What is Bad Neighborhood
Translated, Bad Neighborhood means “bad neighborhood”. As soon as a website violates the search engine guidelines, it is penalized by having its PageRank drop to zero. In the worst cases, this can lead to the website being removed from the search engine index. A bad neighborhood occurs when such a website has backlinks leading to its page. This can result in your own website receiving a lower ranking.
It is worse as soon as a link from your own website leads to a bad neighborhood page. After all, you are giving the reader a personal recommendation of an improper website through the backlink. A PageRank of zero does not mean any danger in the first place; after all, every website starts from zero. Within a few steps, a link checker tool can determine whether a questionable link profile exists and whether there is a need for action. To have a reputable website, individual link texts and high-quality link sources are a must.
How does a penalty come about?
As soon as Google penalizes a website, this does not always have to be for the same reason. The following measures could reflect the cause in the case of black hat SEO:
Link framing, paid links
Cloaking
Keyword stuffing
Excessive spamming
How do I avoid a bad neighborhood?
As a first precaution, a regular analysis of the backlink profile should be carried out. As soon as anomalies are detected, it is advantageous to pay attention to the following points:
Are there any dubious links on my website that I can remove myself immediately?
It is advisable to submit a request to the site in question to remove an unwanted backlink from your own website.
If the backlink could not be removed with these two options and your own website has already been removed from the search engine index, the next option is to submit a reconsideration request via Google. With a reconsideration request, the page is checked manually by Google. Hacker manipulation can also be detected in the process.
It requires a careful review and constant monitoring of all activities of your link partners in order not to jeopardize the website position through dubious backlinks.