So-called Google "Penalties": Does it exist or not?

[eurekapsycrille]

Hi folks!

Just wondering if Google Penalties does exist? Please explain it clearly like How, why, and please give certain reasons and examples (if it really exists).

I found it a very tough question for myself, so I need the opinions of the SEO gurus out there!

Thanks in advance guys!

[JSProjects]

Originally Posted by eurekapsycrille

Hi folks!

Just wondering if Google Penalties does exist? Please explain it clearly like How, why, and please give certain reasons and examples (if it really exists).

I found it a very tough question for myself, so I need the opinions of the SEO gurus out there!

Thanks in advance guys!

That is a pretty broad question to ask since there's so many different ways to get your site penalized. Of course they exist.

Instead of worrying about it though, just follow these 3 rules and you'll be fine.

1. Make sure your on-page content / SEO is good. (And unique.)

2. Make sure you have high quality backlinks pointing to your main site & inner pages. Don't throw spammy junk links at them. Save those for your lower tier backlinks if you're going to go that route.

3. Don't try and do anything sneaky on your site. Follow the Google TOS and you'll be fine.

That's about it.

[paulgl]

They don't happen as often as people here whine about and
are most likely quite rare in the normal scheme of things.

The one real penalty is a de-index.

People confuse ranking another site higher than theirs a
penalty. They just know they have the best site, so, google
must be penalizing them.

With all due respect, none of the things listed above will get
any real penalty. Not working, or not valuable, or not useful, is
not a penalty. You could follow all 3 and still not rank. People
think google cares about them and their site. They don't.

If people realized that google rarely ever takes a personal interest
in their site, they would focus on real stuff instead of any
phantom penalties.

Paul

[yukon]

Originally Posted by paulgl

The one real penalty is a de-index.

That one line sums it up.

If a search for site:domain shows any results, no penalty.

Assumes the site has been indexed in the past.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by yukon

That one line sums it up.

If a search for site:domain shows any results, no penalty.

Assumes the site has been indexed in the past.

That's what people can't fathom. That if their site is not ranking
for their chosen keywords for their search, google must be penalizing
them. Pure fantasy, but it makes good forum theater.

paul

[stephencammeron]

Penalties such as duplicate content penalty does not exist! Same thing goes with other so-called penalties that other people says because their site doesn't rank well due to those things.

The only penalty is when your site gets de-indexed. And the possible reasons for it isn't a secret after all.

When the time comes that you get yourself threaten from the myths of Google Penalties, that will also the time when you will start getting mis-conceptualized. And when that happens, you might also stop learning all the thing you need to know.

[eurekapsycrille]

So the bottom line is: They do exist.

What about this: Do I have to consider them and make myself aware of them? Or should I work naturally and follow the webmaster guidelines that Google is giving?

[stunning boy]

just avoid the duplicate content and black hat techniques for preserving your site or blog from google penalties

[eurekapsycrille]

Another question is, let's say my site got de-indexed, is there a possibility that my site will get back on it's feet and get indexed again? If this happens, would I be starting to work to gain its ranking again (I mean work from the start), or would it be on its position like before?

Note: Don't get me wrong guys, I just want to clear it up. thanks

[TheFBGuy]

Originally Posted by paulgl

They don't happen as often as people here whine about and
are most likely quite rare in the normal scheme of things.

The one real penalty is a de-index.

People confuse ranking another site higher than theirs a
penalty. They just know they have the best site, so, google
must be penalizing them.

With all due respect, none of the things listed above will get
any real penalty. Not working, or not valuable, or not useful, is
not a penalty. You could follow all 3 and still not rank. People
think google cares about them and their site. They don't.

If people realized that google rarely ever takes a personal interest
in their site, they would focus on real stuff instead of any
phantom penalties.

Paul

You would make a very good Google spokesman, lol.

[stephencammeron]

Originally Posted by stunning boy

just avoid the duplicate content and black hat techniques for preserving your site or blog from google penalties

Like I said, duplicate content penalties does not exist!
Here, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Deftly dealing with duplicate content
please take note of the word "FILTERING" not penalizing nor removing

Originally Posted by eurekapsycrille

Do I have to consider them and make myself aware of them? Or should I work naturally and follow the webmaster guidelines that Google is giving?

Following Google webmaster guidelines is already making your self aware of it.

[eurekapsycrille]

I'll repeat my another question guys:

Another question is, let's say my site got de-indexed, is there a possibility that my site will get back on it's feet and get indexed again? If this happens, would I be starting to work to gain its ranking again (I mean work from the start), or would it be on its position like before?

