About two months ago, several of my websites were removed completely from the google index after ranking quite well for related terms. An example of one of the sites that was removed is rcvideoclips.com -- one of several sites built using a similar template. Having reviewed the Google Webmaster Guidelines carefully, I concluded that I was most likely banned for a interlinking between a large number of sites that I operate. The sites were related (other video clip sites in other categories), but I had a footer at the bottom of all my pages that linked the sites together. Ironically, about 6 weeks before the ban, I removed the footer once I realized that it potentially ran afoul of Google's Guidelines. Is it possible that they would've banned me for this, even though it was already fixed at the time of the ban? I also thought I might be banned for duplicate content. My site aggregates and organizes videos from YouTube in a way that is more useful for Radio Controlled Vehicle enthusiasts. As a result, my site is built off content that comes from YouTube. Earlier posts on this forum and others lead me to believe that duplicate content probably isn't what got me banned (it could depress my SERPs but not result in a ban). After combing my site for any other potential infractions, I submitted a reinclusion request on 8/8. I've not heard anything back and my sites remain excluded from the index. Does anyone have any other ideas for what might have caused the ban? Any suggestions on getting reinstated? Thanks in advance.
If you find an answer to this, I would love to hear it. I've got a 7 year old site that simply displayed medieval historical information and links into a few affiliate sites and my site was listed in the top 10 for many terms for years and then all of sudden 1 year ago, it was gone. All of my backlinks remain on the thousands of other sites and I'm still listed on Yahoo and MSN but nothign on Google. I've waited patiently like they suggest, I've email them and even after all failed requested that i be 'relisted', thinking that maybe i was banned. No answer to any of these questions. I'd even pay someone to give me the answer. It's just not right seeing that i run over 50 sites and make my living on the internet and this was one of my highest traffic sites. And there is absolutely NO obvious reason for the banning. It's only an information site on medieval and renaissance stuff - information that i've written over the years. I've even run Adsense on it for years now and they have had NO problems letting me do that. Let me know if you hear anything please. \ Thanks,, Tony
Go through all the sites you’re linking to and check to see whether any of them have been banned, if so...remove the link to them. Google will initially penalise you for linking to a banned site, then effectively ban you if you don't act upon it.
Completely agree with this. There are no ways to know 100% which one is the problem, you could only guess. Some suggested that you just buy a similar domain and 301 the old one to the new one, leaving the old ones behind.