SEO

How to Identify Unnatural Link Warnings in SEO

January 31, 2025

Ever stumbled across an “unnatural link warning” in the SEO reports and felt your heart skip a beat? You're not alone. These warnings can be a bit intimidating, especially if you're trying to keep your website in Google's good books. But understanding them is crucial for maintaining a healthy search engine ranking.

In this guide, we’ll walk through what unnatural link warnings are, how to spot them, and what steps you can take to address them. By the end, you'll feel more confident about tackling these issues head-on, ensuring your SEO efforts aren't going to waste.

What Are Unnatural Link Warnings?

Before we dive into detection and management, let’s clarify what these warnings mean. Unnatural link warnings are alerts from Google indicating that your site has suspicious links pointing to it. These links often appear to manipulate search rankings, which is a big no-no in the eyes of search engines.

Why does Google care so much? Well, anything that tries to trick its algorithms into ranking sites higher than they deserve disrupts the quality of search results. Google's mission is to deliver the most relevant and trustworthy information to users. Unnatural links can skew these results, which is why they’re closely monitored.

Common examples of unnatural links include:

  • Links bought or sold that pass PageRank.
  • Excessive link exchanges, sometimes called "link to me and I'll link to you" schemes.
  • Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links.
  • Using automated programs or services to create links to your site.

Understanding the nature of these links is the first step towards identifying them effectively.

Recognizing Signs of Unnatural Links

Spotting these links isn't always straightforward, but there are telltale signs you can look for. Let’s go through some practical steps:

Anchor Text Analysis

Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink. If a disproportionate number of your backlinks use the same keyword-rich anchor text, it might raise a red flag. Natural backlinks tend to have a variety of anchor texts, including brand names and generic terms like "click here."

Link Velocity

Link velocity refers to the speed at which you gain backlinks. A sudden spike in links can look suspicious, especially if they're from low-quality or irrelevant sites. Ask yourself: Is there a legitimate reason for this increase?

Source Quality

Take a closer look at the domains linking to you. Are they credible sites? Unnatural links often come from low-quality, spammy, or unrelated websites. If the linking site doesn’t align with your niche, it might be worth investigating.

By regularly auditing your backlinks with these factors in mind, you can catch potential issues early.

Using SEO Tools for Detection

There’s no need to go it alone. SEO tools can be your best allies in detecting unnatural links. Here are a few popular ones:

Google Search Console

Your first port of call should be Google Search Console. It’s free and provides insights straight from the horse’s mouth. You’ll find a section specifically for links, where you can review your top linked pages and sites.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is known for its comprehensive backlink analysis tools. It shows detailed reports of your site’s backlinks, including anchor text distribution, dofollow/nofollow ratios, and referring domains. It’s especially useful for identifying sudden changes in link patterns.

SEMrush

Similar to Ahrefs, SEMrush offers a powerful backlink analytics tool. It highlights potentially harmful links and allows you to track your link-building strategies over time. Plus, it offers suggestions for improving your link profile.

By leveraging these tools, you can get a clear picture of your backlink profile and spot any anomalies that might suggest unnatural link activity.

Taking Action: Disavowing Bad Links

Once you’ve identified suspicious links, the next step is taking action. One of the most common methods is disavowing links, which tells Google not to count certain backlinks when assessing your site.

Steps to Disavow Links

  • Collect Data: Start by gathering a list of links you believe are harmful. Use data from tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush.
  • Create a Disavow File: Format your list into a plain text file (.txt), making sure to follow Google’s guidelines.
  • Submit the File: Go to Google Search Console, navigate to the disavow tool, and upload your file.

Remember, disavowing links is a serious step. It’s best to start by trying to remove the links manually, such as reaching out to webmasters and asking for them to be taken down. Only disavow links when absolutely necessary.

Preventing Future Unnatural Link Warnings

Prevention is better than cure, right? Once you've dealt with existing issues, focus on strategies to prevent future problems.

Build Quality Links

Focus on earning backlinks naturally by creating valuable content that others want to link to. Think of quality over quantity. Guest posting on reputable sites in your industry or getting featured in reputable publications can help.

Regular Backlink Audits

Make it a habit to regularly audit your backlinks. Keeping an eye on your link profile helps you catch any suspicious activity early. Set monthly or quarterly reminders to review your backlinks using your preferred SEO tool.

