Google Penalty, how long can it last?

Hi all,

I have had the strangest thing happen; pagerank on one of my sites updated from 3 to 4 in the last update but the site got a penalty at the same time losing rank on my most important keyword from position 3 to 67!

I suspect that it can't be a penalty for my incoming links otherwise my PR wouldn't be up. I have lowered my keyword density because it might have been a little to high on the other hand (probably stuffed)

Does anybody know how long a penalty can/may last?

 

Weeks, months and even years.

 

It is impossible to know how long the penalty will last as it depends on many things such as your site, competition, what the penalty was imposed for. I don't think it would be for incoming links though as this is something your competitors could do to you, eg. build a whole heap of backlinks to your site from FFA, free directories, etc. Therefore I don't think Google really see backlinks as something that can be penalised as this would be too easy to manipulate and destroy your competition. This is just my opinion but I have heard others express the same view as well.

 

everytime you make a significant change such as lowering your keyword content, resubmit to google for reconsideration. keep fixing, keep filing. could take months to a year

 

I have had the same thing happen to one of my sites. It was 11 for my chosen keyword and now it is in the high 600's, for some reason.

I have done everything naturally with the site. No link spamming or anything. Keyword density is around 5%.
So, I dont know what has happened. But I know it has certainly ruined my plans for the site.

 

may be it won't come back again

 

Changing the content and site would help.

If you know the reason you can work on getting read of the issue.
-- Most of the time the reason is hidden, google don't tell you.

 

I feel your pain. I had a site that that was 2 1/2 years old and ranked #1 for hundreds of keywords with a PR5 and then all of a sudden it got hit with a penalty. It went from ranking #1 to #40 - #60. Here is my timeline of events:

1. Jan 8th, 2009 - Penalized in Google (went from #1 to #40 - #60 in Google rankings)
2. Hired an outside consultant to help with penalty and made many changes including: removed paid links, removed possible duplicate content (even though I don't think I had any), fixed domain level issues, fixed all errors in Google Webmaster Tools.
3. Submitted 1st reconsideration request a few months later (March 2009)
4. Nothing happened so continued to make minor on-site changes
5. Filed 2nd reconsideration request (May 2009)
6. Nothing happened
7. Beginning of June 2009 got banned from Google (no longer indexed in Google)
8. Submitted 3rd reconsideration request stating that I have no idea why I was penalized in the first place and now banned?!
9. Nothing happened
10. Submitted 4th reconsideration request to say we are at a complete loss and that Google may have something wrong on their end.

My advice is to not rush into anything and don't submit a reconsideration request until you absolutely have to. Sometimes if you continue to add fresh quality content and slow methodical link building the penalty will all of a sudden be lifted. I would also recommend hiring an outside consultant that is knowledgeable in Google penalties. Our consultant was very helpful and uncovered things that we would have never thought of.

Good luck

 

It can take time, but as long as you can fix what the problem was, you can hopefully get your rankings back. Work on updating the content and backlinks.

 

I would change everything you think was at fault, then fill in a reconsideration request with google.

In the request, I would give bullet points of what you think was wrong, and what you have done to correct it (as this is what they say they really want to know)

Maybe post on the google webmaster support forum also.

More info here:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/04/tips-on-requesting-reconsideration.html (video from the reconsideration team)

http://www.awm-fightclub.com/2009/03/15/requesting-reconsideration-using-google-webmaster-tools/ (video)

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35843 (info n Google about reconsideration requests)

If you go through the above links properly, you will probably understand more than many.

- Hope it helps... Good luck!

 

Going 3 to 67 for keyword rank may not be a penalty at all. I keep seeing some of my keyword disappearing and in the next few days back to same as before. I do not know why, but it happens.

 

It may be not be that your site was penalized but something in Google search algorithm has changed.
I suggest that you focus on your SEO efforts and you'll gain back your ranking.

 

Man we do not know, but I have a case fyi.

I once was penalized by big G on one keword, then I did nothing except build some backlinks, and add a few articles, then one and half a month later it's back,lol.

Foolish as I was, I made a second big change to that article, now 3 months past, my ranking isn't back yet.

So my suggest is do not make significant changes to your site until you are de-indexed.

 

i haven't had the experience myself so i can't say but i do believe the penalty can last for some rather extended time if not corrected, months or even years. techienews above gives some v. useful advice/links

 

wow, sry about that, that's something i'll never try then...

anyway about the main question, wait a little maybe the rankings will come back.

 

See that is what pisses me off about google and there BS penalties... You dont get a notice of WHY
it happened so you can fix the issue and carry on with your site.

Dont you think they should Tell you in webmaster tools? of course... if at best an automated message indicating the reason.

thx
M1

 

there is no fix time schedule of google penalty, but if u do organic way then might be it not prob for google to remove those penalty.

 

As you said that you have keyword stuffing, then its sure that you website is banned because of that only. There is nothing to do with links.

Ban time - There is no specific time for a website to remain de-indexed on reside in G sandbox. In most of the cases you need manual interpretation from Google to get your site problem resolved.

 

Same happened to my site too... bt it is again recovering.. may be because i have built some high pr backlinks.....

 

how long does it take to recovery?