Was I shadow-banned by Google?

valdok · Apr 21, 2025

We bought a domain in 2024 with the target keyword, started doing some SEO for 6 months, but SEO traffic is still small (only brand queries), DR is 1, and Google refuses to index anything except the home page.

When we started digging into the history of a domain, we saw a huge spike in traffic in 2018 and then a sudden drop. https://imgur.com/a/crqR1JN

Could a domain be shadow-banned, and there's no way it will get back, or is it just a link-building issue?

I'd really appreciate help from gurus.

tiiberius · Apr 21, 2025

Domain might have been misused for blackhat in the past but it's been a while. It's possible you can use it now without problem. Unless links profile is toxic.
What are you doing regarding links and content?
Isn't too fast or too slow as well?

valdok · Apr 21, 2025

tiiberius said:
Domain might have been misused for blackhat in the past but it's been a while. It's possible you can use it now without problem. Unless links profile is toxic.
What are you doing regarding links and content?
Isn't too fast or too slow as well?

For links, we published on Saas directories (around 50 domains, 1 link per domain) and the link to a home page on another Saas we own (in a footer on 100k pages).

For content, we use programmatic seo with people and companies' directories and a few blog posts.

Historically, Google indexed around 35 pages and then slowly removed everything until only the home page is indexed.

tiiberius · Apr 21, 2025

valdok said:
For links, we published on Saas directories (around 50 domains, 1 link per domain) and the link to a home page on another Saas we own (in a footer on 100k pages).

For content, we use programmatic seo with people and companies' directories and a few blog posts.

Historically, Google indexed around 35 pages and then slowly removed everything until only the home page is indexed.

Links seem harmless but content like that probably isn't the best quality.

Rank Rocket · Apr 21, 2025

Friend, from the screenshot, it looks like the domain may have been involved in spam or broken Google’s rules in the past. That’s why it could be under an algorithm penalty or shadow-ban, even if Google doesn’t say it directly.

But don’t worry. This kind of domain can be recovered.
First, remove or disavow any spammy or low-quality backlinks. Then, post original, useful content and submit it to Google for indexing regularly.

Also, try to get a few good backlinks from trusted websites. It may take time, but if you stay on the right track, Google will trust the site again.

Stay strong, friend. You can fix this.

valdok · Apr 21, 2025

Rank Rocket said:
Friend, from the screenshot, it looks like the domain may have been involved in spam or broken Google’s rules in the past. That’s why it could be under an algorithm penalty or shadow-ban, even if Google doesn’t say it directly.

But don’t worry. This kind of domain can be recovered.
First, remove or disavow any spammy or low-quality backlinks. Then, post original, useful content and submit it to Google for indexing regularly.

Also, try to get a few good backlinks from trusted websites. It may take time, but if you stay on the right track, Google will trust the site again.

Stay strong, friend. You can fix this.

Thank you!
The only point is that the 500k backlinks are from another Saas we own (we put a backlink to a home page on 100k+ pages in a footer).

Overall, we have around 70 backlinks, most of which are Saas directories. If we filter backlinks as "First seen" before the purchase, there are none (visible to SemRush, ofc. many, if any, pbns could be hidden).

Would your answer be the same given this context?

Was I shadow-banned by Google?

valdok

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tiiberius

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