Hello all, I have a question that may require some more research but I thought I'd check with the community at large before pulling out my hair. I have a site that is currently indexed in Google but I fear it may be getting a few negative hits because of some poor ad choices in the past. I linked out to some bingo sites for a fee, I know I know, it's bad, but I needed the cash at the time and thought that the site was relatively small enough to not warrant any raised eyebrows from Google (age old adage, Big Brother is always watching). In any event, since the time I have accepted these link ads I have seen the site's ranking drop from a 4th page listing for the keywords "play free arcade games" and 2nd page listing for "free arcade games" respectively to not being listed in the index at all for these keywords. Also, my Toolbar PR went from a '4' to '0' *Important to mention (may also be a cause in the negative rankings): When I initially went through a round of SEO, I purchased many links from a few general directories, which come to find out have been getting slapped around by Google left and right in the past year or so. Also links were purchased on a few more niche/related sites. No more Seo was done after this as I began a complete overhaul of the site's backend and frontend design and had little time to contribute to marketing. This could also be a cause for the lack of listings, but I highly doubt it given the position that was previously held. The main question is this: Should I continue to make use of the domain name knowing that there could be some bad mojo in the mix with the Google Gods? Is it worth climbing the uphill battle, both emotionally speaking as well as financially speaking, to hold on to my prized domain? Or should I invest a brand spanking new domain and live with a clean slate? 1) It is currently making about $100/month via Adsense, so the revenue would not really be missed. There's also the possibility of selling the site in it's current state. 2) I could easily alter the site's design and logo to reflect a new domain name/Site name of my choosing and go from there. 3) There is also the added bonus of choosing a name that would receive a bonus in the SERPS for having my keywords in the actual name. Any pointers?
I would submit a reinclusion request, do a small amount of continued work on that website and go ahead and start focusing on another just in case. One day it may come back, but don't keep all your eggs in one basket hoping for it. Next time around, stay away from objectional linking practices.
I can only speak from personal experience on this. Anytime Google starts to hate a site of mine, that site disappears and never comes back. No amount of overhauling, link building, seo, whatever, makes it return. It's almost like once you're on the bad list, there is no escape. Now this is just my experience and my opinion. Could you turn things around for your site? Possibly. If do decide to redo things though, I wouldn't try to make your new domain into your old domain. Start over 100% and come up with a new angle if you know what I mean. Also, might as well leave your old site up and just let it collect money. While $100 isn't going to make or break you it sure does help and it's coming with zero effort.
well, if i were u, i would create another complete site at another hosting, then, redirect my traffic there.. just my 2 cents
Thanks for this advice mdvaldosta. I think I will do just that. When you say not into my old domain? haha In all seriousness, I would want to stick to my same genre, but I would obviously change the name, look, feel, system behind it, AND start over with a new member base. My thinking is as a business owner, you should be allowed to run a similar business in a different neighborhood with varying results... Thanks, but this method seems somewhat shady to me. I would rather start over with a clean slate, new members, new traffic, etc... Thank you all for the advice. I believe I may end up keeping the site as a small child and letting a new king step up in it's place.
Are you saying that you went from a PR 4 to a PR 0 or to a GrayBar? A drop like this is not about buying linking, it's about "black hat" or heavy cross linking between sites on the same IP subnet. When you do recropical linking, G does not bust you for the links coming to your site. The bust you for the links you give to other sites. Therefore, if you buy links, G will just drop the site that is selling links to a PR0. Now all links are worthless and as a result, you have to refund the money. To make the choise on starting over or cleaning up the site should be based on what you really did and if it is just your site or a company's. It would also help if you would give use the site's URL so we can see what really is going on. Everyone of us that pushes SEO has been busted by Google and after 7+ years at it, I have already done what you have done. I have only one site that I could not salvage and that had a bad word in the domain name. For now, ask the Forum to review your site for any negatives. Clean them up and get the site indexe a couple of times. See what happens. Only at last resort do you ask G for a reinclusion.