Google Penalized Me!

[Jack_Rouse]

It is definitely not the YA - links. Analyzing your backlink profile there is one thing: you have 100% do-follow links which is absolutely not natural and begs for a penalty.

This is also wrong, you could fill your backlink profile with 10,000 do-follow links and Google would not penalise you.
The only way Google will penalise you is if it detects unnatural growth in links, that is links that are submitted too quickly to be human and natural submissions.

 

[Jack_Rouse]

This might help everyone, this site is a bit of a bible of mine because it gets the men Google use to explain how Google works out PR.

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/...covery-from-the-unnatural-link-penalty/63237/

 

[User37935]

Very interesting Jack, especially this bit as an example of bad practice:

Forum comments with highly optimized links in the signature

and...

manual link building in general is frowned upon by Google.

 

[Alpha1]

Did you use paid posters?
See Matt Cutts his video about Penguin 2:
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/what-to-expect-in-seo-in-the-coming-months/

 

[Adam H]

ANY low quality link using anchor text has potential to raise a flag, Directories apart from some individual niche directories havent been in the fold for years. Forum signatures and profile links have been out of wack for the past 14 months and any other kind of link which is easily seen to be manipulating search and is of a low quality has potential to put you in hot water.

People need to stop following the latest trends and just do what has always worked, good quality related links from diverse locations with diversity in anchor text , branding and plain URL. Nothing has ever changed in that fact but people generally jump on the bandwagon for what "works" quickly at the time, this sets them up for a massive fall when there is an algo change which then renders that method useless.

Check your webmaster tools of the sites linking to your sites, regardless of other tools tell you what links are pointing to your site, the webmaster tools list will give you good insight as to where to start.

Get rid of the links that look like they are not natural , i.e people linking to your site because they want to, not because you answered a question on something that maybe a little related and not because you posted 3000 posts on a forum and then used anchor text.

Once you've done your work , tidied up your backlink profile and think you have removed the offending links then submit a reconsideration request, much to popular belief they do get processed and providing you are truthful, they generally are pretty human about it and give you the benefit of the doubt, if you dont meet the requirements they also give you an example of what they are talking about.

Make sure to be detailed in your request, simply putting "i think i have removed the links" wont cut it and doeskin show good will that you actually have tried doing anything.

If possible make a spreadsheet on google docs, outlining the webmasters you have contacted , outlining the links you have already removed.

Explain you didnt understand that some links were considered bad and you will do your research properly in the future, before attempting any other kind of attempt to promote your website etc etc , the normal lick arse kind of statement.

Providing you show that you have spend time, effort and are generally trying to get back in the good books they will give you grace.

After you've been reconsidered , build good content , get social with it , build good content on other peoples related high quality blogs which allow author bios and include a backlink to your site, make sure your creating content which is likely to encourage tweets, likes and shares, if people actively want to share the stuff you write THAT is what you consider to be high quality, anything less simply isnt good enough.

Make sure your backlinks are either branded or plain URL which will allow you to grow authority without using anchor text, in the early days of link building you should be careful how much anchor text you throw around especially if you dont know what your doing, as you gain experience you will get a feel for whats right and wrong.

BE DIVERSE , i cant say this enough. Although i mentioned guest blogging above and although it has always worked pretty well it has exploded in to the "new trend", there is no telling what the next algo change will do or what it will focus on, although one thing is certain if the posts you guest blog add value for the reader you'll be safe, just don't go around thinking there is a short , quick way of doing things because there isnt.

 

[Jack_Rouse]

ANY low quality link using anchor text has potential to raise a flag, Directories apart from some individual niche directories havent been in the fold for years. Forum signatures and profile links have been out of wack for the past 14 months and any other kind of link which is easily seen to be manipulating search and is of a low quality has potential to put you in hot water.

People need to stop following the latest trends and just do what has always worked, good quality related links from diverse locations with diversity in anchor text , branding and plain URL. Nothing has ever changed in that fact but people generally jump on the bandwagon for what "works" quickly at the time, this sets them up for a massive fall when there is an algo change which then renders that method useless.

Check your webmaster tools of the sites linking to your sites, regardless of other tools telling you what links are pointing to your site the webmaster tools list will give you good insight as to where to start.

Then get rid of the links that look like they are not natural , i.e people linking to your site because they want to , not because you answered a question on something thats maybe kind of related and not because you posted 3000 posts on a forum and then used anchor text.

Once you've done your work and think you have removed the offending links then submit a reconsideration request, much to popular belief they do get processed and providing you are truthful with them they generally are pretty human about it and if you dont meet the requirements they may give you an example of what they are talking about.

Make sure to be detailed in your request though, simply putting "i think i have removed the links" wont cut it and doesnt show good will that you actually have tried doing anything.

If possible make a spreadsheet on google docs, outlining the webmasters you have contacted , outlining the links you have already removed .

Explain you didnt understand that some links were considered bad and you will do your research properly in the future before attempting any other kind of attempt to promote your website etc etc , the normal lick arse kind of statement.

