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Again? Another Site Gone From SERP After Competition Problem

by Fernando Veloso
21 replies
  • SEO
    • |
What the heck?

This is the second time a site of mine goes away from Top 3 to nowhere to be seen.

Here's what happened:
A couple days ago - probably one week - I sent some emails requesting other sites to remove MY original content.

Now, today, my old and established site is gone. It was top 3 in serp's for over 2 years. Site is often updated and it's a great resource for it's own niche market, it's really a good informative site, with lot's of comments and feedback.

What annoys me:
This is the second time I get a site kicked out of serps AFTER sending requests to sites using my original content.

Coincidence? I guess so, but wtf!!

Really pissed about all this. Really Pissed!

It's like "Don't send removal requests - you'll get kicked"

#competition #problem #serp #site
  • Profile picture of the author powerspike
    This doesn't seem right, are the sites that stole your content still ranked?

    are the two sites owned by the same person? (this has happened to before).

    If you have webmaster tools setup for the site(s) in question, have you looked in there to find out what is happening? if not i'd highly recommend you get it setup straight away, if you have been removed from the serp's, you can put in a re-inclusion request, and state you where removed after sending a site a notice if so
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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Sites are still ranked, they removed all my content, they are NOT owned by same person. WB Tools show nothing.

    This is just a sad coincidence.
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    • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
      Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso View Post

      Sites are still ranked, they removed all my content, they are NOT owned by same person. WB Tools show nothing.

      This is just a sad coincidence.
      Am I right in thinking these other sites had used your content without your permission? It seems strange as to why Google hits you but not the sites that stole the content.

      But thats just the big G for you, no-one really knows what the hells going on.
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  • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
    This is my biggest fear & something that worries me about Google.

    Hopfully it comes back though.
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  • Profile picture of the author peter gibson
    Fernando, I don't believe in coincidence. Look further down this rabbit hole. Just sayin'.
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  • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
    Originally Posted by Fernando Veloso View Post

    What the heck?

    This is the second time a site of mine goes away from Top 3 to nowhere to be seen.

    Here's what happened:

    A couple days ago - probably one week - I sent some emails requesting other sites to remove MY original content.

    Now, today, my old and established site is gone. It was top 3 in serp's for over 2 years. Site is often updated and it's a great resource for it's own niche market, it's really a good informative site, with lot's of comments and feedback.

    What annoys me:

    This is the second time I get a site kicked out of serps AFTER sending requests to sites using my original content.

    Coincidence? I guess so, but wtf!!

    Really pissed about all this. Really Pissed!

    It's like "Don't send removal requests - you'll get kicked"
    Could be just google....or the people in question are claiming copyright, and filing DMCA requests with Google over the content.

    Call Google, and find out if they got any DMCA removal requests on your site.

    If they do, contact an IP lawyer, and see what options you have to fight back.

    This could get messy, I wish you good luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
      Thanks for your feedback guys.

      Originally Posted by Richard Van View Post

      Am I right in thinking these other sites had used your content without your permission? It seems strange as to why Google hits you but not the sites that stole the content.
      Yes Richard, these sites used my original content without approval. It's quite common in Portugal: people think it's "free" and "ok" to use it. After all, it's online...

      I send emails requesting removal of my original content every month...

      Originally Posted by peter gibson View Post

      Fernando, I don't believe in coincidence. Look further down this rabbit hole. Just sayin'.
      Hey Pete, What should I dig into? Not really sure what I can do right now or what to look after. Any tip? Appreciated.

      Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher View Post

      Call Google, and find out if they got any DMCA removal requests on your site.
      Hey Floyd, Why would they file a DMCA claim over MY original content? Makes no sense. Besides, content was published by me before they made copies of it for publishing. People did remove all the content, thats for sure and some of them replied saying sorry, etc.

      Call Google? Heck I didn't knew I could call them.

      I'll try to dig deeper on this, although it seems just a BIG coincidence.
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      • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
        [quote. Yes Richard, these sites used my original content without approval. It's quite common in Portugal: people think it's "free" and "ok" to use it. After all, it's online...

