Site Delisted - What could have caused it?

[Trulee_IM]

One of my niche sites got delisted in Google the other day. It’s been on the first page of Google for several months now for the main keyword I was targeting.


I’m on the latest version of Wordpress. I ran a security scan and nothing came up. Not doing anything sketchy. I know there’s nothing I can really do about it but does anyone know why this could have happened? If this has happened to you, did your site come back?

[WillR]

It has been de-indexed or it is just not showing up where it used to be? When you do a search for your domain name does the site still show up? If so then this is what's known as the Google dance and chances are your site is relatively new and Google are still trying to figure out where it deserves to rank.

It will start to mellow out after a while. Getting some traffic and links to your site can often help to speed up the process and establish your rankings faster.

[noble]

Is it truly deindexed or just not displaying for your search term? Do a search for www.yoursite.com

It could just be penalized/sandboxed and it will recover.

In addition new sites typically jump to the top for a little while and then drop to where they should be, if it is not deindexed just keep building backlinks and adding content and you will rebound.

[LooseChange]

Not just new sites but even older, well aged sites do the Google dance all the time. The best thing you can do is build some new backlinks to the site and see if Google's memory is refreshed.

[Trulee_IM]

Originally Posted by WillR

It has been de-indexed or it is just not showing up where it used to be? When you do a search for your domain name does the site still show up? If so then this is what's known as the Google dance and chances are your site is relatively new and Google are still trying to figure out where it deserves to rank.

It will start to mellow out after a while. Getting some traffic and links to your site can often help to speed up the process and establish your rankings faster.

Thanks Will. When I do a search for my domain, it shows up. Thank God. I did create more content on the site and some more WEB 2.0 backlinks last night. I will keep at it.

Thanks again.

[RichardF]

Edit: Just saw that it's in fact still indexed. Just a normal Google dance then, most likely.

[GameVoid]

Yeah one of my sites lost 95% of it's traffic two days ago as well. But it happens and sooner or later the traffic comes back, especially if you pop up another article or two and add another set of backlinks. It's unfortunately pretty standard Google procedure.

[Hamida Harland]

This happened to me around the time of the Panda update - a few of my sites that were on page 1 of Google, ended up on page 10 (or worse). There was no discernible reason for this happening, except that they were a bit 'thin' on content and hadn't been updated for a while.

Luckily, a day or two ago (the post Panda update), they reappeared on page 1. I can't guarantee it of course, but it's likely yours will also resurface within a few months.

[Trulee_IM]

Originally Posted by Hamida Harland

This happened to me around the time of the Panda update - a few of my sites that were on page 1 of Google, ended up on page 10 (or worse). There was no discernible reason for this happening, except that they were a bit 'thin' on content and hadn't been updated for a while.

Luckily, a day or two ago (the post Panda update), they reappeared on page 1. I can't guarantee it of course, but it's likely yours will also resurface within a few months.

Good to know. At least I have peace of mind now, knowing that it could come back and this is normal.

Was going crazy when it wasn't showing up ...

[Trulee_IM]

Yay... it's back on Page 1 of Google.

[dueces]

Trulee did it take the full seven days for you to get back to page 1? I have been page 1 and #1 for over a year for a niche site. I woke up yesterday to seeing it not even on the first 5 pages... Its not delisted thankfully but wondering when it will come back.

THanks
Ryan

[Cataclysm1987]

Originally Posted by Trulee_IM

Thanks Will. When I do a search for my domain, it shows up. Thank God. I did create more content on the site and some more WEB 2.0 backlinks last night. I will keep at it.

Thanks again.

[Trulee_IM]

Originally Posted by dueces

Trulee did it take the full seven days for you to get back to page 1? I have been page 1 and #1 for over a year for a niche site. I woke up yesterday to seeing it not even on the first 5 pages... Its not delisted thankfully but wondering when it will come back.

THanks
Ryan

Hi Ryan,

When I first noticed it wasn't on page 1 or any page on Google, till the day it resurfaced and found it's way back on page 1 was exactly 7 days. I checked out my analytics and saw the huge drop in traffic for those 7 days.

It's hard to say when it will come back, I would just create more content on your niche site, ping it so the search engines know it exists and create more backlinks, as well as bookmarking it and hopefully it will come back.

Good Luck