Providing you show that you have spend time, effort and are generally trying to get back in the good books they will give you grace.

After you've been reconsidered , build good content , get social with it , build good content on other peoples related high quality blogs which allow author bios and include a backlink to your site, make sure your creating content which is likely to encourage tweets, likes and shares, if people actively want to share the stuff you write THAT is what you consider to be high quality, anything less simply isnt good enough, make sure your backlinks are either branded or plain URL which will allow you to grow authority with out using anchor text, in the early days of link building you should be careful how much anchor text you throw around , as your sites authority grows you can throw a couple of anchor lines in here and there.

BE DIVERSE , i cant say this enough. Although i mentioned guest blogging above and although it has always worked pretty well it has exploded in to the "new trend" , there is no telling what the next algo change will do or what it will focus on, although one thing is certain if the posts you guest blog add value for the reader you'll be safe , just don't go around thinking there is a short , quick way of doing things because there isnt .

Thats a great post, but the problem is people will ignore the advice within because they do not see immediate results, instead they believe the adverts from SEO companies that say you can rank on page one of google in a day.

 

[BottingWorks]

I'm not sure whether to shake my head at the responses or laugh.

You've clearly done something other than what you've mentioned, however, in the insane rare circumstance that you are telling the truth you can use the Google disavow tool to remove any and all links that point to your site. Though they will not delete the links, they will remove the connection between the URL posted somewhere and your website.

In the meantime, attempt to remove any and all links you are able to do manually.

Remove all of your links and then appeal, state that the links were built by a competitor and that you have since disavowed all of them. Give it a few years and you should hit front page when EMD keywords are searched.

If you'd like, I can round up a list and location of your links?

 

[BottingWorks]

Thats a great post, but the problem is people will ignore the advice within because they do not see immediate results, instead they believe the adverts from SEO companies that say you can rank on page one of google in a day.

I can rank a website on page one within a couple of weeks depending on a couple of factors.

 

[Anonymous_User]

These are my external linking domains: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmjSb0SP_YXhdDYzdzd5TmZ2eVlHVXdDMjJpVmt1WGc#gid=0

These are my anchor phrases: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmjSb0SP_YXhdHlzNDNrU0V2VlNCUExoTk9ybDU1OGc#gid=0

I don't get how straightdope.com has 4,140 links to my site. I have actually put a link to my website there in one of my posts. All I did was set it as my homepage so if someone decides to click on my username, one of the options is, "Visit Anonymous User's Homepage!" On the other hand, I haven't even made 4,140 posts there, only around 1,300, which like I said, none of them contain links. I sent 4 PMs containing my link, three of them to some of my "friends" there, and one of them to this guy that has a large message board of his own so I could get some pointers from him.

So are you guys saying I should just disavow all my links, and then start over again with the link-building (next time more carefully so that I don't violate the guidelines)?

 

[BottingWorks]

Disavow all of them from straightdope and then continue building links.

 

[Anonymous_User]

Update: I am going through my "links to my site" and seeing which ones are unnatural.

 

[Anonymous_User]

I just disavowed all of the links.

------------------------------------

After disavowing all of the links, here is what remains that actually gives results which link to my site:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...hrome.0.57j58.5396j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...hrome.0.57j58.5579j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...hrome.0.57j58.6372j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=tho...14,d.dmQ&fp=a6e553f96dcb9490&biw=1920&bih=955

https://www.google.com/search?q=the...14,d.dmQ&fp=a6e553f96dcb9490&biw=1920&bih=955

https://www.google.com/search?q=url...14,d.dmQ&fp=a6e553f96dcb9490&biw=1920&bih=955

https://www.google.com/search?q=new...14,d.dmQ&fp=a6e553f96dcb9490&biw=1920&bih=955

https://www.google.com/search?q=you...14,d.dmQ&fp=a6e553f96dcb9490&biw=1920&bih=955

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...hrome.0.57j58.8529j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...rome.0.57j58.11619j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...14,d.dmQ&fp=a6e553f96dcb9490&biw=1920&bih=955

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...hrome.0.57j58.5738j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...hrome.0.57j58.5828j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...rome.0.57j58.13578j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...rome.0.57j58.11755j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...14,d.dmQ&fp=a6e553f96dcb9490&biw=1920&bih=955

 

[Adam H]

Disavow all of them from straightdope and then continue building links.

I hope your analysis of this situation and telling him to use the disavow isnt something you just jump into with other peoples sites/businesses with, an outrageous decision when you can clearly see it is easily undone with a cleverly worded reconsideration request and a genuine effort to remove problematic links.

That tool should be an absolute last resort , it doesnt even guarantee the removal of the links just because you submitted them because google see's it as a lazy way out, they want to see a gesture of the webmaster cleaning up their act , not a quick way out.

I can rank a website on page one within a couple of weeks depending on a couple of factors.

And how ethical are those methods i wonder and how much longevity do those have ? posts like you just made are the exact example of why there are so many small businesses struggling right now after big algorithm changes. The actions of people who read a couple of posts on a forum and think they have a wealth of experience of SEO when in reality they are either following the latest trend in ranking or using information which is well out of date....Assuming that your information will be taken in the same way you use it is a massive mistake too.

