recovering from Penguin/algorithm penalty

joseph15

joseph15

Power Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
718
Reaction score
1,020
My site got hit with an algorithm penalty recently for anchor over-optimization, and I'm currently diluting my profile with generic anchors (URL, "click here", etc.) but I'm concerned about a few things. When you're hit with an algo penalty and you drop down to a position like 56, will I have to work as hard as someone in the same range as me to get higher in the serps or do I have some sort of edge since I've already been on the second page (and had the link juice to be there)? For example I "bounced" out of position 16 to 56 so should I expect to eventually "bounce" back or will I have to climb that dreaded mountain all over again?

I know that when it comes to manual penalties or de-indexation it's a different story, but I never got anything new in WMT or de-indexation. I danced a bit in the serps until stabilizing at 56, it's most likely to be a penguin penalty
 
Advertise on BHW
- Disavow all of the bad backlinks pointing to your website
- Get a new domain name that is a variant of your original -
- 301 redirect the old domain to new (Wildcard)
 
Mikaelo said:
- Disavow all of the bad backlinks pointing to your website
- Get a new domain name that is a variant of your original -
- 301 redirect the old domain to new (Wildcard)
Click to expand...

but lets say I were to keep it, would it be that hard to bring it back? I was already close, I feel like I'm just a few moves away
 
I would rather start afresh with a new domain instead of doing a painstaking effort in removing/disavowing "bad" backlinks and then having no result at all.

Things can be way too uncertain with algorithmic penalities.
 
joseph15 said:
but lets say I were to keep it, would it be that hard to bring it back? I was already close, I feel like I'm just a few moves away
Click to expand...
Very hard to say dude. It may come back when an algorithm refresh comes along, are you willing to wait around until it does?
 
Personally I think you should try to bring it back at least. Especially seeing as no warning in gwt.
 
Could it be time for a refresher?

New content, new pages and such?
 
I would suggest starting fresh. Penguin hasn't updated/refreshed for almost 2 years now, and I'm sure they're on the verge, any decade now lol... But the website is tainted, so unless it has a substantial amount of content and super high quality links pointing to it as well I would just start a brand new website. I got hit in 2014, started another in 2015, and am now making even more money than the old site anyway. If it does recover and rank for old keywords, then you'll also be left with 2 money sites.
 
Especially seeing as no warning in gwt. Personally I think you should try to bring it back at least.
 
joseph15 said:
My site got hit with an algorithm penalty recently for anchor over-optimization, and I'm currently diluting my profile with generic anchors (URL, "click here", etc.) but I'm concerned about a few things.
Click to expand...

You're doing the right things, it's also worth taking a look at disavowing links too. I've had success with domains that were heavily spammed and now ranking in the top 5 easily.

joseph15 said:
When you're hit with an algo penalty and you drop down to a position like 56, will I have to work as hard as someone in the same range as me to get higher in the serps or do I have some sort of edge since I've already been on the second page (and had the link juice to be there)? For example I "bounced" out of position 16 to 56 so should I expect to eventually "bounce" back or will I have to climb that dreaded mountain all over again?
Click to expand...

Once all the bad links have been disavowed / deleted / diluted, you will eventually bounce back. It takes time however and this is the main killer IMHO.

joseph15 said:
I know that when it comes to manual penalties or de-indexation it's a different story, but I never got anything new in WMT or de-indexation. I danced a bit in the serps until stabilizing at 56, it's most likely to be a penguin penalty
Click to expand...

If your anchors are too heavy and there's no WMT message then it's likely algorithmic. Like I said, disavow, dilute and delete - then wait until Google gets the message.

---

I would also say, if you were earning decent cash from the website before it got hit (Proven good niche), then I would consider building a fresh new website to go with your penalized one.

Reason being, two websites are better than one and now you know you're onto something really awesome, any future work you do definitely has a payday at the end if you can get your SEO right.
 
CallmeReaz said:
You're doing the right things, it's also worth taking a look at disavowing links too. I've had success with domains that were heavily spammed and now ranking in the top 5 easily.



Once all the bad links have been disavowed / deleted / diluted, you will eventually bounce back. It takes time however and this is the main killer IMHO.



If your anchors are too heavy and there's no WMT message then it's likely algorithmic. Like I said, disavow, dilute and delete - then wait until Google gets the message.

---

I would also say, if you were earning decent cash from the website before it got hit (Proven good niche), then I would consider building a fresh new website to go with your penalized one.

Reason being, two websites are better than one and now you know you're onto something really awesome, any future work you do definitely has a payday at the end if you can get your SEO right.
Click to expand...

thanks dude, this is some great advice. I'm gonna go ahead and disavow all the links I suspect did this and continue to dilute my anchors until I (hopefully) come back to where I used to be. And I'll definitely look into building a second website if I'm able to retrieve this one
 
Can you give us an example of what anchor over optimization looks like. Was it 1 page with like 100% the same anchor tab across multiple sites (how many linking sites involved?) - Do you have a 1 page website?
 
topcoder said:
Can you give us an example of what anchor over optimization looks like. Was it 1 page with like 100% the same anchor tab across multiple sites (how many linking sites involved?) - Do you have a 1 page website?
Click to expand...

I have multiple pages on my website, but I mainly do SEO on my homepage which also happens to be the page that got dropped in the rankings. When checking the url in majestic almost 50% of the anchors were my main keyword but it's now at around 35% and I'm slowly making that number smaller and smaller (hoping to get it down to 20%)
 
50% Doesn't seem like a lot to be honest. How many different domains used that keyword? And was it a single word keyword?
 
topcoder said:
50% Doesn't seem like a lot to be honest. How many different domains used that keyword? And was it a single word keyword?
Click to expand...

It was a 4 word keyword, and 50% is quite a bit I think. I've been told under 10% is optimal and under 5% is best for money keywords
 
I had over 50% of anchors exact and been ranking 1-3 for years. Buy these are 2 word keywords not 4. 4 might be a little obvious.
 
Advertise on BHW
You must log in or register to reply here.
Sign up now!

Main Menu

Home Main Forum List Black Hat SEO White Hat SEO BHW Newbie Guide Blogging Black Hat Tools Social Media Downloads

Marketplace

Account Selling Content / Copywriting EBooks / Methods Hosting Misc Proxies For Sale SEO - Link building SEO - Packages Social Media Social Media - Panels Web Design More

Making Money

Affiliate Programs Hire a Freelancer IM Journeys Making Money Pay Per Click Site Flipping Want to Buy

BlackHat World

Dispute Resolution Forum Suggestions & Feedback Introductions Lounge
Back
Top