Getting fed up with SEO

I've been hit for all the wrong reasons as well as all the right reasons. White hat really isn't cutting it anymore. That's why we've on BHW right?

"What Doesn't Kill You, Makes You Stronger"

OP...I hear you loud and clear and I know what you are going through. I had a similar experience and completely washed my hands of white hat seo (which is all I have ever done) and came back to it a few months later with fresh eyes.
I now only do black hat because I'd rather get penalised for sites that had very little effort from me (black hat techniques and tools) than for long winded, time consuming white hat techniques.
Funny thing is,all my sites are now back on the first page and not one of them has had any white hat work done on them since I was originally penalised.
Google is a game and you have to play along or die.

I think that this shows the importance of a VARIED strategy. While your SEO is working, get your customers/clients/visitors onto social media. Get their emails. Make a website that they want to come back to.

I know this thread is a bit old, but I had the same exact thing happen to me. All I did was comment a few more times to get my link out of the "recent comments" section. The site same back a few weeks later. As long as the link isnt sitewide anymore, the site should bounce back to its original position.