Thank you for the post!
I have slowed down the link building process just a bit, increased the level of naked URL and added some LSI, added some citation linking and a bit more generic linking directly to the moneysite.
I am now building all links directly through 301 domains ever since the drop - does this make sense to do, or should I do it the old way of direct linking? The reason I am now using 301 is that if another penalty will affect my site, I will simply transfer the 301 to a different domain and hopefully the old domain recovers (it sort of acts like a shield - I don't know whether this works or not but I probably should have done this since the beginning)
Thank you for the post!
I have slowed down the link building process just a bit, increased the level of naked URL and added some LSI, added some citation linking and a bit more generic linking directly to the moneysite.
I am now building all links directly through 301 domains ever since the drop - does this make sense to do, or should I do it the old way of direct linking? The reason I am now using 301 is that if another penalty will affect my site, I will simply transfer the 301 to a different domain and hopefully the old domain recovers (it sort of acts like a shield - I don't know whether this works or not but I probably should have done this since the beginning)
If what you're experiencing really is google's transitional ranking (I can't know for sure because there are too many unknown variables involved like your linking building practices, link profile, etc.) then doing things that are "out of the ordinary" from what you were doing before will only end up hurting your site. The transitional ranking was created as a way to create unpredictable serp movements in order to find webmasters that are trying to manipulate the searches. I recommend searching on google about this, it will explain it in more detail.
Too many people these days cry out and say "penalty" for just about everything. So yeah, for them, it often does become a penalty (they fall right into google's trap). Luckily for me, I've never been one to listen to the crowd of people here on bhw and instead, I always run my own tests.
Here are a few examples of transitional ranking on some of my own sites. The way I got out is I didn't react or panic, I just slowed down the link building to emulate a "natural" decline in linking due to reduced/no traffic from engines. It usually lasts 3 days to 2 weeks, but once you get passed this, its stable rankings for a long time:
Of course, it's up to you what course of action you want to take next. I'm just sharing with you what works for me 90% of the time (might not work for you). Never listen to what others tell you at face value, always do tests for yourself, for your own sites, and for your own niche. Effectiveness of strategies can vary from niche to niche. I wish you good luck on your site, I know how frustrating it can be to lose a new site (I've lost plenty in the past until I found out how to save them).
In general, whenever there is a sudden ranking drop and there was no big google update announced, there's a good chance the site will bounce back if you don't panic.