Google Penalty

There is still a lot of controversy over what exactly constitutes a Google penalty. In its most basic state if a site is seen by the Google search algorithm to be keyword stuffing or any form of shady SEO practices then the penalty is that the site is dropped down in the rankings. There are three main types of Google penalties: -30 penalty, -950 penalty and index exclusion. Basically the site will be penalized in the search engine rankings depending on the nature of the infraction. Once it is attended to the penalty will be removed, although it may take 6-12 months for Google to remove a penalty and even then it may take longer for the site to regain its original position.

Some schools of thought say that when too many links occur inside a short time span Google will slap a penalty on the site. For instance if you start a site and get about 15 to 20 new links a day and then all of a sudden get 1000 in one day it will look like the links were not legitimately acquired and Google will hit the site with a penalty. Over some time, it will go away. But to avoid getting the penalty do not use link building software. Instead, work on building your link strategies slowly.

The index exclusion penalty is a total ban from search engine result pages. This Google penalty can seriously harm a site. This type of penalty usually occurs when there is a very serious violation of Google’s quality guidelines. Usually there is some sort of black hat method being practiced such as doorway pages or cloaking.  If your site is hit with this penalty it is likely that it will be removed entirely from Google search results and it may be very difficult and timely to regain your rankings.

To avoid the -30 and -950 penalties simply employ best web marketing strategies. It comes down to best SEO practices and being straight forward in their applications. There is no need to do any keyword stuffing in page titles, alt tags, description or even in the content. Pure and simple good, informative content is appropriate. Remember to always build your site with the user in mind and not the search engines.

As far as links, avoid using any links to farms or sites which practice any type of link manipulation. Consistently build links and change up your link anchors where possible. At all costs, avoid doorway pages and cloaking.

There are several things that can result in a Google penalty and the whole internet world is still reeling trying to figure them all out. But one thing seems to be holding true whether it is duplicate content, inappropriate link building or too many ads; once the infraction is discovered and repaired the penalty is removed; although it may take 6 months to a year to remove the penalty and it may require the webmaster to submit a reconsideration request to Google.

In the past year a number of prominent companies such as JCPenney and Overstock have been hit by Google penalties b/c they ignored the rules and tried to game Google, they will likely be paying the price for this for many years to come.  Remember, Google is not “The Internet”, it is a private company, and being included in the Google index is not a “right” given to webmasters by the government or g-d but rather it is a privilege that can be taken away if you misbehave.  Our best advice is to not use black hat SEO techniques and to question your SEO firm about the tactics that they employ.  If you think that your site has been hit by a Google penalty you should contact a trusted internet marketing company that has a reputation for using best SEO practices and white hat SEO.