My site has been penalized. It is still listed within Google's index, but is now consistently found on page 5 or 6 -- even for the EXACT, UNIQUE PHRASE WHICH APPEARS WITHIN THE HOME PAGE'S TITLE TAGS (sorry to shout -- that's how I know it's a penalty and not a simple response to a Google algo change). It used to appear on page 1 for numerous search terms.
"Yes, fix everything that violates Google's guidelines and then resubmit." You should fix all the problems which might caused the penalty and then do a re-consideration request. Even then, some time is needed before your site penalty will be removed.
As long as your have your pages indexed by Google your site is not penalized so there is no point to do Reconsideration Request. If your site is new( less than 1 year old) you will see this kind of thing happening often. Maybe next week you will have smile on your face again.
I don't believe that's true. Google penalties come in different varieties, including de-indexing and ranking drops. The original post provides sufficient evidence that a penalty exists. I'm not asking if you think I have a penalty -- I already know I do. The point of this discussion seeks to address the best course of action. Thx!!
"Not necessary. Just fix any violations and the penalty will be removed automatically." I have never been penalized, but while reading the forum never heard anyone succeeding with the Reconsideration Request... And yes, even if your pages are still indexed you can have a penalty. If they were not - G. just banned you ..or never crawled your site. Also, last few weeks the rankings fluctuate greatly - for certain phrase(a very competitive one) 1 of my sites was used to be in places 1-5 on 1st page; now varies between page 1 and page 11, sometimes within hours lol...not that I am happy but dont think you have a penalty, neither I do. Since when your site moved down?