Preventing Negative SEO – Can I and Should I?

Generally speaking there have so far been two entirely different responses to negative SEO. Some have gone completely OTT with drastic protective measures as something of a knee-jerk reaction, while others haven’t even bothered to read into the subject and assume it’s just a hoax. Technically speaking there’s at least a degree of logic on both ends of the spectrum as while we still don’t know for sure how big the negative SEO threat is, there’s little doubt that someone, somewhere is cooking up all new ways to harm our sites and businesses.After all, if there’s a way of exploiting and extorting the hard work of others, some kind soul’s going to do it sooner or later.Which is precisely why there’s really only one beneficial course of action right now as far as negative SEO is concerned – sensibly proactive preventative measures and vigilance. Chances are you yourself will never face such a threat, but if you do, it’s good to know how to deal with it.          Is Negative SEO Preventable?What’s important to remember is that negative SEO centers on backlinks – as in the deliberate overproduction of spam links for no reason other than to harm your site. As a responsible business however, you’re of course already carrying out regular backlink audits, aren’t you? Well, at least you should be, as by regularly looking into the backlinks pointing your way you are inherently primed and ready to ward off any foul play before it has the chance to do you any harm.A raft of spam links will no crucify your site overnight – it takes time for this to happen.Using the right tools a link audit can be easy and will in most cases demand that no further action be taken. All you’re doing is taking a look to see if there’s anything not as it should be or out of place, and if all is well, there’s no more involvement.Isn’t This All Google’s Job?You’d be justified in questioning why on Earth you should be doing all the hard work when it’s not really your fault you’re so badly exposed. But at the same time, what does Google owe you? Are you paying them for your search rankings? Do they owe you or you them? Have they got any stake in your business at all? Of course not, so to be honest you should in fact be counting yourself lucky they’re doing anything at all!But as there’s no realistic chance of Google 100% ruling out negative SEO, you have to take your own SERP safety into your own hands."It's a tricky situation and not something where I'd say that we can guarantee that we always get it 100% right,” said Google’s John Mueller.“But, from the cases I've looked at I think we've done a pretty good job,""We do work very hard to make sure that third party effects like that don't play a role within the search results. It's something we can't absolutely guarantee that we'll always get it right. So, if you're seeing something like this you're welcome to let us know about that.""If you're looking at the links in Webmaster Tools for example I might go ahead and submit a disavow file for those links. In general though, we do recognize these kind of situations and handle them appropriately. "