Your methods of doing things if you do them in moderation from experience may work for you, however telling someone a small peace of something and then leaving them with it can be catastrophic for them in the future.

The thing that is laughable is that innocent onlookers generally cant tell who actually knows what they are talking about when reading a forum post so the filth of mis-information written in forums gets spread to the next idiot who hasnt got a clue.

Im not saying whats wrong and right here, your free to do what you like....just dont advise people to do things which ultimately they cant handle.

 

[Jack_Rouse]

I can rank a website on page one within a couple of weeks depending on a couple of factors.

I am very very wary of people who make claims like this, whilst I don't doubt it can be done, because I have seen it done as proof of it, when you search for the site in a month or two's time, it is invariably deleted from the Google index.

I have been interested in SEO since I started to run forums, and my alarms went off when I said that I had read books on the subject and you scoffed at it, the books I read are not written by idiots, they are written by Google ex employees and the like, they have to make a living out of what they do.

 

[BottingWorks]

I hope your analysis of this situation and telling him to use the disavow isnt something you just jump into with other peoples sites/businesses with, an outrageous decision when you can clearly see it is easily undone with a cleverly worded reconsideration request and a genuine effort to remove problematic links.

That tool should be an absolute last resort , it doesnt even guarantee the removal of the links just because you submitted them because google see's it as a lazy way out, they want to see a gesture of the webmaster cleaning up their act , not a quick way out.



And how ethical are those methods i wonder and how much longevity do those have ? posts like you just made are the exact example of why there are so many small businesses struggling right now after big algorithm changes. The actions of people who read a couple of posts on a forum and think they have a wealth of experience of SEO when in reality they are either following the latest trend in ranking or using information which is well out of date....Assuming that your information will be taken in the same way you use it is a massive mistake too.

Your methods of doing things if you do them in moderation from experience may work for you, however telling someone a small peace of something and then leaving them with it can be catastrophic for them in the future.

The thing that is laughable is that innocent onlookers generally cant tell who actually knows what they are talking about when reading a forum post so the filth of mis-information written in forums gets spread to the next idiot who hasnt got a clue.

Im not saying whats wrong and right here, your free to do what you like....just dont advise people to do things which ultimately they cant handle.

I advised him to do something necessary as he quite clearly obtained 7 THOUSAND links on one website. Those were most likely made using Black Hat tactics. Therefore he should REMOVE them ASAP. The dissavow tool was necessary.

I offer experience, advice and guidance from experience in the SEO field. I haven't "read a few articles" and assumed I was an expert. I have knowledge.

Your suppose view on how Google views users is completely wrong. They don't track a site and it's backlinks and expect the webmaster to 'do the right thing' it's all computerized. He needs to remove the links, resubmit his site and wait for, most likely, a very long time to be re-indexed. "The lazy way out" - That's completely incorrect also. The tool was created firstly, for webmasters to combat competing sites hijacking rankings by spamming backlinks in the hope of de-indexing competition. Webmasters aren't penalized for using a tool that is there to help them.

Also, I'm okay with you questioning my response, but not the way I conduct myself on TAZ. If you have a problem with the way I staff, please contact me via private message, or message another staff member.

I am very very wary of people who make claims like this, whilst I don't doubt it can be done, because I have seen it done as proof of it, when you search for the site in a month or two's time, it is invariably deleted from the Google index.

I have been interested in SEO since I started to run forums, and my alarms went off when I said that I had read books on the subject and you scoffed at it, the books I read are not written by idiots, they are written by Google ex employees and the like, they have to make a living out of what they do.

It can be done, not always white hat, but it's very possible.

 

[Anonymous_User]

I advised him to do something necessary as he quite clearly obtained 7 THOUSAND links on one website. Those were most likely made using Black Hat tactics. Therefore he should REMOVE them ASAP. The dissavow tool was necessary.

Yeah I disavowed and sent a reconsideration. Thank you for informing me about the tool. The thing is that I still don't know how they got there. All I did was set my site as my home page on the Straight Dope Message Board, and maybe made 4 PMs to "friends" there containing the link in anchor text. I never actually linked to my site in a post there.

I still post there and have that set as my home page, however if I search the Straight Dope through Google, there are not any links from there.

Well in the brighter side, I am still doing fine on other engines like Yahoo, Bing, MSN, AOL, and others.

 

[Anonymous_User]

See, it is still telling me I have 4,140 links from straightdope.com, but if I actually search, I am not getting any...

https://www.google.com/search?q=boa...or.r_qf.&fp=e24ea8778f825757&biw=1280&bih=933

 

[Shawn Gossman]

As a general rule, anymore, I tend to stay away from directories as many of them turn into spam cess pools. DMOZ is about the only one I will submit to, and usually I have to become an editor to get my link submitted.

Remember now, Google and other search engines are looking for websites that perform too many SEO tactics and they penalize for such actions. Anymore, I allow organic SEO to occur and just focus on relevant back links and of course, CONTENT.