• About
    • History of Dallas SEO
  • Contact
  • Topics
    • Bing
    • Blogging
    • Branding
    • Domain Names
    • Google
    • Internet Marketing
    • Link Building
    • Local Search
    • Marketing
    • Public Relations
    • Reputation Management
    • Search Engine Marketing
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Search Engines
    • Social Media
    • Tech
  • Advertise
  • Services
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Ongoing SEO Services
    • SEO Expert Witness
    • Google Penalty Recovery
    • Mini SEO Audit
    • Link Audit
    • Keyword Research
    • Combine Websites SEO Services
    • PPC Management
    • Online Reputation Management
    • Domain Name Consultant
    • Domain Names & Expired Domains
    • Domain Name Appraisal

Bill Hartzer

GoDaddy Airo: Register your .com domain name today!
Home » Google » Less Than 10 Links to Site? Google Still Gives Site Manual Penalty

Less Than 10 Links to Site? Google Still Gives Site Manual Penalty

Posted on September 18, 2014 Written by Bill Hartzer

Apparently it doesn’t matter, whatsoever, how many links to your site you have. Even if you have 8 links pointing to your website, if those links are inorganic or violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, the site can still receive a manual penalty from Google.

As you may be aware, I handle a lot of link cleanup projects for clients. In the past few years I have gotten quite a few Google manual penalties removed (manual actions revoked) from websites whose owners have come to me asking for help. I’ve even been able to get manual penalties removed on “one try” when previous “link removal companies” have tried multiple times to get penalties removed.

Some people in this industry call me “the cleaner”.

But today, I came across a website (a new client’s site) that literally has 8 links pointing to it from other websites. Yep, only 8 links. From 5 different domain names.

But guess what?!?!? The site has a Google manual action! A “partial match” for inorganic links. Seriously, Google? You penalize a site, manually, because a website has inorganic links and it has 8 links? Seriously?

Here’s the site’s stats, from Majestic SEO:

majestic-seo-links-manual-action-8-links

Granted, the site does have a low Trust Flow and a high Citation Flow, indicating that the site has some low quality links. And in the past 5 years there have been about 100 links, from about 10 domain names. Apparently most of those links are all gone, and now the site has 8 links.

And, if you look at Google Webmaster Tools, you’ll see the following manual action against this site (that has 8 links!):

google manual action partial match

Needless to say, I think this will be the “easiest” Google Manual Action that I have gotten removed:

I’ll identify the bad links, contact the site owners asking them to remove the links, and then disavow the links that weren’t removed. I’ll then write all that up in a document, put the link data into a spreadsheet, and request reconsideration.

There’s no doubt that I can get those links removed or disavowed, but then filing a reconsideration request will take some time to get the documents together and then file it–and then we hope the site will come back (it wasn’t ranking anyway with only 8 links though).

But seriously. Really? What’s the point of Google giving a website a manual action (a Google manual penalty) for inorganic links when you have 8 links? I guess that somehow shows that it’s a percentage of the links that are bad that have somehow flagged something in Google that then puts a manual action on the site?

Just to confirm this, take a look at what ahrefs.com shows for this site:

ahref-links-manual-action

According to ahrefs, the site has 9 links from 7 domain names. Yep, less than 10 links to the site, yet it has a Google Manual Penalty (manual action, partial match).

Filed Under: Google, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines

About Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer is the CEO of Hartzer Consulting and founder of DNAccess, a domain name protection and recovery service. A recognized authority in digital marketing and domain strategy, Bill is frequently called upon as an Expert Witness in internet-related legal cases. He's been sharing insights and research here on BillHartzer.com for over two decades.

Bill Hartzer on Search, Marketing, Tech, and Domains.

Recent Posts

  • Internet Marketing Ninjas Acquired by Previsible.IO July 9, 2025
  • Metricool Brings Real Analytics to Personal LinkedIn Profiles July 8, 2025
  • This Cleveland Agency Found a Smarter Way to Rank in Every Suburb—Without Opening More Offices July 8, 2025
  • Survey: Gen Z Reuses Passwords but Demands Bank-Level Security From Small Businesses July 8, 2025
  • Liftoff Reveals What’s Actually Working in Mobile Ads July 7, 2025
  • EasySend’s Big Move: AI Tools That Make Static Forms Obsolete July 7, 2025
  • Is Social Media Failing Small Businesses? New Survey Reveals a Hidden Blind Spot July 7, 2025
  • Why Cloudflare’s Pay Per Crawl Is a Trap for 99% of Websites July 2, 2025
  • The Hidden Risk of Double Letters in Brand and Domain Names July 2, 2025
  • GEO Verified™ Launches to Help Brands Survive the AI Search Shakeup July 1, 2025
  • RetailOnline.com Hits the Market After 25 Years—And It’s Built for the Future of E-Commerce July 1, 2025
  • AI-Powered Task Planning: The Future of Business Efficiency and Personal Productivity June 30, 2025
  • New Yoast Add-On Turns Google Docs Into an SEO Power Tool June 26, 2025
  • Simon Data Flips the Script on Marketing with AI Agents June 26, 2025
  • IAB Lays Down the Law for Gaming Ads—Here’s What Brands Need to Know June 26, 2025
  • Google Review Extortion Text Message – Scam Warning for Business Owners June 25, 2025
  • Google Names SearchKings Top AI Innovator for Transforming Lead Quality June 24, 2025
  • Marketing Exec Buys Social Media Firm in Deal That Signals Big Plans June 24, 2025
  • Amsive Takes on ChatGPT and Gemini with Next-Gen SEO for the AI Search Era June 23, 2025
  • Reddit Sued After Google’s AI Overviews Allegedly Gutted Traffic June 19, 2025

Hartzer Domains

Bare-Metal Servers by HostDime

DFWSEM logo

Bill Hartzer is a Brand Ambassador for:

Industry Friends

I Love SEO
WTFSEO
SEO By the Sea
Brian Harnish
Jeff Lenney
Jeff Gabriel
Scott Hendison
Dixon Jones
Brian Hartzer
Navah Hopkins
DNAccess
SEO Dallas
Confirmed Stolen

Connect With Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer on Twitter
Bill Hartzer on BlueSky
Bill Hartzer on Instagram
Hartzer Consulting on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on Facebook
Bill Hartzer on YouTube

Categories

  • Advertising (109)
  • AI (201)
  • Bing Search Engine (8)
  • Blogging (43)
  • Branding (19)
  • Domain Names (315)
  • Google (260)
  • Internet Marketing (51)
  • Internet Usage (95)
  • Link Building (53)
  • Local Search (63)
  • Marketing (232)
  • Marketing Foo (34)
  • Pay Per Click (9)
  • Podcast (19)
  • Public Relations (9)
  • Reputation Management (14)
  • Search Engine Marketing (46)
  • Search Engine Marketing Events (60)
  • Search Engine Marketing Firms (94)
  • Search Engine Marketing Jobs (33)
  • Search Engine Optimization (189)
  • Search Engines (223)
  • Social Media (302)
  • Social Media Marketing (58)
  • Tech (16)
  • Web Analytics (21)
  • Webinars (1)

Note: All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only, and are mentioned only to help my readers. All other trademarks cited herein are the property of their respective owners. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement.

 

Hartzer Consulting

Website, Content, and Marketing by Hartzer Consulting, LLC.

Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Terms of Use

Copyright © 2025 ·