Google Penalty

[Donny]

Hi,

I wanted to know if anyone out there has been on the end of a Google penalty, and what your experience was?

We have recently been told that our company has one (by an ex Google employee). We are a mid sized internet, company in an industry for over 15yrs with over 100m impressions per month. We have never used link farming etc and have only grown organically.

We have no idea why we have been penalized and Google won't listen to us...:|

 

[mattsaw]

How do you know this "ex-Google" employee?

 

[Paul Norman]

I would investigate further - a lot of 'ex-Google' employees are around saying things like that.

My experience of Google, as a company, is that they are open, fair, and communicative. But most of the employees would simply not know, specifically, if a site has a 'penalty'. I would seek more specific information from them.

 

[Donny]

How do you know this "ex-Google" employee?

he was reccomended to us by a contact. A pair of them have set up their own SEO company. We have checked their background so we know the deps that they worked in at Google, so we are confident that they are not lying. Also the time they say we recieved the penalty also matches a dip in our organic traffic figures and a drop in our PR

 

[Zeal]

Recommend by a 'contact'.

And these "ex Google chaps" are going to "fix" your penalties?

 

[mattsaw]

he was reccomended to us by a contact. A pair of them have set up their own SEO company. We have checked their background so we know the deps that they worked in at Google, so we are confident that they are not lying. Also the time they say we recieved the penalty also matches a dip in our organic traffic figures and a drop in our PR

Have you signed up to Google webmaster tools? Most penalties are disclosed in the admin section.

Personally I'm very suspicious of anyone claiming they worked at Google. Even if they did there is only a small percentage of the company dealing with the algorithim and in the webspam team - and they'e all based in California

 

[Donny]

Recommend by a 'contact'.

And these "ex Google chaps" are going to "fix" your penalties?

They didnt say they were going to fix it, they said that we had 2 major SEO problem and the penalties was one of them

 

[Zeal]

bottom line is Donny... that's what they'll lead to. They've just set up a company doing exactly this haven't they? Only a matter of time before they say "we can fix this for...."

 

[Donny]

bottom line is Donny... that's what they'll lead to. They've just set up a company doing exactly this haven't they? Only a matter of time before they say "we can fix this for...."

So any suggestions? i spoke to google, we have an adwords account manager, I asked specifically if we have a penalty. they didnt give me an answer but merely pointed me to a SEO help page.

I have heard of penalties in the industry, other big brand examples so i know its a possaibility but dont know how to find out if it has happened or not...

 

[Donny]

Have you signed up to Google webmaster tools? Most penalties are disclosed in the admin section.

Personally I'm very suspicious of anyone claiming they worked at Google. Even if they did there is only a small percentage of the company dealing with the algorithim and in the webspam team - and they'e all based in California

Where can i see it in the webmaster tools? under which one of these?

• Site configuration
• Your site on the web
• Diagnostics
• Labs

 

[mattsaw]

Where can i see it in the webmaster tools? under which one of these?

• Site configuration
• Your site on the web
• Diagnostics
• Labs

It'll be in the message centre, if there's anything there you,ll notice it. - http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/07/message-center-let-us-communicate-with.html

 

[Donny]

I doubt that they would display their manual intervention anywhere, that would make them look slightly less transparent...

 

Hi,

I wanted to know if anyone out there has been on the end of a Google penalty, and what your experience was?

We have recently been told that our company has one (by an ex Google employee). We are a mid sized internet, company in an industry for over 15yrs with over 100m impressions per month. We have never used link farming etc and have only grown organically.

We have no idea why we have been penalized and Google won't listen to us...:|

Donny has your traffic or rankings fallen.?

Earl

 

[mattsaw]

I doubt that they would display their manual intervention anywhere, that would make them look slightly less transparent...

They almost always do. The only cases where they tend to hide penalties is in cases of link buying and selling. Most other penalties are disclosed.

 

[Donny]

Donny has your traffic or rankings fallen.?

Earl

Yes our PR has fallen and so has the traffic

 

Yes our PR has fallen and so has the traffic

by what percentage has your traffic fallen.?

Earl

 

[Donny]

by what percentage has your traffic fallen.?