Note: Don't get me wrong guys, I just want to clear it up. thanks

[stephencammeron]

Originally Posted by eurekapsycrille

I'll repeat my another question guys:

Another question is, let's say my site got de-indexed, is there a possibility that my site will get back on it's feet and get indexed again? If this happens, would I be starting to work to gain its ranking again (I mean work from the start), or would it be on its position like before?

Note: Don't get me wrong guys, I just want to clear it up. thanks

At the bottom of the webmaster guidelines page, you will see a link there where you can resubmit your site for reconsideration if ever you violated their guidelines specially the quality guidelines.

[ElectronPlumber]

Yes, despite what other people might tell you, there are different types of penalties from Google that I have confirmed experimentally.

I've seen pages deindexed completely unable to be found and pages still indexed by dropped to the VERY END of search results due to keyword stuffed backlinks (some people call this being Sandboxed.)

I wrote an FAQ here about how to check if and what type of penalty you might have and why it might have happened: http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...deindexed.html

Also, there is data on approximately what keyword ratios caused some of my sites to be penalized and how I fixed them here:
*July 27th UPDATE* Week 22: The Great SEO Link Building Service Experiment of 2011

[JamesGw]

Originally Posted by ElectronPlumber

Yes, despite what other people might tell you, there are different types of penalties from Google that I have confirmed experimentally.

I've seen pages deindexed completely unable to be found and pages still indexed by dropped to the VERY END of search results due to keyword stuffed backlinks (some people call this being Sandboxed.)

I wrote an FAQ here about how to check if and what type of penalty you might have and why it might have happened: http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...deindexed.html

Also, there is data on approximately what keyword ratios caused some of my sites to be penalized and how I fixed them here:
*July 27th UPDATE* Week 22: The Great SEO Link Building Service Experiment of 2011

Great info. Looking forward to your next update.

[RevSEO]

Yep - but as Paul mentioned, most visible penalties are in the form of deindexing. If you've been deindexed then you've got a big problem.

There are other penalties as JCPenney and other companies using paid links have experienced but those are rather rare and typically only done if it gets in the public that there's a blatant example of a paid link campaign that's dominating the rankings for competitive niches.

[eurekapsycrille]

Originally Posted by ElectronPlumber

I've seen pages deindexed completely unable to be found and pages still indexed by dropped to the VERY END of search results due to keyword stuffed backlinks (some people call this being Sandboxed.)

I thought sandboxed doesn't exist.

[stephencammeron]

Originally Posted by eurekapsycrille

I thought sandboxed doesn't exist.

Yeah! It certainly does not exist!

It was merely an excuse for people who didn't succeed on their site and can't admit it, so they put the blame on Google's algorithm and named it "Sandbox".

[MaverickUK]

Originally Posted by paulgl

That's what people can't fathom. That if their site is not ranking
for their chosen keywords for their search, google must be penalizing
them. Pure fantasy, but it makes good forum theater.

paul

Well that's a blatant lie. I can guarantee you that penalties, filters or whatever you want (or in your case won't) like to call them, they do exist. I've experienced backlink over optimisation penalties before - not coincidence, nothing else factored in the change other than a more diverse anchor text variation.

[MaverickUK]

Originally Posted by stephencammeron

Yeah! It certainly does not exist!

It was merely an excuse for people who didn't succeed on their site and can't admit it, so they put the blame on Google's algorithm and named it "Sandbox".

Yawn... Yes, it does exist. Just because you haven't experienced it does not mean it does not exist.

[stephencammeron]

Originally Posted by MaverickUK

Well that's a blatant lie. I can guarantee you that penalties, filters or whatever you want (or in your case won't) like to call them, they do exist. I've experienced backlink over optimisation penalties before - not coincidence, nothing else factored in the change other than a more diverse anchor text variation.

Just what exactly is this backlink over optimization penalty is?

[stephencammeron]

Originally Posted by MaverickUK

Yawn... Yes, it does exist. Just because you haven't experienced it does not mean it does not exist.

And not because you can't grasp the idea on what really happened on sites that is said to be put in "sandbox", it means that it does exist.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by RevSEO

There are other penalties as JCPenney and other companies using paid links have experienced but those are rather rare and typically only done if it gets in the public that there's a blatant example of a paid link campaign that's dominating the rankings for competitive niches.

That wasn't a penalty IMO.

The only reason JC Penney was caught was they were narked out by sites like the WSJ & a few big shot SEO bloggers.

WSJ picked up the story & ran with it, which caused a chain reaction & everyone started spreading the word all over the net what JC Penney was doing with their backlinks.

