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I, for instance, enjoyed a top 10 listing of my site with my most likely keywords for well over a year, and often I was #1. I did all sorts of crazy stuff that Google says to absolutely not do, things that got me to the top for all of that time. One day my site disappeared from the top ten and I found it hundreds of listings down. I just checked today, btw, and my site is now ranked at 599.
I also have absolutely no reason to believe that I've ever been penalized at all, ever. Being penalized is just one small and relatively unimportant category of reasons why a site's listing might change. A site's page rank may change when other webmaster's remove your link from their pages, or when their own page rank changes so that they're passing lesser rank onto your site. The very idea that a change, even a very dramatic change, in one's position in Google's search results or in a page's rank, would necessarily indicate a penalty is simply not supported by reason (not any more than the cough that I just let out a moment ago is indication of throat cancer).
So, I'm wondering if I've missed something that the rest of you are familiar with. Is there a form somewhere at Google within which you can type your URL and have Google respond with, "Yes, absolutely and incontravertibly, this page HAS been penalized by Google, click HERE to have Google send you an official letter via certified mail confirming this fact"? Or is all off of the "My site was penalized!" stuff that I'm reading here just a search engine equivalent of rampant hypochondria?
I'm really wondering. Anyone?
Accurate diagnosis is half of the cure.
That's good, then you know what you did so if anything needs fixing it should make it easier to do.
>>One day my site disappeared from the top ten and I found it hundreds of listings down. I just checked today, btw, and my site is now ranked at 599.
A plunge like that doesn't happen just from losing a couple of links or having their PR drop some.
>>Is there a form somewhere at Google within which you can type your URL and have Google respond with, "Yes, absolutely and incontravertibly, this page HAS been penalized by Google, click HERE to have Google send you an official letter via certified mail confirming this fact"?
No, sorry but there isn't. And if you send an email asking what's up, you shouldn't hold your breath while you wait to get a reply. Google has been known to respond to some emails on occasion but they don't provide this kind of "customer support" for us, so to speak. It sure would make life easier.
>>Or is all off of the "My site was penalized!" stuff that I'm reading here just a search engine equivalent of rampant hypochondria?
Oh, it happens all right! But more than likely some (or even most) of the fear that happens before the fact is probably hypochondria.
If something's drastic it could be likely, but it's hard to tell without thoroughly looking through. There's a difference between being "banned" (removed from the index altogether) and being penalized, and I'm one of those who, rightly or not, believes that there are different degrees of severity of penalties or that there can be a few factors causing penalties that can add up.
Please don't quote me on that last one! I can't prove it and wouldn't even try, it's just a suspicion based on observation over time.
I think there can be "small" penalties that cause a minor drop that isn't too obvious but is nevertheless still there. It possibly could be almost a similar amount as when a really good anchor text link is removed, which can cause a drop.
>>Accurate diagnosis is half of the cure.
Exactly, and that's the hardest part. There are so many different factors that can be involved that it's hard to isolate the individual element or elements.
>>I did all sorts of crazy stuff that Google says to absolutely not do, things that got me to the top for all of that time.
Can't run away this time. Not all drug smugglar get caught the very first time.
I am happy because Google did a great job this time. You Since you admit your guilty, maybe they should give you some bonus by placing you in 200+ instead of 500+.