Monitor Competitors

Sometimes, analyzing competitors can provide insights into healthy link-building practices. Look at where they’re getting their links and consider reaching out to similar sites for collaboration opportunities.

By following these proactive steps, you can maintain a clean backlink profile, reducing the risk of future warnings.

The Impact of Unnatural Links on SEO

Unnatural links can significantly affect your SEO, often leading to penalties from search engines. These penalties can reduce your site’s visibility, sometimes making it disappear from search results altogether. This loss of visibility can lead to a drop in website traffic, affecting your revenue and growth.

It’s essential to understand that penalties can be manual or algorithmic. A manual penalty is when a Google reviewer flags your website, while algorithmic penalties occur automatically when Google’s algorithms detect unnatural links. Both can be equally damaging.

To recover from a penalty, you'll need to address the underlying issues, such as removing or disavowing bad links. After resolving the problems, submit a reconsideration request to Google if you’ve received a manual penalty. While recovery can be a time-consuming process, it's crucial for restoring your site's credibility and search rankings.

Real-life Examples of Unnatural Link Issues

Learning from others’ experiences can be incredibly beneficial. Here are a couple of real-life scenarios where businesses faced issues with unnatural links:

Case Study 1: The Overzealous Ecommerce Site

An ecommerce site specializing in handmade crafts noticed a sudden drop in organic traffic. Upon investigation, they found they’d been penalized for unnatural links. Further digging revealed an aggressive link-building campaign they’d outsourced to an agency, resulting in numerous low-quality links.

To resolve the issue, the business owner worked on disavowing harmful links and creating high-quality content that naturally attracted backlinks. Within a few months, their traffic recovered, and they learned the importance of controlling their SEO strategy.

Case Study 2: The Blogger’s Dilemma

A popular travel blogger started receiving unnatural link warnings after participating in several link exchange programs. The blogger hadn’t realized these exchanges were against Google's guidelines and was shocked by the penalty.

After contacting the sites involved and removing the exchanged links, the blogger submitted a reconsideration request. This process took time, but eventually, the blog’s visibility was restored. This experience highlighted the importance of staying informed about SEO best practices.

These examples serve as reminders of the potential pitfalls of unnatural link practices and the value of maintaining control over your SEO efforts.

Understanding Google's Algorithm Updates

Google frequently updates its algorithms to improve search quality, and these updates can impact how unnatural links are detected. Staying current with these changes is crucial for maintaining a healthy backlink profile.

Major updates like Penguin have specifically targeted link schemes and unnatural links. The Penguin update, for instance, aimed to catch sites with manipulative link practices. Understanding these updates can help you adapt your SEO strategies accordingly.

To keep up with algorithm changes, consider subscribing to SEO newsletters, following industry blogs, and engaging in SEO communities. Staying informed will help you anticipate potential impacts on your site and adjust your strategies proactively.

Working with SEO Professionals

If managing unnatural link warnings feels overwhelming, consider working with an SEO professional or agency. These experts can help you audit your backlink profile, identify issues, and develop strategies to improve your SEO.

When choosing an SEO professional, look for someone with a proven track record and transparent communication. Ask about their approach to link building and how they handle unnatural links. Remember, good SEO takes time, so be wary of anyone promising instant results.

Collaborating with an expert can provide peace of mind and ensure your site maintains a healthy SEO standing.

Final Thoughts

Unnatural link warnings can feel like a daunting challenge, but with the right knowledge, they’re manageable. We’ve covered what these warnings are, how to spot them, and what steps to take if they pop up in your reports.

If you're looking for help navigating these waters, consider Pattern. We help ecommerce brands and SaaS startups grow by driving more traffic from Google and turning that traffic into paying customers. Unlike most SEO agencies that focus only on rankings, we care about results — not just traffic for traffic's sake. We create programmatic landing pages that target hundreds (or even thousands) of search terms, helping your brand get found by more people who are ready to buy. We also craft conversion-focused content that doesn't just attract visitors but turns them into paying customers. And we don't believe SEO should take 12 months to show results. We see SEO as part of a bigger growth strategy. We've been in-house growth leaders ourselves, so we know how SEO fits into a broader performance marketing system. We look at SEO through a performance marketing lens, making sure every dollar you invest delivers real ROI. In short, we don't make SEO a guessing game — we make it a growth channel that drives sales and lowers your customer acquisition costs.

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