themaninthejar - 2:14 pm on Jun 19, 2012 (gmt 0)

UK non-ecommerce - I'm waiting for Google to fully re-cache my site to discover if my onsite changes will improve my seriously compromised rankings. Just in case it doesn't, I'm thinking ahead to my next move and find myself a bit confused about reinclusion requests.

Does reinclusion only apply to completely excluded sites? Mine dropped 20-odd pages, but surely this is a demotion rather than an exclusion.

Also, is it possible to have been penalised for links that Google doesn't like and not have received the infamous badlinks email? And if so, is the only way to discover you've got "dodgy" links to send in a reinclusion request?

I'm a bit nervous about a reinclusion request pointing my site out to someone at Google. Not because I have anything to hide, but simply because these people have the potential to wield such arbitary and devastating power without the need to explain the reasons.