        I send emails requesting removal of my original content every month...]

        Thats very annoying, especially when you take the time to write it. Still doesn't expalin why it's your site thats being punished? This is a wild stab in the dark but you don't think they somehow penalise the content and as you're the only one left with it on your site, you get hit? Seriously I have no idea but don't see why you get the punishment.:confused:
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        Wibble, bark, my old man's a mushroom etc...

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        • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
          Originally Posted by Richard Van View Post

          Thats very annoying, especially when you take the time to write it. Still doesn't expalin why it's your site thats being punished? This is a wild stab in the dark but you don't think they somehow penalise the content and as you're the only one left with it on your site, you get hit? Seriously I have no idea but don't see why you get the punishment.:confused:
          Thats a wild idea Richard, don't believe it. Frankly I'm not sure what happened - but something DID happen... and my site is the same, no changes at all, no server downtime (that I know of), often updated, original content, you know? Following all the best practices.

          I'll keep on working on it, as usual and see what happens next.

          Peter, if you read this, send me a PM with info on what I should dig deeper, will you? Appreciated.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lee Wilson
    That sucks. You say it's the second time... did the other site come back again?

    You didn't contact Google just the site owners is that right? Then surely it can only be a coincidence or the site owners reported you out of spite. Even that, I would have thought would take some time for Google to respond, if at all! Does seem strange though.
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  • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
    Something similar happened to my brother a short while back: someone basically ripped and mirrored his site (the text content and page-names only - not the design or anything), and then, somehow, his own site became deindexed in its entirety (nothing returned for a Google "site: yoursitehere.com" search).

    I said to him that Google wouldn't normally deindex a site (especially not the originally indexed one), just because the content has been republished/syndicated (albeit without permission). And since the pages with that content on his own site were there (and indexed) first, and he had the most backlinks to his, I could only assume the offending party had used some sort of clever scheme to fool Google into believing the content was originally theirs, or something.

    Weird. No idea how they did it.

    Anyway, I did some research and managed to find out which host was providing the server on which the offending site was situated (the server itself had its own custom rDNS and it wasn't easy to find out where it was / who owned it).

    They removed it within about 48 hours, anyways, and then my brother added the site to webmaster tools and submitted a re-inclusion request.

    A short while later, his own site was re-indexed.

    Does Google even semi-thoroughly investigate these copyright infringement claims (as in, check where a piece of content was published/indexed first, at least), or do they just act on them immediately, by removing the website of the accused, without even bothering to do any checks as to the validity or authenticity of the complainants claims?
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    • Profile picture of the author Jacob Martus
      If your site was removed due to a DMCA request it would say so in the SERPS.

      For example, for the search term in question, at the bottom of the SERPS it would say: This result has been removed from the search results page due to a DMCA copyright infringement or something.

      I've seen it several times in the SERPS and it's very clear that a site has been removed.

      This doesn't sound like that. To me it just sounds like a coincedence that the site happened to disappear around the same time you requested someone to remove your content.

      Add more content and backlinks and hope for the best!
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  • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
    Seems strange it's happend twice.

    What are your back links like, are they mostly white hat?

    Are you polite when requesting the content be removed?

    They could report your site to Google if they see you've purchased back links to manipulate the search engine rankings – just a thought.

    If you look at the bottom of this page there is a section where you can report site that are buying back links. Paid links - Webmaster Tools Help

    "Google works hard to ensure that it fully discounts links intended to manipulate search engine results, such excessive link exchanges and purchased links that pass PageRank. If you see a site that is buying or selling links that pass PageRank, let us know."

    As mentioned be Lee, the people you are asking to remove the content from their site could be reporting you for something out of spite.

    Just a thought.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jacob Martus
      Originally Posted by Barry$ View Post

      Seems strange it's happend twice.

      What are your back links like, are they mostly white hat?

      Are you polite when requesting the content be removed?

      They could report your site to Google if they see you've purchased back links to manipulate the search engine rankings – just a thought.

