Should You Be Concerned About Negative SEO?

Posted by bullseyemedia on January 3rd, 2013

You have plenty of things to do trying to keep up with your site, right? After all, your routine already involves updates, changes, and (naturally) dealing with any new search engine optimisation changes you need to make. Lately, though, site owners have been voicing a new concern: negative SEO.

What is Negative SEO?

If positive SEO helps your site improve in the search engine rankings, negative SEO is exactly the opposite. It is the practice of competitors attacking your site. Their goal is to either get your site banned by the major search engines or have your rankings so drastically demoted that potential customer’s will never find your site. While it’s been an issue for some time, it has just now come to light among many SEO consultants that it can actually cause your site some fairly serious problems.

Should I Be Concerned?

Google, and SEO consultants alike, seem to agree that negative SEO isn’t happening too often. While it is possible, it’s very unlikely. If you’re still worried about it, though, there are a few things you can do.

First, keep an eye on your backlink profile. As with all of your other analytical checks, this one should be done on a fairly regular basis. Most negative SEO attacks begin with low-quality backlinks pointed at competitor’s sites, and because it’s so easy to complete and hard to trace, it’s almost the perfect crime. There are a number of tools out there, both paid and free, that will help you monitor your backlink profile.

Second, take advantage of Google’s Disavow Tool. This is a fairly new tool, and a SEO company will tell you that this is a far better way to deal with any low quality backlinks that might be creating a problem for your site. In the old days, there were lots of hoops you had to jump through just to start sorting things out. Now it’s just a matter of logging into a Google Webmaster Tools account.

Third, make certain you diversify your site on a regular basis. That will not only help prevent negative SEO, but it may also help you stay on top of the newest algorithm changes, too.

Remember, you can do very real damage to your site if you disavow links that came naturally. If you suspect negative SEO may be a problem, your best bet is going to be contacting SEO experts to help you sort through the problems.

About the Author:

This article is written by Hitesh Patel, who is associated with Bullseye Media for many years. Bullseye Media is a leading UK based SEO Company. At Bullseye Media, they are a team of dedicated and experienced SEO experts who aim to help you achieve your business goals through better conversion rate and higher rankings in SERPs with their SEO or PPC services.