Imagine a situation where a site has been excluded from Google's index - it happens. Sometimes it's for trivial reasons and sometimes it's because the site has been used to actively abuse the terms of service. Now, I know all about getting a banned site reincluded in the index - but this can, at times, be only a part of the solution. Explanation: I once registered a pre-owned domain name which, I later found, had been banned from Google's index. I wrote to Ms Google and explained the situation - I had just registered the domain, it had evidently been banned but I don't know why and it had nothing to do with me anyway. I received a standard reply which went along the lines of "Google guidelines, adherence, check your site, etc." I replied stating that the domain had been in my pocession for 7 days and that I had no idea what dasterdly deeds had been done with it previously. Within hours the site re-emerged in the index (and even had a PR value). This was almost a year ago and the site still sits in the index without being ranked for anything. Periodically it's description reverts to that of its previous owner. I assume that the site, although reinstated, is on a Google black list. Whilst I would be very happy for this site to quit this kind of behavior, this is not my primary concern in this thread - please excuse my long-winded ways - I am wondering, you see, if this is normal practice for ex-banned sites. I'm looking at a site which has been around for maybe 6 months and which would appear to be banned from Google - I don't yet know why. The big clue is there: when entering the domain name in the Google search box, the return states only: For me this means a ban. So, the question I have for you guys is this: Do all banned sites, when re-included, get the same treatment as mine? Will this one enter into a crazy half-life as did mine? Should the owner drop the domain name and start afresh with a new one and, if he/she did, would it be safe or unsafe to forward the old, banned, domain to the new? Does anybody here have experience of similar situations? Could you tell me the story? I hope so. You'll be very popular should you decide to accept this mission... MCS x
It's hard to give you an answer without the knowing the domain - but the first question would be about the content of the current site - Is it original content or a product script, affilite products, reprint articles, etc? Google has been removing or not indexing many of these types of sites. If the site is original content, do you have a fair amount of relevant backlinks? Do you have any idea why the site was banned? Something like hidden text is a penalty that ends 30 days after the hidden text is removed. While google can reinstate banned domains, they also know someone could just change the whois information and then claim the domain had changed hands. Google's Matt Cutts blog has a pretty detailed entry about what to do if your site is banned, but of course, google does pretty much what they want and some sites will never be added again. If your site has original content, backlinks, and you have followed all the proper steps for reinstatement - I would think it would be time to consider a new domain after 6 months.
Thanks for your response - the site in question isn't mine and so I wouldn't want to give the domain name here in case the owner gets grumpy I've had a look at the code and there doesn't seem to be anything hidden or bad. I'm sure the content is original and so I can only guess that something was done in the past and has since been put right. Thanks for the tip about Matt Cutts' blog - I'll go take a look. Although this site isn't mine, it's a great resource and I'd like to help the owner get it re-indexed. MCS x
Hi, had a friend with a gambling site that was dropped by Google for 6 months. He was spidered every day during that time, and was at his wits end, until without warning he was back in the index. That was about the time of the jagger update. He doesn't rank for anything, and it's seems clear that he's sandboxed. Maybe, that's what happened with your friend's site? Cheers, Paz.
Here's the link for Matt Cutts, filing a reinclusion request. It can take many months for a domain to get properly reincluded. Even though it can show in the index fairly quickly for the home page, the rest of the domain is a different matter and forget ranking for a search term for at least a year.
Thanks for the pointer - I saw that too. But it just talks about the method and not the effect. As I mentioned, I did just that and had a site reincluded - but it is in a very strange state - living in the past, some say. I was hoping to find others who have witnessed similar behavior... MCS x
I have a semi-related question regarding the sandbox. How long before your site can gain any sort of page rank?