A -450 Penalty on Subdomains?

Experiencing penalties on my subdomain pages

[Timetraveler]

On about Wednesday of last week a page on my subdomain (different language) went from top 3 placement to the very last page google will show -450.

I didn't modify or change anything on the page and the content is all unique. The links that were pointing to the page are still in tact and to be honest I really didnt change anything at all to the entire subdomain to create such a drastic penalty.

The homepage of the subdomain is also ranking lower and so are the other pages on the subdomain.

Even the main website's homepage (.com) is suffering a large decrease in ranking.

The only possible cause I could think that might have triggered this nasty penalty is that the anchor text going to the non-English subdomain and main subdomain are very similar. Do you think maybe google is giving me some sort of "keyword canibalization" penalty for linking to different language subdomains with similar anchor text.

The only threads I could find was one where SteveB refers to the -450 penalty in a duplicate content thread.

[webmasterworld.com...]

F me I'm so pissed right now........ Any suggestions would be great.

[tedster]

What we've been calling the 950 penalty [webmasterworld.com] here can also be described as "near the end of results" rather than being tagged as a specific number.

If you've got some searches where you still rank (check a search for your domain name, for instance) and other keywords are now pushed to near the bottom, the 950 discussion may well apply to your situation.

[Crush]

-950 and now -450 :), not another one :)

[tedster]

Not another one, indeed. Timetraveler said "went from top 3 placement to the very last page". That's the telling description, IMO - not the actual "numbers" involved.

[trinorthlighting]

Every one of these penalty sites have participated in link exchanges typically.

[trakkerguy]

Every one of these penalty sites have participated in link exchanges typically.

Unless you've looked at "every one of these penalty sites", you really shouldn't be slandering them like that. That attitude is divisive and counterproductive.

[trinorthlighting]

I have looked at a lot of them and all had evidence of link exchanges. I am not slandering them to tick them off. I am being honest with them though.

[skyewalk]

No link exchanges on mine!

[Crush]

BTW, do you still get googlebots visits? We have been getting 4 GB of G'bot visits per day, usually 2.5. Some update may be coming as historically there is a lot of G'bot activity before an update.

[skyewalk]

I still get normal googlebot visits.

[trinorthlighting]

Skyewalk,

Your site is not under a -450 or -950 penalty. Your showing up number one in quite a few long tailed results.

You just need to add more content.

[skyewalk]

Trinorth, my site was no. 1 just yesterday for loads of phrases where now the result is last or second last in all the SERPS. Some of the phrases I no longer rank for do not even occur on other websites, the results are just pages that happen to contain those words in various places.

Like you say, I do still rank for one or two things, but barely anything.

My main keywords keep altering between having my site first or last.

I think that is the 950.

I have tons more content and inlinks than any other site on the sections I am concentrating on - and it is these sections that are being affected.