Again, it wasn't a penalty IMO, it was Google covering their arse so stock holders don't panic. Bad news towards a business most times equals lost revenue. Google reacted & swept the whole thing under the rug.

JC Penneys response was like a deer in headlights.

I bet JC Penney would still have those backlinks now, If they wasn't narked out by some SEO blogger trying to be popular.

[jimbobo2779]

stephencameron is exactly right in my experience, you are very unlikely to experience penalties and most of the time these penalties will come because of the content of your website more than any external activites. It would be too easy to bring penalties on your competitors if you were to get penalised for backlinking.

If you website content is decent you are pretty safe.

[MaverickUK]

Originally Posted by pilatospoonfork

Wikipedia Stated: The Sandbox (a.k.a. Sandboxing or the sandbox effect or the Google penalty) is a name given to an observation about the way Google ranks web pages in its index. It is the subject of much debate—its existence has been written about since 2004 but not confirmed, with several statements to the contrary.

- How can you prove its existence (if it does)? Do you have a proof or evidence? Or you just haven't notice some irregularities happened on your site (in case it has) that's why you had an idea that sandbox exists? How can you explain it technically?

Can I prove it? Certainly not, but can you or anyone else for that matter disprove it? All these different things with Google are almost impossible to prove or disprove, but experience is a great indicator.

[MaverickUK]

Originally Posted by stephencammeron

And not because you can't grasp the idea on what really happened on sites that is said to be put in "sandbox", it means that it does exist.

I've done enough testing for me to know what I know. You can go on believing what you believe, that's fine, as long as you know you're wrong admittedly I definitely believe in penalties/filters more than I do the sandbox, it whatever people wanna call it.

[yukon]

Ha, ha! He went all Wiki on your a#$!

---------> [just playing] <---------

You do realize anyone can edit wiki, right?

[MaverickUK]

Originally Posted by pilatospoonfork

Yeah, experience is a great indicator. I suppose you have gone through many bad things because of your pointless concept That's great! Cheers!

Oh right, okay. Let's revert back to your question shall we. Can you prove that it doesn't exist? No? Well how can you call my "concept" pointless? You really don't make much sense

[MaverickUK]

Originally Posted by yukon

Ha, ha! He went all Wiki on your a#$!

---------> [just playing] <---------

You do realize anyone can edit wiki, right?

Weird, i had a very big urge to click [just playing] Damn affiliate marketing...

[stephencammeron]

Originally Posted by MaverickUK

I've done enough testing for me to know what I know. You can go on believing what you believe, that's fine, as long as you know you're wrong admittedly I definitely believe in penalties/filters more than I do the sandbox, it whatever people wanna call it.

I actually don't remember saying that there is no penalties or filters to begin with?

However, sandbox is a different story. This so-called sandbox is a myth which is said to be a place where every new sites go when after having a good ranking and suddenly push back after a couple of weeks. This thing is certainly just a heresy. An excuse used by so called SEO expertmastergurus to their clients when they can't explain why some certain things happened.

[eurekapsycrille]

Originally Posted by yukon

Ha, ha! He went all Wiki on your a#$!

---------> [just playing] <---------

You do realize anyone can edit wiki, right?

Yukon, really? is that really possible?

[TopHats]

It without a doubt exists and with every update G gets better at exacting them. Seen it happen.

[MaverickUK]

Originally Posted by stephencammeron

I actually don't remember saying that there is no penalties or filters to begin with?

However, sandbox is a different story. This so-called sandbox is a myth which is said to be a place where every new sites go when after having a good ranking and suddenly push back after a couple of weeks. This thing is certainly just a heresy. An excuse used by so called SEO expertmastergurus to their clients when they can't explain why some certain things happened.

You didn't say that and i didn't say you did

[CaptchaSolvers]

I have been penalized for not varying anchor text and for building too many forum profiles...

[eurekapsycrille]

Guys, I think we are rerouting from the main topic of this thread. Just take a look at my question above and kindly just answer it.

Thanks guys!

[stephencammeron]

Originally Posted by pilatospoonfork

Yeah, experience is a great indicator.

No, not at all! I've already seen a lot of people who have lots of experiences as they've had those experiences longer than I do. But, they still remains clueless up until now. Experience is not a basis after all. I goes with the comprehension and logical thinking.

[eurekapsycrille]

Originally Posted by MaverickUK

Well that's a blatant lie. I can guarantee you that penalties, filters or whatever you want (or in your case won't) like to call them, they do exist. I've experienced backlink over optimisation penalties before - not coincidence, nothing else factored in the change other than a more diverse anchor text variation.

