Liane - 11:46 am on Mar 28, 2007 (gmt 0)

Do you think that it is reasonable for Google to demand an admission of liability for them to look into what may be an error on their part?

I think its unlikely there was an error on Google's part ... but at the same time, I think it is rather draconian to require anyone to sign their name to that statement prior to determining it is true.

If you submit a reinclusion request and the powers that be at Google look at the site and then determine that you are indeed guilty of violating Google's quality guidelines ... then fair enough, sign the document and make your ammends.

This requirement is more than a bit high handed though. Lots of people make honest mistakes without knowing they have done anything wrong. In law, ignorance of the law is no excuse ... but at least a person is allowed their day in court before being found guilty. The last time I checked though, Google doesn't write laws, just "guidelines".

If this is really important to you, I would ask a lawyer what this admission could mean to your business down the road. Who knows how this could affect your business in ten year's time should Google change their guidelines (without your knowledge) and you once again find yourself on the outside looking in.

The only reason I bring this up is because I once found myself on the outside for reasons I truly didn't understand. Google tweaked their algo and suddenly my site was penalized severely. It was nowhere! The day before, my site was in the top 5 for most of my important keywords, then suddenly, it was nowhere to be found. Long story short, it seems my keyword density was too high for the new algo. I eventually figured it out myself, fixed the site and it bounced right back, but I nearly went bankrupt in the meantime.

Personally, I would never sign that document because I know (in my case) that it just isn't true regardless of how Google changes their guidelines or their algo. The problem is that what is acceptable today may not necessarily be acceptable tomorrow.

I suggest you get an "expert" to have a look at the sites before you make any mistakes you may regret down the road. None of us knows how Google may use that prior admission against you in the future should they arbitrarily change their algo or guidelines. The two are not mutally exclusive.

[edited by: Liane at 11:48 am (utc) on Mar. 28, 2007]