Did Google Just Penalize Another Link Network? SAPE Links

Unconfirmed reports are surfacing throughout the SEO community that Google has penalized yet another link network. The rumors within the industry are that the link network targeted by Google is named SAPE links.


Webmasters who have used the SAPE link network are reporting that their sites have taken hard penalties within Google, resulting in a huge downgrade in ranking. Not all webmasters agree it is the SAPE link network but feel it may be a different network all together.


There are forum thread discussions at Black Hat World and Black Hat Group that have webmasters and SEOs claiming it was SAPE. One webmaster wrote:


Anyone that use SAPE links see huge drop in rankings today?
Many agreed, but not all.


This would not be the first link network targeted by Google. Google has penalized link networks several times over the years, most recently the BuildMyRank.com link network. As I said then, I am surprised webmasters and SEOs still use these types of networks. To build your rankings on networks of links that can be penalized in a second by Google, just doesn?t seem wise to me. It is a short sighted SEO technique that I wouldn?t want to mess with.


Google has gone on record over and over again that paid links can result in a penalty. Google penalized a major floral website just recently for advertorial links. If Google made anything clear, they will ruthlessly go after link networks and paid link techniques.


Matt Cutts, Google?s head of search spam, tweeted about a month ago that he was investigating ?naughty Russian link selling software.? SAPE link network is run by Russians.


We have emailed Google for a comment about this story and are waiting to hear back.

There is speculation it was taken down a week ago.

Hold on, let me get the popcorn.

I am wondering how many similar threads will be opened in the next days?

The guy who is holding the number 1 spot in my niche has only sape links, hes still there.

partymarty4870 said:

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It's funny - there's been absolutely zero conclusive evidence of SAPE being taken down. Thousands of sites are still ranking just as well, if not better than before this update.

However, that doesn't stop clueless schmucks like Barry Schwartz from spreading lies. I mean, come on - the guy didn't even know the right link to SAPE.

Meanwhile, more clueless people who probably don't even use SAPE are spreading this garbage. Google may have targeted SAPE, but they certainly didn't take it down. I'm sure there's some SAPE guys who experienced a drop in rankings, but if you didn't use SAPE I recommend you stop spreading rumors without first hand knowledge.

Note: This isn't necessarily targeted at the OP. Just all these morons speculating, without anything to add to the conversation.

partymarty4870 said:

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I love your attitude mate

I dont think so its coz of sape network though

This network is going down. Too many eng sites make SEO with these links.

SAPE started in 2005 and they survived each update so there has to be some reason right.It will be difficult for google to take down SAPE as a whole. The primary reason being the network is crowdsourced although there are great amount of hacked sites as well. So google can not target whole platform but individual sites might be done.

The only way i see google taking down the network is by buying links across whole SAPE network and weed out all the sites part of network.Which is very much possible as they are targeting individual network in each update so there has to be some manual intervention involved rather then algorithmic.

As SAPE is a subscription based service so google may also be scanning for link changes on monthly basis and find out the sites that are part of link network. But it might be not as accurate.

Or third possible way is they will devalue home page links like they always have(blog comments/article marketing etc). (If you can not solve the problem; remove the problem seems to be there new strategy)

Don't use SAPE links only for backlinks make sure they account no more then 20% of your link profile. If only SAPE links are used google can easily identify backlinks as part of a high pr network.

Sape Is going down, Its confirmed. But opening thousands of thread wont put pressure on Mutt to bring it back

I too read in many reputed sites that russian links are noted with..

within next few days we will see for sure!

The sky is falling!

Yes Sape is dead, please stop doing your methods and quit right now

This is just a speculation! Please, stop confusing the BHW users. I have been working with sape.ru for over 3 years now and I have never had any problems. Neither before, nor after 08/ 03/ 2013 when the second unnatural link warnings took place. You should read some more about the topic before you write spammy comments.

Cloudbacklinks said:

Yes Sape is dead, please stop doing your methods and quit right now

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Lilacor said:

This is just a speculation! Please, stop confusing the BHW users. I have been working with sape.ru for over 3 years now and I have never had any problems. Neither before, nor after 08/ 03/ 2013 when the second unnatural link warnings took place. You should read some more about the topic before you write spammy comments.

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Did someone piss in your cheerios this morning? If not, your sarcasm detector needs fixing.

I can attest that I used a network similar to sape for less than a month on a new site which linked to a money site and as of this afternoon they have both lost complete ranking for the terms they were gaining on.