Help me write Google e-mail

Want to get PR0 removal request right

[jimbeetle]

In this thread I talked about our PR0 penalty and some ways I thought I might be able to resolve it. I've decided not to do anything drastic right now because I don't want to undo/redo four years of work on the site and also do not want to be seen as trying to work the SEs in a way Google might not like.

[webmasterworld.com ]

So, I've decided the best bet is an e-mail to the good folks at Google and would appreciate any help in drafting it. As far as I can see this is going to be a one shot deal and I do not want to get it wrong.

Two questions up front:

Best e-mail address, help@google or search-quality@google. I've seen folks here suggest both.

And, should I mention webmasterworld, if so, how?

Here's what I've got so far:

Subject: Penalized Website Repents

Hi Google Folks,

I believe that one of my sites, [blahblah.com], has been penalized by Google because of past participation in linking programs such as LinkTopics and Buddy Links.

We dropped all of the offending pages many months ago and no longer participate in any such programs.

I believe that our site provides valuable information about [Widgets] and its inclusion in the Google index would benefit searchers, Google and, of course, the site.

Can you please take another look and consider removing the penalty?

Thanks for your consideration,

Jim
Editor
[blahblah]

Any comments, ideas, good words, encouragement, etc., much appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim

[Terry_Plank]

Jim, if you don't get any response over time, you might consider attending one of the conferences where a Google representative is presenting. I have found that when participants ask personal questions about a site, the rep will ask them to come up after the Q & A and they will talk with them personally.

If they don't, you at least know who the person is and you can search them out later. The fact that Google goes to these conferences means they are open to communication, I think.

There are just too many inquiries for them to answer all the email, according to one of their spokesman in an article by Danny Sullivan a couple of months ago.

This is one area I wish that Google could address a little better, setting up a clear process for re-evaluation when there has been a problem. I know we are all responsible for what we do on our domains, but sometimes it happens that you do something without realizing it or there is something left over from a previous Web developer or search engine marketer that the new people haven't caught yet.

[jimbeetle]

Hi Terry,

Yeah, when I was out in CA awhile back I was going to try to get to the conference in San Francisco but got stuck in LaLa Land. Any of the upcoming ones don't as yet fit into schedule but not bad idea if all else fails.

Jim

[EliteWeb]

Dear All Mighty Google Lords, I ask upon you to spare my site (insert site here) from the wrath of the pr0 that was summoned upon it around (insert date here). I indeed realize my faults and errors and have remedeed them to your liking, I invite you and the rest of the google crew over to my house to celebrate thanksgiving with me for your kind act.

Try that.

[Dante_Maure]

Email sounds great.

Sacrifice a virgin motherboard and be sure that your monitor is facing magnetic North before you hit send.

[Brett_Tabke]

First, I can't find that you were in BL.

I believe that one of my sites, [blahblah.com], has been penalized by Google because of past participation in linking programs such as LinkTopics and Buddy Links.

Incorrect. I don't appreciate the association or the acquisition. That is the second time you've spread that. BL was NEVER penalized. There were a couple hundred very good sites in there at the core. The problem was after we were successful, along came many lower quality sites. That's why it was closed down [searchengineworld.com] long before any problems arose.

[chiyo]

Dear google,

Who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy search engine come
Thy will be done
in AOL, Yahoo! Earthlink and BBC as well in your great site.
Give me back my daily hits
And deliver me from Linkstoyou
And forgive me who tresspass against you (a long time ago)
As I forgive you for ignoring me for many months
For thine is the start, the end, and the everthing else
For ever and ever
Amen.

[OldFatherTime]

Exactly what you say to Google is all a bit moot if nobody reads it. My outbox shows a polite request for re-inclusion posted on 13 Sep and 11 Oct. No reply other than auto reply from their mail system. The reasons for exclusion are still totally unknown to me - I have faithfully followed all recommendations regarding good behaviour and, if nothing else, I'd just love to know why Google refuses to accept my site into it's index.

[jimbeetle]

Brett,

Yes, we were in BL for about the last six months before you retired the program.

Hope you got my sticky mail explaining my reference to Buddy Links and hope that there is no misunderstanding. Sometimes there are different ways to read things and maybe I chose the wrong one. I can rephrase my e-mail to Google as:

"...penalized by Google because of past participation in certain link exchange programs."

To everybody else, thanks for your very dark words of encouragement.

Jim

[nutsandbolts]

I tried all sorts when I was kicked out of the index this time last year (wow, time flies!)... Heck, I even sent a box of specially made Vermont chocolates to the search engineers at the 'plex but, alas, they didn't respond... So - because asking for specific site reviews isn't allowed here, may I suggest you carry on posting in this excellent community and post the problem URL in your profile? You can almost guarantee a whole heap of those warm and fuzzy Google people take a look at this site and will remove a penalty etc if they see you are not really an evil nasty spammer but just a nice and funky chap who made a few mistakes....

I really don't think Google have the manpower to reply to these kind of E-mails anymore so I wouldn't waste too much time, as I did, trying to get help that way.

[panicbutton]

Stick a crisp hundred dollar note in with the letter.

[OldFatherTime]

Frankly, it's probably worth sticking a few bills in with the mail. If I could pay Google to manually assess and report back I would do. Why don't they just go ahead and offer a 'pay for review' service - they do want to make money out of Google don't they?

[jimbeetle]

Thanks all,

I'm going to wait out the holiday and the next update (oh, what a dreamer I am!) then drop the G-folks a line. Ya'never know...

I might try tacking chiyo's webmaster's prayer on as a p.s., the people, if not Google itself, are known to have somewhat a sense of humor.

Think the crisp bills are out. Apparently Google has already set its price (What's a googol? 10 to the hundredth power or some such?) and its a bit more than I can come up with at the moment.

And if all else fails there's always another domain name waiting in the wings.

Jim