Hacked site penalized, how long to fix?

[Right Reading]

Hackers left nasty links on my site. It didn't take too long for me to learn about this, and I had it all cleaned up in about a day or two. Nonetheless, I subsequently received a message via Google Webmaster Tools, titled "Removal from Google's Index."

Of course I would rather not have been banned at all -- traffic, as you would expect, has fallen precipitously -- but this seems to me a real improvement in communication from Google compared to what was once the case. It notifies me of a penalty, explains the reason for it, and suggests a fix.

I filed a reinclusion request about a week ago. It will be interesting to see how long this takes to get fixed, and whether my previous rankings return.

[edited by: encyclo at 2:18 am (utc) on Nov. 14, 2008]
[edit reason] no email excerpts please, see terms of service [/edit]

[tedster]

If the only problem was the hack, and you cleaned it up and patched the security program, then I'd expect a return very soon.

[devil_dog]

AFAIK when it returns it will be back to pre-hack rankings...

[foolsgold]

A week, been there done that. Rankings back as normal. Sent a note via WMT.

[referencement2seo]

#*$! links can not possibly damage your ranking.

[edited by: tedster at 7:23 pm (utc) on Nov. 16, 2008]

[tedster]

referencement2seo, I disagree. Here's what Google says in their Webmaster Guidelines [google.com]:

In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.

By "bad neighborhoods" Google does not mean adult content - it's not a content issue, but depends especially on whether the site you're linking to uses spammy link practices, or other violations of Google's guidelines.

[herculano]

hi guys,

where in the google webmaster tools does it say your site has been penalized?

[Receptional Andy]

herculano, you can see this type of notification via the "Message Center" in the top right hand corner of WMT pages.

[herculano]

hi andy,

hmm... looks like I don't have a message that my site was penalized... but my top ranking keyword though drop from no. 1 to no. 30+ after I deployed new pages... wherein after a little reading around could possibly be tag as doorway pages, which really isn't since there's some new interesting information in it, but most likely from google's eyes they are.

it happen to drop the end of last week.. probably their message system hasn't caught up yet..

I wonder if there has been any experience from anyone that this type of penalty is only temporary.

[tedster]

Also note that not every site that gets a penalty also gets a message in WMT. It's a service Google provides to those whose infractions seem the most innocent to them. If you are actively "working on" SEO for your site, then it may not fit Google's criteria for a WMT notice.

[dstiles]

Message Centre is really obvious! Since I almost never go back to WMT "home" page I'd never seen the link before. Adding it to the top of all Site pages would help, with a flashing red light on new messages.

Ah, well. Another page to watch. I suppose I can put it on Alert? Does anyone know? Otherwise I suppose a Firefox Page Change alert.