Commercial exact-match anchors dominate the backlink profile (Penguin)

Google's spam policies list links with optimised anchor text in articles, guest posts and press releases as link spam. Penguin was built to combat link spam and, since 2016, its function runs inside core ranking, where such links are devalued. The best outcome is that the links are ignored; the worst is a manual action.

Stop campaigns that specify anchors, request removal or rel="sponsored" on paid placements, disavow only links you built or bought and cannot remove, and earn links whose anchors are brand, URL or natural descriptive text.

1. Export referring domains with their anchor text from a backlink tool (Ahrefs, Semrush or Majestic) and deduplicate to one anchor per domain.
2. Classify anchors as brand, URL, generic, partial match or exact commercial match.
3. Flag the issue when exact commercial match anchors come from a large share of referring domains compared with the brand's own anchors and with top ranking competitors.
4. Review the placements carrying those anchors (guest posts, press release sites, directories, footers) and check Search Console Manual actions.

Written for the Penguin page (evidence: Confirmed).

Indirect. Removes risk of manual action and stops relying on links that are likely already devalued. Estimate only: recovery is not guaranteed because devalued links pass no value either way.

Google's spam policies define link spam and name optimised anchor text in distributed articles; Google's ranking systems guide and 2016 Penguin post confirm Penguin's purpose and integration into core ranking.