When we take over a dental practice’s SEO, there is something we explain at the outset: your rankings may initially dip because your previous provider removes paid links that were helping to support them.
In our experience of taking over existing SEO arrangements, we have encountered this more often than not. It does not mean it will happen to your practice, but it happens frequently enough for us to explain it before you move.
The issue begins with how those links were obtained. Google explicitly prohibits buying links to manipulate search rankings. Yet we have repeatedly encountered situations where paid link arrangements formed part of the previous provider’s approach.
When the relationship ends, the provider stops paying for those placements or withdraws links from websites they control. The links disappear, and the rankings they were helping to support can fall.
This is an inherited dependency that can become visible when you change providers. Understanding it upfront helps put the transition into context.
Buying links to manipulate rankings breaches Google’s policies
A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Google uses link analysis as part of its ranking systems to help understand pages and assess which may be useful for a search. Links that Google credits can therefore contribute to your visibility.[1]
However, Google explicitly identifies buying or selling links for ranking purposes as link spam. Examples include paying for links, paying for posts containing links and purchasing articles that pass ranking credit.[2]
This is different from legitimate advertising or sponsorship. Google permits paid advertising links when they are appropriately qualified, for example with sponsored or nofollow attributes. The problem is buying links to manipulate organic search positions.[2]
Where an agency purchases links to influence rankings, it introduces a dependency: some of your visibility may rely on placements that the agency continues to fund or control.
You may have had no knowledge that these tactics were being used. You appointed an agency to improve your visibility and reasonably expected its methods to follow Google’s guidance.
If those placements disappear when you leave, part of the support behind your rankings can disappear with them.
What happens when you move providers?
Where recurring paid link arrangements exist, the sequence can be straightforward:
- Your previous provider pays for external links that contribute to your rankings.
- You end the SEO agreement.
- The provider stops renewing those placements or removes links from websites it controls.
- Google discovers that the links have gone.
- Your rankings may adjust as that previous contribution is lost.
The new agency can be improving your website while this is happening.
That creates a transition period in which previous ranking support is being withdrawn while the benefits of the new work develop.
The handover may be the point at which an old dependency becomes visible.
Not every removed link will affect rankings. Google may already have ignored some links, and other factors can also influence positions. Nevertheless, the withdrawal of paid links is a pattern we have encountered frequently when taking over a practice’s SEO.
Google confirms that losing artificial link credit can change rankings
Google’s own explanation supports the underlying mechanism:
“Ranking may change as spammy links are neutralized and any credit passed by these unnatural links are lost.”[3]
Google is describing its systems discounting unnatural links. That differs from a previous provider physically removing them, but the relevant principle is the same: rankings can change when previous link credit is no longer available.
It also highlights a further weakness in relying on paid links. Even if a provider continues paying for them, Google can decide to stop counting them.
Visibility supported by artificial link credit remains vulnerable to that credit being withdrawn.
Why we tell you this
We believe you should understand this possibility at the beginning.
In our experience, paid links being withdrawn after a change of provider is something we have encountered more often than not. That is an observation from our own work, rather than a claim that every SEO provider uses these tactics or that every practice will experience a dip.
Your previous provider may have followed Google’s guidance throughout. Its legitimate links may remain in place, and your transition may involve no link-related decline.
But where paid links have been supporting your rankings, their withdrawal can affect your visibility. We believe you deserve to understand that before you move.
Explaining this upfront gives you context for the early stages of working with a new provider. Some of the work involves building on what already exists. In other cases, it also involves overcoming dependencies left by the previous approach.
Why rebuilding can take time
Previous links can disappear before the benefits of new work have fully developed.
Improving treatment pages, strengthening website structure, resolving technical issues and developing useful content all require Google to discover and assess the changes.
Google explains that some website improvements can affect search results within days, while others may take several months.[4]
The loss of old support and the effect of new work will therefore not necessarily happen at the same pace.
At Digimax Dental, our objective is to build stronger foundations for your practice’s visibility, using methods that follow Google’s guidance and help prospective patients find and understand your services.
The time required depends on the website’s starting position, the extent of any inherited issues and the competition.
An initial dip caused by withdrawn link support can be part of that transition. It does not, by itself, determine the long-term outcome of the new work.
Start your next stage of SEO with a clear understanding
When you move your dental SEO, it helps to understand both the opportunity ahead and the legacy of the previous work.
In our experience, outgoing providers withdrawing paid links is a recurring issue. Where those links were contributing to rankings, their removal can produce an initial dip while the new work builds.
It will not happen to every practice. Nor can any agency guarantee a particular recovery or ranking. Google itself warns against providers that guarantee a number-one position.[5]
At Digimax Dental, we explain this possibility upfront because we want you to begin with a clear understanding of what the transition can involve.
If your previous rankings depended on paid links that disappear when you leave, that is a legacy your new SEO provider may need to overcome. Knowing this from the outset helps you assess progress with the right context.