Website disappeared from search and not cached

25 replies
  • SEO
  • |
One of my PR sites without any spam inbound links, recently disappeared from search.

Typing the URL in search doesn't return anything.

Requesting the cache returns:
404. That's an error.


What could be the reason?
#cached #disappeared #search #website
  • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
    Try this search query:

    site:yoursite.com

    If that brings nothing back, you've been deindexed. Go and check google webmaster tools.
    Signature

    Just got back from a #BrightonSEO. I was given room 404 in the hotel I stayed at. Couldn’t find it anywhere!

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    • Profile picture of the author john5171
      It says


      Your search - site:____.org - did not match any documents.


      Why would I get deindexed, I did not build any links and did not touch the site at all...
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  • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
    Go and check google webmaster tools. You should have a message waiting if you've been deindexed.
    Signature

    Just got back from a #BrightonSEO. I was given room 404 in the hotel I stayed at. Couldn’t find it anywhere!

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    • Profile picture of the author john5171
      Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

      Go and check google webmaster tools. You should have a message waiting if you've been deindexed.
      I did not have webmaster tools before and just got it now. Will I get the message?
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      • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
        Originally Posted by john5171 View Post

        I did not have webmaster tools before and just got it now. Will I get the message?
        yes sir you will.
        Signature

        Just got back from a #BrightonSEO. I was given room 404 in the hotel I stayed at. Couldn’t find it anywhere!

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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Did you try both:
    • site:domain.com
    • site:www.domain.com
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  • Profile picture of the author SEO Power
    Check your robots.txt file to confirm that you haven't accidentally blocked Google from spidering your website.
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    • Profile picture of the author john5171
      This site used the same content as its "sister" site, which I thought would be fine, but no.

      I got "pure spam" note. And rewrote the content and sent reconsideration request.

      How long will that take and would it be automated?
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      • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
        Originally Posted by john5171 View Post

        This site used the same content as its "sister" site, which I thought would be fine, but no.

        I got "pure spam" note. And rewrote the content and sent reconsideration request.

        How long will that take and would it be automated?
        Using duplicate content is pointless. Google only ranks one of them (which it thinks is the original source).

        Reconsideration request can take 14-28 days usually in my experience. Sometimes quicker. Depends on the workload of the webmaster team.
        Signature

        Just got back from a #BrightonSEO. I was given room 404 in the hotel I stayed at. Couldn’t find it anywhere!

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        • Profile picture of the author john5171
          To those curious, my site was restored.

          First reconsideration request I only changed the content, and it was rejected.

          Second reconsideration attempt I removed most content and changed my wordpress theme, and the site is back.

          Reconsideration took around 1 day for each attempt

          Cheers
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          • Profile picture of the author yukon
            Banned
            Originally Posted by john5171 View Post

            Second reconsideration attempt I removed most content and changed my wordpress theme, and the site is back.
            So what are you left with?

            Was the content the problem or was the old URLs tainted from spammy inbound links the problem?

            Build out one or two of those old internal URLs/pages & see what happens, lol.
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            • Profile picture of the author john5171
              Originally Posted by yukon View Post

              So what are you left with?

              Was the content the problem or was the old URLs tainted from spammy inbound links the problem?

              Build out one or two of those old internal URLs/pages & see what happens, lol.

              No I did not change the inbound links.

              I removed the "spun" content and made it more human friendly. Then I changed the wordpress theme and fixed broken links to YouTube videos.

              Thats all
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              • Profile picture of the author yukon
                Banned
                Originally Posted by john5171 View Post

                No I did not change the inbound links.

                I removed the "spun" content and made it more human friendly. Then I changed the wordpress theme and fixed broken links to YouTube videos.

                Thats all
                So all your old URLs (internal pages) are still intact?

                What I'm getting at is, If you deleted the old internal pages (URLs) that might have had spammy links pointing at those old URLs/pages then those backlinks still exist but they're pointing at a 404 page.

                It would be interesting to know If Google keeps track of tainted internal page URLs by storing each page link profile. Google did mention a few months back they were looking at page level rather than always looking at the entire domain.

                I find it hard to believe Google would deindex a spun page just because it's spun. It must have been one horrible page. More likely Google was looking at the backlink profile for those pages. Then again I haven't seen your site.
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                • Profile picture of the author john5171
                  All the pages and links are still in place, nothing was deleted.

                  In the message I got they said there was a problem with the content or site structure, not with the links...
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                  • Profile picture of the author yukon
                    Banned
                    Originally Posted by john5171 View Post

                    All the pages and links are still in place, nothing was deleted.

                    In the message I got they said there was a problem with the content or site structure, not with the links...
                    Are you sure your pages weren't blocking Google bot in your HTML source code (ex: noindex or noarchive)?

                    That would explain the comment about the site structure. Changing your theme might have removed a noindex or noarchive HTML tag.
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                    • Profile picture of the author john5171
                      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                      Are you sure your pages weren't blocking Google bot in your HTML source code (ex: noindex or noarchive)?

                      That would explain the comment about the site structure. Changing your theme might have removed a noindex or noarchive HTML tag.
                      Ye I am sure

                      noindex and noarchive wouldn't result in a penalty anyways, why would it?
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                      • Profile picture of the author yukon
                        Banned
                        Originally Posted by john5171 View Post

                        Ye I am sure

                        noindex and noarchive wouldn't result in a penalty anyways, why would it?
                        No it's not a penalty but it will still remove pages from the SERPs.







                        Originally Posted by john5171 View Post

                        This site used the same content as its "sister" site, which I thought would be fine, but no.

                        I got "pure spam" note. And rewrote the content and sent reconsideration request.

                        How long will that take and would it be automated?
                        I read this thread again, maybe scraping an entire site was the problem.
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          • Profile picture of the author geraldakim
            Originally Posted by john5171 View Post

            To those curious, my site was restored.

            First reconsideration request I only changed the content, and it was rejected.

            Second reconsideration attempt I removed most content and changed my wordpress theme, and the site is back.

            Reconsideration took around 1 day for each attempt

            Cheers
            I am followed your steps for my site and given reconsideration request. Let us see what will happen??
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  • Profile picture of the author netanel23
    Wait, you got a pure SPAM penalty and don't have spam links?

    I'd revisit that as it sounds like you do have spam links pointed to your site. From what I have heard pure spam penalties are when just about everything about the site is spammy, from links to site itself.
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    • Profile picture of the author LuckyIMer
      Originally Posted by netanel23 View Post

      Wait, you got a pure SPAM penalty and don't have spam links?

      I'd revisit that as it sounds like you do have spam links pointed to your site. From what I have heard pure spam penalties are when just about everything about the site is spammy, from links to site itself.
      He had duplicated content which is the reason his website was banned. Duplicated content either lead to website penalization or ban.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
    I thought someone bumped a thread from 1997.
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  • Profile picture of the author wizzo85
    I have seen websites disappear from search results. Just resubmit your website and you should see it back up soon.
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    • Profile picture of the author john5171
      Several of my other PR sites disappeared recently,

      Is it just me or is something going on?
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by john5171 View Post

        Several of my other PR sites disappeared recently,

        Is it just me or is something going on?
        It's just you.

        There's a connection between all your sites, maybe the first cloned site triggered a Google slapfest on all the connected domains.

        ...or you've lost a bunch of strong backlinks & the the pure spam issue is bad timing.

        Hard to say without seeing the domain or link profile.
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