£17,000 project gets Google Penalty - What would you do?
- Thread starter DanDanger
- Start date
Gyuman82
Elite Member
- Nov 15, 2011
- 1,866
- 1,146
Though it could be the service, I doubt after 10 days such dramatic changes could occur.
I mean it probably takes the guy a few days to put the links up, and then probably another 7-14 days to reflect the work.
If you are using Google Webmaster Tools, did you get an unnatural links notice?
There have been a lot of algorithm updates as of late ever since the most recent Penguin 2.0 update (May 22nd I think), so your site may have just got hammered with one of the updates.
Just from the given time frame, if you only used the service for 10 days it is highly unlikely this is the cause.
Correlation doesn't equal causation in SEO.
If you believe in fact you do have a penalty, you can submit a reconsideration request via Google Webmaster tools explaining what happened at that you removed the links.
At this point that would be your only recourse if you do in fact have a penalty, but again from what you told me this seems unlikely your site received a penalty.
I am almost positive you just got caught in an algorithm update.
I mean it probably takes the guy a few days to put the links up, and then probably another 7-14 days to reflect the work.
If you are using Google Webmaster Tools, did you get an unnatural links notice?
There have been a lot of algorithm updates as of late ever since the most recent Penguin 2.0 update (May 22nd I think), so your site may have just got hammered with one of the updates.
Just from the given time frame, if you only used the service for 10 days it is highly unlikely this is the cause.
Correlation doesn't equal causation in SEO.
If you believe in fact you do have a penalty, you can submit a reconsideration request via Google Webmaster tools explaining what happened at that you removed the links.
At this point that would be your only recourse if you do in fact have a penalty, but again from what you told me this seems unlikely your site received a penalty.
I am almost positive you just got caught in an algorithm update.
Last edited:
StormClaw
Elite Member
- Oct 24, 2010
- 2,897
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Algorithm update happens as long as 6 weeks from the day it started, so there are possibilities that your site got a hit during that period.
- Apr 13, 2013
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Most people do have fake reviews becareful where you read those reviews from.
isaacyip007
Junior Member
- Aug 18, 2012
- 184
- 29
well if you have recoup the loses then its time to change your earning method.Coz recovering from penalties takes lots of time and money.
Gyuman82
Elite Member
- Nov 15, 2011
- 1,866
- 1,146
There are hundreds of algorithm updates a year, most go unnamed.
Your site could have been smacked by any tiny update.
Again you can submit a reconsideration request, but again I don't think that's the case.
Typically when you are penalized by a blog network (ie Google detected the network), you will get an unnatural links notice in your Google Webmaster Tools.
After this happens, it typically takes another 2-3 weeks for Google to destroy you. So you will still rank decently for a little while after you get the notice until the penalty kicks in.
However in your case you go from start to finish in 10 days, so again it is probably an algorithm update rather than the service.
shaneparkins
Junior Member
- Feb 27, 2013
- 136
- 19
redirecting low quality sites will just make it worse, focus on removing the bad links and new ethical links - there could be other faults, have you implemented canonical? backdate all changes made to the site in the last 14 days including hosting - have you changed servers, has your host? it would require a full investigation to be honest and certainly with that startup capital.
Ash2012
Regular Member
- Nov 20, 2012
- 343
- 59
I agree - this seems like an algo update spanked you from what you said. It does seem too early for the cause to be the new links but it's possible I suppose.
Duffers5000
Elite Member
- Apr 1, 2012
- 2,477
- 7,772
I think you need to find out exactly whats gone wrong before you start making plans to go forward. You really should ascertain if you have actually received a penalty first,
How hard were these keywords to rank for ? When you say badly dropped do you mean like barely in the top 100 or dissapeared.
If you are not certain of what you are doing then I would recommend paying a professional to do a proper audit of your sites SEO. From On-page to looking at your link profile to see what you have and what you have lost. A varied link profile is what you are looking for at the moment so having a load of network links was always a bad idea with a new site.