Maverick, I just want to ask you if is there someone else had the same experience like yours?

[MaverickUK]

Originally Posted by eurekapsycrille

Maverick, I just want to ask you if is there someone else had the same experience like yours?

Yep lots of people have had the problem with what is coined as 'BLOOP', if you Google it there is tonnes of discussion on it. Though I based my thought purely on experience as opposed to what people say. Two very different things

[MaverickUK]

Originally Posted by stephencammeron

No, not at all! I've already seen a lot of people who have lots of experiences as they've had those experiences longer than I do. But, they still remains clueless up until now. Experience is not a basis after all. I goes with the comprehension and logical thinking.

Eh. This is getting ridiculous, what you said definitely doesn't make any sense at all. Literally. Out of respect for the OP I'll let this thread run it's course, after all it kinda went a little off-topic.

[stephencammeron]

Originally Posted by MaverickUK

Eh. This is getting ridiculous, what you said definitely doesn't make any sense at all. Literally. Out of respect for the OP I'll let this thread run it's course, after all it kinda went a little off-topic.

Not because you can't grasp, it already means it doesn't make any sense. Start reading between the lines and maybe you might get its sense.

[Carl Brown]

Here's an example that happened just yesterday. I'm waiting to see if it recovers.

I have a site that's a few months old. I purchased the domain and threw up a website with 3 pages of content (plus an about, privacy, & contact page). I will add more content soon but haven't gotten around to it yet.

It's been sitting at position 55-60 since it got indexed, with very little fluctuation. Two days ago I went to backlinkgenerator.net and entered the domain. I thought it was an easy 320 backlinks.

The next morning I find my site at about 280. It's still there today. I'v e made this mistake before, and it does recover, but it takes time.

[Fernando Veloso]

Yes, there are some penalties/filters.
Yes, some people get penalized/filtered sometimes.
And Yes, there is more to it then what you read above ^^.

But it will fun to watch AGAIN how people will come to say I am dead wrong - even when thousands of webmasters got filtered/penalized into -50, -90, etc.

Let me get my popcorn.

[eurekapsycrille]

Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso

Yes, there are some penalties/filters.
Yes, some people get penalized/filtered sometimes.
And Yes, there is more to it then what you read above ^^.

But it will fun to watch AGAIN how people will come to say I am dead wrong - even when thousands of webmasters got filtered/penalized into -50, -90, etc.

Let me get my popcorn.

Okay, Fernando, let's watch them! Can I have a few bits?!

[JaySam]

I don't think that there is such a thing as penalties in Google because the search engine determines your site according to their criteria, and they called it the algorithm.

[stephencammeron]

Originally Posted by JaySam

I don't think that there is such a thing as penalties in Google because the search engine determines your site according to their criteria, and they called it the algorithm.

Opps! Looks like we have another clueless link drop poster here..

[jonnyhardbaked]

Check this out warriors:

Google Penalties

[johnrapp]

Originally Posted by paulgl

They don't happen as often as people here whine about and
are most likely quite rare in the normal scheme of things.

The one real penalty is a de-index.

People confuse ranking another site higher than theirs a
penalty. They just know they have the best site, so, google
must be penalizing them.

With all due respect, none of the things listed above will get
any real penalty. Not working, or not valuable, or not useful, is
not a penalty. You could follow all 3 and still not rank. People
think google cares about them and their site. They don't.

If people realized that google rarely ever takes a personal interest
in their site, they would focus on real stuff instead of any
phantom penalties.

Paul

i love this guy

[johnrapp]

Originally Posted by JaySam

I don't think that there is such a thing as penalties in Google because the search engine determines your site according to their criteria, and they called it the algorithm.

Originally Posted by stephencammeron

Opps! Looks like we have another clueless link drop poster here..

no way dude! you just haven't taken the proper amount of time yet to fully realize and comprehend the complexities of... the thing we don't speak of.......

the thing that's slinking around the underbelly of the entire SEO world, like poo-poo in a sewer.....

a thing so diabolical that it has been attached to every global conspiracy to take over and enslave mankind that has ever been legitimately pondered....

yes, you must by now know what I am referring to?


that.... THING....

known to only a few.....

acknowledged by even fewer.....

the......
.......the......






"THE ALGORITHM"

[johnrapp]

Oh... one more thing....




"...and they called it the Algorithm."

[TheFBGuy]

stephencammeron: Shut up... you don't know what you are talking about. So many clueless people in this section of the forum..