How I discovered toxic links on my site


I set my third site up with my brother 2 years ago

It was our passion project and we poured time and love into the site

It was on an upward trend, we started to celebrate!

We were closing in on qualifying for Mediavine, what a difference this money could make to my brother's life!

I started to dream until BAM!

The traffic got wiped out

Shock. Horror. Anger. Demotivation. Confusion. Embarrassment

These were a range of feelings I experienced

What a lousy big sister I was, to dangle this opportunity for my brother for it to be yanked away overnight?

There were a few reasons why this site got hit, but one of them was:

Someone built toxic backlinks to the site and spammed them in a Negative SEO attack

Toxic backlinks are low-quality links that can harm your search rankings.

Google often ignores toxic backlinks, but sometimes, if you are unlucky, they result in a ranking penalty.

The toxic link builders usually own or are paid by a website in competition with the site they target. When the target website loses its rankings, the website belonging to the person who performed the attack has a higher chance of ranking.

How do I know this?

Because I got into an argument on Twitter with an idiot and he threatened to do exactly what happened. He also hacked my site and embedded some nasty stuff.

I discovered the toxic backlinks by checking on Google Search Console :

Links--Top Linking Sites--Top Linking Text

You can see the image below which shows where to find it

If you suddenly notice your traffic rising and then suddenly dropping, check this.

If there are weird looking sites and text about casino and seggs... then be wary.

Not trying to scare you, and generally you will be ok! (because you wont get into argument with idiots on twitter ha!)

So what can we learn from this ?

1- Learn about Google Search Console!

I just created mini course teaching you how to use Google Search Console 'GSC', to fix and improve your Google traffic.

GSC is a FREE tool created by Google, to help you monitor and improve your traffic. I use it everyday!

You can get the course while its only $17, the price will be going up to $47 after the weekend

It has over 20 written and video modules

Have a quick look inside the course here, click on the image:

2- Don't get into arguments with Twats on Twitter aka TITS (well I know its TOTS but TITS sounds better :))

They don't pay your bills and they can't grow your site, so don't waste your time and energy

Btw I have gone off Twitter, so the best way to get hold of me and ask me questions and get feedback in your site is here!

3- Shit happens, this is part and parcel of the blogging world, eventually it bounces back

Make sure you diversify your traffic and income as soon as you can so you don't just rely on traffic and ad revenue

Till next week my friends, have a great weekend

Get the Search Console training before the price nearly triples!

Aisha xx

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My courses and E-Book:


  • SEO Blog Post Training- Learn the fundamental basics on writing perfect SEO optimized posts that Google and your readers will love!

  • Triple Your Traffic : Supercharge old content and get triple the Google traffic to existing old content within 3 months!


Out And Beyond | Blogging & Side Hustle Tips

Hi, I'm Aisha and I love helping others achieve financial independence though blogging. I run a portfolio of 6 blogs and teach others how to grow and monetise their blogs using evergreen strategies that don't stress you out! Follow me for valuable blogging tips and digital nomad hacks.

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