, caused by website changes,
● backlinks quantity, being seen as spam.
The most common causes, connected to the process of backlink exchange, are:
● unaligned strategies, going against modern guidelines,
● reputation management, in a case of controversy,
● over-optimization, looking manipulative in the context of SEO.
It is important to note that intentionally harmful behavior and SEO manipulation are not listed since they do not comply with guidelines and are prohibited.
The Process of Backlink Removal Requests: Step-By-Step Guide
1. Identify The Requested Backlink On The Website
After receiving a backlink removal request, it is important to review the entire website. Going through the put-out content can help you locate the links that were requested for removal. The time it will take varies depending on the content you have produced until then and how interlaced it is with the backlinks set for removal. You can use tools or programs that filter out the outbound links for you. For example, Ahrefs or SEMrush are great tools, especially if the content is too time-consuming to review manually.
2. Identify The Requested Backlink In CMS (Content Management System)
After logging into the admin panel of the platform the website is based on, you need to find the specific location of the backlink. You can help yourself with the page searcher tool or press control/command + F and write the title of the backlink into the box. Repeat as many times as you wish until you locate all the backlinks requested for removal. The link should be in the content editor, but you can find it in HTML or visual editor form.
3. Requested Backlink Removal
Backlinks come in the form of HTML tags. They are marked as: <a>, followed by the hyperlink. The whole example would follow:
<a href= ”https://backlick-removal-request.com”> Backlink Title </a>.
To remove the backlink from appearing in the content delete the entire tag. The change will be made on the website when you click save or update.
4. Verifying Requested Backlink Removal
To make sure that changes to the live website were made, wait until the page has finished updating. Then enter the live webpage and scan the content for the presence of the removed backlink. Again, feel free to help yourself with tools that scan your content for external links to be certain of the change application. Repeat the process for any other backlink removal requests.
Backlink Removal Requests - What Impact Can It Have?
As the recipient of the backlink removal request, it is only natural to have worrisome thoughts. While backlink removal requests can help you keep a clean backlink profile, removing a high-quality collaborator backlink has a high chance of damaging rankings, website traffic, and potentially, brand credibility. Throughout the process of backlink removal, it is important to respond promptly and respectfully, honoring their request, even if the loss of collaborator backlinks would deal damage. Moreover, even if the collaborator requests a backlink removal, you do not have to fear the end of the partnership - keep an open mind to future projects you could work on together, maintain goodwill, and learn from the experience. An understanding approach will secure positive relationships with the involved, while guaranteeing smoother future collaborations, ensuring everyone’s benefit.
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