Earl

lets say about 50% from mid 6 figures pcm

 

[eventdomain]

If you have a penalty from Google, then its usually for something pretty big. There is a term called 'the sandbox' and it means a heavy drop from the free results pages, this could well be whats happened to you, although despite forums talk, you likely never find out what happened.

Advise you locate what your old site design was like, and get your site back to a point where it was getting no penalties and the traffic was high - then duplicate that if you can.

Did you buy a ton of links recently? and I mean a lot here, not just 100 or something...... Did you accidently link out to very bad websites or hire someone that did?

I'd start with the linking issue, and to be safe, suggest deleting any links that look dodgy or very unrelated and that you reciprocated back to.

Check to see if you accidently ventured into whats known as '3 way linking', as Google frowns upon that big time. It could be something as simple as that, you just linked back to nasty little webby sites, but its worth doing that.

If you dont find out the reason for this penalty, I'd just delete all reciprocal link swaps you entered into, and start again from scratch. Sounds harsh I know, but you'll probably never find out the true reason for your penalty, and with all the conflicting forum advice pulling you in different directions, it will drive you nuts and the problem will not get solved.

My company has never had a problem, we are very careful about who we link with and where our links are placed. Good related linking is safe and is the best way.

Good luck

 

[Donny]

If you have a penalty from Google, then its usually for something pretty big. There is a term called 'the sandbox' and it means a heavy drop from the free results pages, this could well be whats happened to you, although despite forums talk, you likely never find out what happened.

Advise you locate what your old site design was like, and get your site back to a point where it was getting no penalties and the traffic was high - then duplicate that if you can.

Did you buy a ton of links recently? and I mean a lot here, not just 100 or something...... Did you accidently link out to very bad websites or hire someone that did?

I'd start with the linking issue, and to be safe, suggest deleting any links that look dodgy or very unrelated and that you reciprocated back to.

Check to see if you accidently ventured into whats known as '3 way linking', as Google frowns upon that big time. It could be something as simple as that, you just linked back to nasty little webby sites, but its worth doing that.

If you dont find out the reason for this penalty, I'd just delete all reciprocal link swaps you entered into, and start again from scratch. Sounds harsh I know, but you'll probably never find out the true reason for your penalty, and with all the conflicting forum advice pulling you in different directions, it will drive you nuts and the problem will not get solved.

My company has never had a problem, we are very careful about who we link with and where our links are placed. Good related linking is safe and is the best way.

Good luck

Hi event,

I will have a go at all of the above!

We dont have a large linking strategy but we do buy the odd high quality link over the course of the year. We have never bought more than 10 in a year and dont have a reciprical link policy. We either buy a one way link or nothing.

But many thanks for the suggestions!

 

[mattsaw]

We have never used link farming etc and have only grown organically.

we do buy the odd high quality link over the course of the year. We have never bought more than 10 in a year and dont have a reciprical link policy. We either buy a one way link or nothing.

So which is it?

If you have been buying links then that could well be behind any penalty that you may have. Get the bought links removed and file a reinclusion request through webmaster tools citing why you did, what you have done to rectify the situation and why you won't be doing it again.

 

[Donny]

So which is it?

If you have been buying links then that could well be behind any penalty that you may have. Get the bought links removed and file a reinclusion request through webmaster tools citing why you did, what you have done to rectify the situation and why you won't be doing it again.

link farming is a bit different to buying the odd like here or there...

 

[mattsaw]

link farming is a bit different to buying the odd like here or there...

I was referring to this part,

We have never used link farming etc and have only grown organically.

 

[mattsaw]

It's also worth having a read of this - http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/021742.html

 

[InternetMarketingPlatinum]

If you buy loads of links at once it can look suspicious to the search engines. But there's nothing actually wrong with buying a link! It obviously depends upon the link source.

 

[crossdaz]

If you have been buying links then that could well be behind any penalty that you may have. Get the bought links removed and file a reinclusion request through webmaster tools citing why you did, what you have done to rectify the situation and why you won't be doing it again.

...and just hope your penalty was for buying links

 

[Coppock]

if you want to put a link to your site here i'm sure one of us here will be able to check to see if its sandboxed/blacklisted for you...

Jen