How hard were these keywords to rank for ? When you say badly dropped do you mean like barely in the top 100 or dissapeared.
If you are not certain of what you are doing then I would recommend paying a professional to do a proper audit of your sites SEO. From On-page to looking at your link profile to see what you have and what you have lost. A varied link profile is what you are looking for at the moment so having a load of network links was always a bad idea with a new site.
sahilsxy29
Elite Member
- Jul 27, 2010
- 2,025
- 641
this might be a google dance cauz of the recent backlinks.
if not then..
check wt for any warning
check the onpage issues
ask some real seo expert for the audit.
if not then..
check wt for any warning
check the onpage issues
ask some real seo expert for the audit.
howard_hughes
Elite Member
- Jul 23, 2009
- 5,066
- 3,738
While this might be a google dance, it would be best to wait and watch a bit.
If things dont improve, use Google's Disavow Tool & Discard Crappy Links.
There's a Tool (Not Mine) called Link Detox. It can Detect and Tell You About How Many and Which Of Your Links are Poisonous.
Export Such Bad Links & Disavow Them. (http://www.linkdetox.com)
If things dont improve, use Google's Disavow Tool & Discard Crappy Links.
There's a Tool (Not Mine) called Link Detox. It can Detect and Tell You About How Many and Which Of Your Links are Poisonous.
Export Such Bad Links & Disavow Them. (http://www.linkdetox.com)
DanDanger
Junior Member
- Nov 11, 2010
- 197
- 281
Theres nothing in webmasters that says I have bad links / penalties etc... but it's hard to believe its an algo update considering the keywords we were ranking for.
We were in top 3 for "celebrity boots" ... now that's disappeared.
We were ranking top 3 for a tonne of "<celebrity name> <product name>" keywords, along with long tail product keywords.
The ones we were ranking well for were ones that had minimal competition (if any) for that keyword... and we've gone from keywords being in top 15 to not even in top 100.
Webmasters has no mention of a penalty... however I've been hit with algo updates in the past but nothing to this level.
Seems like further investigation is in order.
Thanks for your replies, most helpful
We were in top 3 for "celebrity boots" ... now that's disappeared.
We were ranking top 3 for a tonne of "<celebrity name> <product name>" keywords, along with long tail product keywords.
The ones we were ranking well for were ones that had minimal competition (if any) for that keyword... and we've gone from keywords being in top 15 to not even in top 100.
Webmasters has no mention of a penalty... however I've been hit with algo updates in the past but nothing to this level.
Seems like further investigation is in order.
Thanks for your replies, most helpful
Getwhatchuwant
Elite Member
- Jul 25, 2011
- 1,998
- 1,336
Make sure to use Majestic or Ahrefs to check your backlink profile to see if you were spammed. If your ONLY links were these blog network links then removing them and submitting a reconsideration request may help since they will all be gone. Has there been any other link building?
You seem to have a generous budget instead of paying $400 for blog networks why not find Good writers and get yourself 20 or so good articles /p month that should be pretty easy to place as a guest blogger somewhere?
For $25 per article I am paying a grade school teacher with a creative writing degree to write for me. For $20 you might get a native speaking student or industry expert to write for you. Then reach out to fashion bloggers or go to a site like myblogguest and pimp out those articles on sites that get real traffic instead of these types of links.
If you have a REAL brand then that is probably a better/safer route to go and less penalty chance unless you get Neg Seo'd.
You seem to have a generous budget instead of paying $400 for blog networks why not find Good writers and get yourself 20 or so good articles /p month that should be pretty easy to place as a guest blogger somewhere?
For $25 per article I am paying a grade school teacher with a creative writing degree to write for me. For $20 you might get a native speaking student or industry expert to write for you. Then reach out to fashion bloggers or go to a site like myblogguest and pimp out those articles on sites that get real traffic instead of these types of links.
If you have a REAL brand then that is probably a better/safer route to go and less penalty chance unless you get Neg Seo'd.