Every business owner is well aware that a website’s ranking on SERPs plays a vital factor in determining the online performance of the business. But your business’ search rank can be adversely affected by hidden spam links in your website. Hidden links in your website may be viewed as Black Hat SEO techniques that aim to manipulate your Search Engine Ranking. Google considers such deceptive techniques to be in violation of their Webmaster Guidelines and may penalize websites. Hence, finding and removing hidden spam links are important tasks for any website owner.
Also, links with the same color as the background, hidden CSS formatting and single character links may also be considered spam. It is important to contact a competent website design services in case your website suffers from any of these problems.
Reviewing Site Files- The first thing you should do is to scrutinize your website files for signs of spam links. Such links may often be inserted into theme headers, footers and functions. These links may be further obscured using unnecessary JavaScript and style elements. Identify any irrelevant links and get rid of them.
Analyzing the Database- Often your site can be flooded with thousands of spam links generated by malicious database scripts. These links may affect all pages and posts on your site. To remove such links and underlying scripts you may need to edit your site using a Content Management System (CMS) like Wordpress or use database tools like PHPMyAdmin. Be advised that these are time consuming and technical methods, so you might want to engage the services of a website development company.
Using Web Developer- Web developer is a browser add-on that has multiple options using which you can analyze your site. Recommended by expert web design services, this add-on gives you the freedom to work with a range of elements. Once you install it and click on the gray gear icon in your browser, you will be presented with a number of choices. You can choose to disable styling and view the plaintext version of your site, or stop any malicious, link-injecting JavaScript code from running. If properly utilized, this add-on can help detect most hidden spam links in your site. Keep in mind that each page on your site must be carefully examined to remove suspicious links.
Using Link Grabber- Link Grabber is another browser add-on that can help by extracting all the links on your site page-by-page and creating a report. This will enable you to spot any odd links on your site. After this is done, your website design service may want to run a full link audit using the following method.
JavaScript Link Audit- Once the suspicious links have been identified, your browser’s developer tools can be used to run a JavaScript code that will generate a report of all suspicious link elements on your site. Although many ready-made scripts are available online, it is best if you employ a web development company to audit your site properly.
Final Thoughts
A proper combination of the above techniques will surely help you find and remove hidden spam links on your site. Keep in mind however that all hidden elements are not created equal. It is perfectly legitimate to have hidden menus and elements which are necessary for ensuring the responsiveness of your site. While there are many automated tools that may be helpful to scan your site for unwanted links, it is always better to call on a website development company india to perform a proper link audit.
Where do spam links come from?
According to an article by searchenginejournal.com, hidden spam links may be placed on your site by malicious users or code. The following are some ways by which hidden spam links may find their way to your site:- Links injected by hackers
- Improperly validated comments
- Unscrupulous Guest Posts
- Themes, Plug-ins and Widgets
Also, links with the same color as the background, hidden CSS formatting and single character links may also be considered spam. It is important to contact a competent website design services in case your website suffers from any of these problems.
But How To Detect Hidden Spam Links?
It is very important that you (or your website design company) analyze your site thoroughly to detect spam links. While it can be a highly technical and subtle task, the following are some methods that can help to detect hidden spam links:Reviewing Site Files- The first thing you should do is to scrutinize your website files for signs of spam links. Such links may often be inserted into theme headers, footers and functions. These links may be further obscured using unnecessary JavaScript and style elements. Identify any irrelevant links and get rid of them.
Analyzing the Database- Often your site can be flooded with thousands of spam links generated by malicious database scripts. These links may affect all pages and posts on your site. To remove such links and underlying scripts you may need to edit your site using a Content Management System (CMS) like Wordpress or use database tools like PHPMyAdmin. Be advised that these are time consuming and technical methods, so you might want to engage the services of a website development company.
Using Web Developer- Web developer is a browser add-on that has multiple options using which you can analyze your site. Recommended by expert web design services, this add-on gives you the freedom to work with a range of elements. Once you install it and click on the gray gear icon in your browser, you will be presented with a number of choices. You can choose to disable styling and view the plaintext version of your site, or stop any malicious, link-injecting JavaScript code from running. If properly utilized, this add-on can help detect most hidden spam links in your site. Keep in mind that each page on your site must be carefully examined to remove suspicious links.
Using Link Grabber- Link Grabber is another browser add-on that can help by extracting all the links on your site page-by-page and creating a report. This will enable you to spot any odd links on your site. After this is done, your website design service may want to run a full link audit using the following method.
JavaScript Link Audit- Once the suspicious links have been identified, your browser’s developer tools can be used to run a JavaScript code that will generate a report of all suspicious link elements on your site. Although many ready-made scripts are available online, it is best if you employ a web development company to audit your site properly.
Final Thoughts
A proper combination of the above techniques will surely help you find and remove hidden spam links on your site. Keep in mind however that all hidden elements are not created equal. It is perfectly legitimate to have hidden menus and elements which are necessary for ensuring the responsiveness of your site. While there are many automated tools that may be helpful to scan your site for unwanted links, it is always better to call on a website development company india to perform a proper link audit.
Amazing post. Thanks for sharing.
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