WTF! (Photo credit: PistoCasero)
Greetings!
I’m [Name], and I work for [Site name]. Do not adjust your screens! This is, in fact, a form letter. I would love to make each note personal, but there are too many people to contact.
I’m writing to bring your attention the links leading to our site on thewhineseller.com/author/admin/page/12/. I am hoping you can remove the links leading to [Site Name] and its internal pages from your site, thewhineseller.com. This isn’t because I believe your site is harming ours. It’s because I don’t want to leave you with a broken link or irrelevant citation. I know this is vague, but we’re simply cleaning up our content.
Please let me know if you’re willing to help!
Thank you for your time,
[Name]
[Site]
Firstly, that link takes you to a page in my archives that… doesn’t have a single post with their link on it. But I did some digging a found a post with their link and it was… another freaking infographic that someone had specifically ASKED me to share. Not from the same website, though, if you were curious.
It’s this part that really gets me:
This isn’t because I believe your site is harming ours. It’s because I don’t want to leave you with a broken link or irrelevant citation. I know this is vague, but we’re simply cleaning up our content.
What the heck? This doesn’t make me any less confused than the weird negative tone of the other link removal request.
Is this some kind of weird spam or scam I’m just not understanding? Is anyone else getting messages like this? What do you think they mean?
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It’s people that in the past have done dodgy SEO with spam links all over the Internet going mad because they’re now being penalised by Google. They’re desperately trying to undo the damage and still can’t tell the difference between a good link and a spam link 😀
That’s what I figured. I just can’t imagine how much fail must be going on behind the scenes that you think an email like this would help you somehow.
It is a good email. For you, not them.
Think of two wooden sailing ships at sea using rope to exchange goods and messages. You, Captain Hillary of the USS Whine Seller, see Captain Name of RMS Site Name signaling ‘Don’t worry about the thick gunpowder smelling black smoke bellowing from below decks. Double check OUR lines.’
Advanced notice is good. You wouldn’t want to be caught in the back blast of someone’s bad SEO.
Thank you for your comment, this is the best explanation yet!