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Can't find site in Google

What does it mean?

         

moonspell

10:49 pm on Jan 5, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



After the last google update all my sites were removed from google search. And I can't find them at google's directory but my sites are still listed at DMOZ. The toolbar became grey but google still have the cached snapshot of my sites. Does it mean that my sites were banned from google or they will appear on the next update?

fathom

11:04 pm on Jan 5, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Hard to say.

If the sites were new (a month or two) then I would say the refresh bot picked you up and the update cancelled them out. In this case be patience and watch your logfiles for googlebot.

If older, a google glitch could have dropped you and again be patience.

Note: a ban/penalty does not occur for no reason - So for the above two reasons to be inaccurate -- what unthecal practices have you employed or what sites have you linked to that are doing this?

<added> pardon my manners moonspell, welcome to WebmasterWorld. ;)</added>

moonspell

11:11 pm on Jan 5, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



All my domains were included into google's base for more than a year and all this time have good position and PR. When they were removed from google I was shocked! I do not tried to cheat or smth, I was satisfied with the results. One thing that I have is small links at the bottom of each page linking to another page of mine. Maybe google thought that it is like a link farm, but it is very small. About 15 domains only just linked to each other.

fathom

12:05 am on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



About 15 domains only just linked to each other.

Crosslinking domains can get you in trouble if you don't know what you are doing. I assume you still have time to re-deploy your strategy since still cached in Google.

It is best to remove most of the links - from a domain to another domain.

Some guidelines to follow for cross-linking.

Link for the visitor - if there is no reason for a visitor to click the link itself is solely for PageRank/Link Popularity.

This is not good linking practice.

You can link for ownership -- this is for the visitor, that is provides web site credibility. Best practice - link secondary domains to primary site only.

Link for unique content. One site has content that may be of value to visitors of another site.

Do not use unstructured linking practices. That is... sporadic linking anywhere or everywhere.

It is best to do a WebmasterWorld site search on cross-linking and learn the pitfalls.

gsmitchell

12:17 am on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



moonspell,

My site dropped off the face of googles earth as well! My site has been listed in G! for the last 10 months and all of a sudden my site has disappeared. I have only added text and some inbound links. I have contacted G! but I am not optimistic in hearing back from them any time soon. I guess all I can do is wait for the next crawl and hope that my site reappears. GoogleGuy if you are listening can you help?

moonspell

12:18 am on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Thanks a lot, fathom. Your advices are similar to my thoughts about this problem and I will act like you said. But this is not clear for me: if I have links that really will help the visitor to find the content, for example links to similar resourses why google think that it is kinda cheat? Or it does matter the quantity of my incoming and outcoming links?

Following your advice about searching the base of webmastersworld. I've found this board not so long time ago but I've read a lot of old messages but still can't find exact answer for my question. I've found it in this topic :)

Lots0

12:25 am on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)



Before I assumed I was penalized - I would look at some other things first.

Like, was my server down when googlebot came around 2 months ago - What have I changed in the last 2 months.

Don't first assume that you are penalized, most of the time that is an incorrect assumption.

fathom

1:14 am on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Agree with Lots0 you should check out all other possibilities.

QuestionS: why 15 domains?

What is different between them that required 15 domains?

What is similar? Is the similarily actually different content or duplicate content just on a different domain names, big difference?

Does the similar content follow like:

1st domain - trees

2nd domain - maple trees

3rd domain - sap and syrup

4th domain - fall foilage

5th domain - shrubs

or

trees.com

mapletrees.com

maplesyrup.com

and so on with the same stuff is each.

nvision

1:15 am on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



hi everyone - I recently emailed Google with a similar query and got an instant reply. Don't lose hope! And best of luck getting the sites back.

martinibuster

1:27 am on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



One thing that I have is small links at the bottom of each page linking to another page of mine.

About 15 domains only just linked to each other.

Oh Brother! That's not another page, that's all your pages.

for example links to similar resourses why google think that it is kinda cheat?

Wait a minute! You are not linking to resources. You are linking to your own pages. YOU are linking to YOURSELF. And linking them back to each other. It's a self-enclosed link farm.

You got caught. Please don't try to act innocent here ("I was only linking to resources...").

Perhaps you didn't know that this was wrong? That's unfortunate. The only thing you can do now is undo what you did and make it right.

I hope that you stay with us here in WW, and that 8 months later you can give advice to someone else who has just been penalized for crosslinking, and share with them how you dug yourself out.

fathom

3:01 am on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



martinibuster I had thought of posting the same thing... but thought I would be overly polite.

There are exceptional ways to crosslink such that the benefits not only assists the visitor, develops PageRank, and unrequested links, they actual induce more sales.

However, having the wrong motives from the start is not a good starting point.

PageRank is nothing special without others producing it.

rfgdxm1

3:06 am on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



>You got caught. Please don't try to act innocent here ("I was only linking to resources...").

And to think that I worry that my 2 little domains happen to link to each other. 15 domains crosslinking to each other? Sure sounds like a link farm to me.

martinibuster

3:58 am on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Now, now, let's not throw stones at the chap.

To the uninformed (and malinformed), cross-linking looks like a good strategy. But who in their right minds would try it if they knew of the bad consequences?

There's nothing wrong with scheming to be at the top, or to aspire to be the best. That's the language of money.

But I have to admit that I almost lost an olive from my martini when I read the "little-ole-me" routine.

I truly wish you well, moonspell, and hope that your web site's recovery is speedy, and that we hear more from you.

fathom

4:05 am on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



But who in their right minds would try it if they knew of the bad consequences?

Two words... Enron & Worldcom! ;)

Just watch the Enron story... Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Riding on the edge is risky and pays off from time to time, but it wouldn't be "risk" if there were no failures. ;)

gsmitchell

2:13 pm on Jan 6, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Fathom,

Let's not forget Arthur Anderson! :)

I also discovered that during the November crawl my site was down 2 different times for 30 minutes each. It would be my luck if Google tried crawling my site during those times!

Good_Vibes

9:17 pm on Jan 16, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Fathom said:
Do not use unstructured linking practices. That is... sporadic linking anywhere or everywhere.

I have never heard of this before. Could you point me to a thread where I can read about it, or to your sources?

Thanks

brotherhood of LAN

9:28 pm on Jan 16, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Before I assumed I was penalized - I would look at some other things first.
Like, was my server down when googlebot came around 2 months ago - What have I changed in the last 2 months.

Especially if they are with the same host/server....that old saying The simplest explanation tends to be the correct one is worth believing in ;)

I'd wait a bit and see if google changes its mind at the next update....linkage aside.