Google Penalty

The Google Penalty takes many forms. Typically, your normal rankings for keywords are demoted to lower pages. So there are examples of +30, +40 and +1000 penalties. Let us say you have #1 ranking for “Blue Widget”, then if you are suffering a Google +40 penalty then your position becomes #41 or worse.

Of course, if you have been a really bad boy, then you can be removed from the Google rankings completely. In such cases, it may be impossible to retrieve the situation.

Google Penalty Offences

In essence if you ignore the Google Webmaster Guidelines, then you are likely to suffer a penalty. More details about the guidelines below:
>> Design & Content Guidelines

>> Technical Guidelines

>> Quality Guidelines

If you are really lucky, Google will contact you first via their Google Webmaster Central interface. So if you have not created an account, it would be good practise to sign up now! In practise, we have found that Google only use this for minor infractions.

How do you recognise a Google Penalty

One of the most common problems is being sure that you really have received a Penalty. In many cases, your site is just not ranking well for keyphrases any more. Could be a new change to the Google algorithm, something you changed on the website or 101 other factors. So how do you check for a real Google penalty?

The most obvious sign is doing a search for your company name (domain name). So if your company site is called Blue Widgets (say bluewidgets.com), then your site should rank at the top of page 1 on Google for that exact phrase (“blue widgets”). Note: there is a company with this domain name(!) – we are not associated with them nor do we imply that they have (or did have) a Google penalty! If you have a penalty, you will not rank on any top pages in the Google SERPs and, in fact, you may not rank any more. Note: your rankings on Yahoo, MSN, etc will not necessarily be similarly effected.

Getting out of a Google Penalty

This is the crux! First, and this can be really difficult, is to identify the problem or problems. Do not expect any help from Google. They will not respond to emails. So you are on your own! You may know the issue – for example, you have been buying links. Then in this example contact all sites you have bought links from and get them removed. Similarly if you are selling links, then you can expect a Penalty. Using link farms is another common issue – so stop and get all links removed.

Next step: once you have resolved the issues, it is time to contact Google with a “Request Reconsideration” via the Google Webmaster Central interface. You must eat humble pie – own up and explain what you have done to eliminate the issues and state that you will definitely abide by the Google Webmaster Guidelines in the future. Although Google says it can take several weeks for them to reconsider, in our experience it takes just days for a positive outcome. Do not expect a reply from Google if you have succeeded (or failed) – you will just see your rankings improve! If you have failed keep trying and when you resolve issues contact Google again.

Help is at Hand

SeoAdviser have experience in solving Google Penalty issues and getting sites to rank back at their original rankings. If you need our consultants to help – please contact us via the Contact Form.

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