Hello.... Your site i take it ? If you offered "sitewides or sponsored links" without using "no follow" then welcome to the penalty world as most sites getting hit for this land on page 6-7 laterz malcolm
sorry i edited last post (bad habit of mine) Does the site come up for its own name on first page? (if it does then your fine, if its on page 6-7 your screwed) To be honest id wait a few days or at least a week before getting upset over it as it might be a glitch or something thx malcolm
cheers for replies yes it is number one in googe for own name. Not too worried as its happened before
Then that penalty dont apply to you... sorry for the heart attack Probably just a glitch or maybe different data center picking up old results. Dont stress it give it time laterz malcolm
Google is mysterious Maybe some recent event to do with your niche has come up and so more sites contain keywords related to your site? Maybe some new sites in your niche are here and Google's giving them a go at the top. Either way, just keep doing WHITE hat SEO, working hard and don't link to dodgy sites and hopefully you'll be back up the rankings in no time!
If your site isnt ranking for it own "domain name" and shows up on page 6-7 then you have been hit. The only way have it removed is request reclusion or appeal after you have fixed whatever it was that got you flagged in the first place. thx malcolm