      If you look at the bottom of this page there is a section where you can report site that are buying back links. Paid links - Webmaster Tools Help

      "Google works hard to ensure that it fully discounts links intended to manipulate search engine results, such excessive link exchanges and purchased links that pass PageRank. If you see a site that is buying or selling links that pass PageRank, let us know[/COLOR]."

      As mentioned be Lee, the people you are asking to remove the content from their site could be reporting you for something out of spite.

      Just a thought.
      See bolded text.

      Google doesn't punish the site buying links, only the site selling the links. Otherwise, it would be too easy for a competitor to buy you some links and then report you for it to try and get you de-indexed.

      It doesn't work that way. Paid links will get devalued but the site on the receiving end would never be punished. That would open up the floodgates for WAR in the SERPS.
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      • Profile picture of the author BarryOnline
        Originally Posted by Jacob Martus View Post

        See bolded text.

        Google doesn't punish the site buying links, only the site selling the links. Otherwise, it would be too easy for a competitor to buy you some links and then report you for it to try and get you de-indexed.

        It doesn't work that way. Paid links will get devalued but the site on the receiving end would never be punished. That would open up the floodgates for WAR in the SERPS.
        Yes, I see that does make sense.

        It was just a thought, maybe it's just coincidence or as mentioned someone is doing something to have his sites dropped out of spite.
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  • Profile picture of the author chickenshack
    wow this sounds like a nightmare. I sure hope you can get to the bottom of this Fernando, hopefully it is just coincidence and your site normalizes / is reindexed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Thanks again for feedback,

    I am investigating some of the ideas you guys have shared.

    OK, quick update.
    Site is back on track, now on page 4 (or 5) from G serps.

    Weird thing is: it shows 3 results from my site (as it used to show on #1):

    my site
    my site deep page
    my site another deep page
    > more results from my site

    ?
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  • Profile picture of the author Derek S
    Heya Fernando,

    The only way a website removing your content directly effects your ranking, would be if the content included anchor links pointing back to your site from a site with high domain trust...

    Even still, it shouldn't dramatically affect your rankings that fast.

    A few weeks back the Google team made a change in the algorithm that gave weight to sub pages much more heavily and much, much less weight to index pages.

    This change in algorithm has recently been switched back for obvious reasons (it was stupid) and the rankings should come back to normal.
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    • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
      Hey Derek

      Originally Posted by Derek S View Post

      Heya Fernando,

      The only way a website removing your content directly effects your ranking, would be if the content included anchor links pointing back to your site from a site with high domain trust...

      Even still, it shouldn't dramatically affect your rankings that fast.
      Nah, they didn't bother to include a live link. They assume it's ok to copy-paste "cause it's on the internetzzz".

      A few weeks back the Google team made a change in the algorithm that gave weight to sub pages much more heavily and much, much less weight to index pages.

      This change in algorithm has recently been switched back for obvious reasons (it was stupid) and the rankings should come back to normal.
      Portugal normally gets all the updates first, even before they are talked about in here. Last ones that I noticed were the G Places new system and the site image showing in serps. Saw them probably a week before they made the news here. BUT hopefully this time is the opposite.

      Quite frankly, this is my only site with a dramatic movement last 12 months, if I remember correctly.

      We'll see what goes.

      One thing is for sure: weirdest coincidence of 2010.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando Veloso
    Site has dropped again to nowhere.

    One change is visible in top 10: Google included a english site with ZERO content... The domain is for sale. Problem is, this is PORTUGUESE market, you know? PT written websites!!!!

    C'mon now, we're talking about one of the bigger health niche markets here.

    I can hardly understand this coincidence, but to see a english site with NO content get into the top 10 while my site is gone... well, it makes you wonder what is happening with G and if this was OR not a handmade removal.

    Weird times.
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  • Profile picture of the author peter gibson
    Fernando, sorry I missed your replies here. For some reason my instant subscribe didn't work on the day you posted this, which I'm just figuring out now. Any updates mate? Did you find out what the issue is?
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