I built a new website recently and without realizing the impact, I built several links using only 2 anchor texts. I should have really used variations of those keywords - lesson learned. The primary keyword (URL also had the this keyword) was at #18 in Google SERP initially, but after I built few more links, it got de-listed from SERP. Except for a long tail keyword, my site is not listed for any keywords I built the links on. My question, how long will this penalty stay on? Is it worthwhile building more links using different keywords, hoping that I will be listed for my primary keyword targets ? OR should I abandon this site? Feedback appreciated!
There are just too many variables to this to even attempt a guess. I'll just tell you that nobody, even with all the information at their hands, can possibly answer; only Google knows. It's been my experience that penalties last until you fix the offending feature of your site and get re-indexed.
That might be your problem right there - its a new site. New sites will not rank well in google until they are 5 or 6 months old. Just keep building your links, use different keywords and dont worry about it. When your site hits 6 months old, and your still having problems, then you have a reason to worry. But its not unusual for a site to go from page 1 to page 60 if the sites age is less then 6 months old.
mmm, if your domain is still in google you are not banned, but the keywords are probably in the sandbox, so you will have to wait between 1 week and 9 months ... only google knows ... follow the ~kev~ tips.
I was in the same boat. Get more links and vary the anchor text a lot. Directories don't provide much weight, but they are great for changing anchor text. When we get 1500 directories, we always get 50 different sets of anchor text, most being 5 words or so.