Check Search Console → Security & Manual Actions before doing anything else. If a manual action is listed, links are the cause and it is fixable. If nothing is listed — which is far more common — the links were quietly stopped counting rather than penalised, and no disavow file will bring the rankings back. Those two situations need completely different responses, and most agencies do not check which one you are in.
This page is about a specific problem: a site that ranked, stopped ranking, and nobody can explain it. If that is not you, the SEO services page is the right place.
What a built link profile looks like
Three signals together. Any one alone means little; all three is a pattern.
- Almost everything is dofollow. A natural profile is never close to 100 per cent, because real links come from news sites, forums and comments where a large share are nofollow or ugc. A profile that is entirely followed could not have happened by accident.
- The anchor text repeats. Twenty-six links reading “web development company in mohali your online partner” and twenty-four reading “your digital partner” are spun variants of one phrase. Nobody writes that about you once, let alone fifty times.
- The domains are auto-generated. Subdomains like
seocompany333154.blogofoto.comcarry a random numeric suffix, which is what an automated signup produces. Bookmark sites with names like ztndz, dirstop and gorillasocialwork have been recognised spam for over a decade.
About the DA numbers on the report you were given. Domain Authority is a Moz estimate. Google has never used it. Link vendors quote it because it is easy to inflate — which is exactly why a DA 78 bookmark farm can pass less value than a DA 20 trade publication. If the sales pitch led with DA, that tells you what was being sold.
This happened to us
The honest version of a case study, including the part that reflects badly.
Apensia ranked first for “web development company in Chandigarh”. Then it slipped to second and stayed there.
When we pulled our own backlink profile we found 1,207 links across 1,115 domains, every single one dofollow. Auto-generated subdomains on free blog networks. Bookmark sites. The same commercial anchor phrase spun into twenty-six variations. Average Domain Authority 62, which had been the entire selling point.
We cannot prove those links caused the drop — there is no manual action listed, and an algorithmic devaluation leaves no notice anywhere. What we can say is that the timing and the pattern are consistent, and that the links certainly were not helping.
Because it is the most useful thing we know, and because we would rather you heard it from someone who paid for the lesson. An agency that has never had this happen is guessing. We can show you our own Search Console, the spreadsheet the vendor sent us, and what we did next.
What the audit covers
The profile
Every referring domain, sorted by what it actually is rather than by a third-party score.
- Followed versus nofollowed ratio
- Anchor text distribution
- Auto-generated and network domains flagged
- Genuine editorial links identified and kept
The timeline
When rankings moved, and what changed on your site or in your link profile around that date.
- Sixteen months of Search Console data
- Step drops separated from slow slides
- Known algorithm dates cross-checked
- Manual action status confirmed
Everything else
Because roughly a third of the time links are not the problem, and finding that out matters more than the link report.
- Indexing and crawl issues
- Duplicate and competing pages
- Whether a competitor simply improved
- Technical changes that coincided
The finding we deliver most often is not what people expect. Duplicate pages competing with each other cost more sites their rankings than bad links do, and it is invisible until somebody counts. One recent audit found nine pages on one domain all targeting the same phrase.
On the disavow tool
Most agencies reach for it first. Google's own guidance says it is for manual actions, and using it wrongly removes links that were helping you.
| Manual action | Algorithmic devaluation | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you see it | Search Console, Manual Actions | Nowhere. No notice at all |
| How common | Rare | Far more common |
| What it looks like | Sharp, severe drop | A slip of a position or two that never recovers |
| Does disavow help | Yes, with reconsideration | No — they already stopped counting |
| Recovery | Weeks after acceptance | Six months upward, by earning real links |
Pricing
Full audit
You need to know what happened
One-off, about a week
- Complete backlink analysis
- Sixteen-month ranking timeline
- Manual action check
- Technical and duplicate-page review
- A written answer, and a call
- Yours to act on with or without us
Remediation
Only if the audit finds it is needed
Two to six months
- Removal requests where possible
- Disavow file, if a manual action exists
- Reconsideration request drafted
- Rebuilding on real signals
We do not sell remediation without an audit. A cleanup quoted before anyone has looked at the profile is being sold on assumption, and it is how a business that had an indexing problem ends up paying to remove links that were fine.
Common questions
How do I know if bad backlinks are hurting my rankings?
Three signals together are the pattern: a ranking drop that does not recover, a backlink profile that is almost entirely dofollow, and repeated keyword-rich anchor text. A natural profile is never close to 100 per cent dofollow, because real links come from news sites, forums and comments where many are nofollow. If yours is, the links were built rather than earned.
What is the difference between a manual action and an algorithmic devaluation?
A manual action is a human reviewer at Google penalising the site, and it appears in Search Console under Security and Manual Actions. An algorithmic devaluation is SpamBrain simply not counting the links any more, and it appears nowhere. Devaluation is far more common, and it produces a site that quietly slips a position or two and does not come back.
Should I use the disavow tool?
Usually not. Google guidance is that disavow is for manual actions, and using it wrongly removes links that were helping you. Check Search Console for a manual action first. If there is none, the links have most likely already been ignored, and the answer is to stop building more rather than to file a disavow.
Does Domain Authority matter for rankings?
No. Domain Authority is a Moz estimate, not a Google metric, and Google has never used it. Link vendors quote it because it is easy to inflate, which is why a DA 78 bookmark farm can pass less value than a DA 20 industry publication. We report DA when clients ask for it, alongside the numbers that actually pay.
How much does a backlink audit cost?
A full audit is ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 depending on the size of the link profile, and takes about a week. Remediation, where it is needed, starts at ₹40,000. About a third of the audits we run conclude that links are not the problem, and we say so rather than selling a cleanup nobody needs.
How long does recovery take after removing bad links?
After a successful reconsideration request following a manual action, weeks. After an algorithmic devaluation, there is nothing to recover from directly — the links simply stopped counting, so the site has to earn real ones. That takes six months upward and it is the honest timeline nobody wants to hear.
Can you guarantee my rankings will come back?
No. If a competitor simply improved, no amount of cleanup changes that. What we guarantee is a straight answer about what happened, evidence for it, and a plan you can act on with or without us.