diberry - 6:36 pm on Sep 17, 2012 (gmt 0)

LostOne, just throwing this out there: it IS possible to inadvertently offend the algorithm. Google does not carefully spell out every single thing it considers a bad/SEO practice, and these things are NOT obvious to everyone. You also can't tell much by looking at which sites got hurt and which didn't, because there are so many factors involved in Google's ultimate ranking of a site.

(Example: brinked was saying in another thread that buying domains and redirecting them to your domain can get you in trouble with google. Yet, many people do this without trouble - it's the online equivalent of buying your competitor's shop and amalgamating it into your brand. But is it possible to go about this in a way that Google *thinks* is all about SEO rather than just smart business? Sure - and then from your perspective you've been penalized for genuinely pursuing new visitors rather than rankings.)