'thin content' penalty impossible to remove

[mike2010]

I picked up a couple domains for cheap, only to notice they had the 'thin content' penalty on them already....previous owners had the domain on a 'white label'. Seems like lately Google has a war on white labels. All white labels to be 'thin content'd' soon ? If Yes, if google can let us know beforehand , that'll be great. As removing the 'thin content' penalty once it's implemented seems virtually impossible.

I completely re-did both domains with fresh new content, available nowhere else, and not re-spun or anything. With at-least 10 fresh new pages, new navigation , fresh content weekly and all. And they were still both denied.

My frustration is both with Google's 'thin content' penalty system and the people they use to both review and implement the penalties. And the virtually impossible task of getting the penality removed. ESPECIALLY when purchasing the domains, and not knowing beforehand their already nerfed. They should ATLEAST have a system for us to check if their 'thin content' or not before purchasing as well. Otherwise were left with cr@p to start with.

[Planet13]

I am confused...

What is a "white label"?

Have you created a GWT account? If so, is there a penalty listed in there? If so, can you post the text that google sent?

I believe there is a way to check on the history of domains to see how many times they have been registered and by whom. I guess some people do this to see whether a domain might have been abused over the years.

[EditorialGuy]

I picked up a couple domains for cheap

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for, but at least you won't lose much when you dump the domains.

[aakk9999]

notice they had the 'thin content' penalty on them already

How do you know they have this penalty? Is it in WMT or you are just speculating as the domain is not ranking?

As removing the 'thin content' penalty once it's implemented seems virtually impossible.

I completely re-did both domains with fresh new content, available nowhere else, and not re-spun or anything. With at-least 10 fresh new pages, new navigation , fresh content weekly and all. And they were still both denied.

What do you mean by "still both denied"? Do you mean you have sent a reconsideration request that got refused? Or you just mean domains are still not ranking?

If you haven't send the reconsideration request, then now is the time to do so and explain to Google that you are a new owner and that the domain is being redeveloped. This should re-set any penalty the domain might have had, but will also reset links etc signals that the domain might have from the past.

[JohnRoy]

Don't know what you mean "white label = thin content"

White Label refers to branding products

[duckduckgo.com...]

[superclown2]

White labels are the thinnest of thin content. No unique value whatsoever.

I would find it very, very difficult indeed to get such a site to rank for anything.

[mike2010]

Surprised by the overall un-knowledge of White Labels. They've been around for years, just google it.

aakk99, Yes I've sent the reconsideration request after exhausingly re-doing the site. And still declined. 'thin content' penalty is like the Death Mariachi for domains. I really wish Google would reconsider the harshness of this penalty. And Yes, I mentioned I was the new owner so please take the penalty off. They didn't care, still penalized when I thoroughly pleaded my case.

And Yes, the warning shows up as a message in WMT. Basically your site is removed from Google search, because of 'Thin Content'... Even if you've redone the site and added hundreds or thousands of pages of fresh new content.

By the way, a different topic , but can someone help explain the importance of implementing Alexa coding....if any ? I posted it in a forum that's very inactive. Any help understanding would be great...can't believe they want us to pay to put coding on our site. That thread -

[webmasterworld.com...]

[EditorialGuy]

Surprised by the overall un-knowledge of White Labels. They've been around for years, just google it.

The exact definition of "white label" depends on the context in which the term is being used. I'm guessing that, in this context, you're referring to "white label" affiliate pages: i.e., boilerplate affiliate pages that have no added value to the user (unless you define "added value" as the addition of your site name and logo). Google has long made it clear that it has no interest in indexing or ranking such pages:

[support.google.com...]

[netmeg]

Not sure why you'd think a white label site would get any traction in 2014, regardless of whether or not it had changed hands.

[EditorialGuy]

Not sure why you'd think a white label site would get any traction in 2014, regardless of whether or not it had changed hands.

The OP (Mike 2010) did say that the sites had been repopulated with "fresh new content, available nowhere else." His complaints were about Google's "penalty system" and Google's failure to wipe the slate clean and index/rank the renovated sites.

To Mike2010: Since the domains you bought are effectively worthless (at least for now), what's the point of using them? Wouldn't it make more sense to put your "fresh, original content" on new and untainted domains?

[tangor]

I know this is a Google forum, so this is for info only: are these sites seeing any kind of traction in Bing?, ie. did they improve at all? If not, the domains really may be toast forever.

[Robert Charlton]

Seems like lately Google has a war on white labels.

White label sites were one of the main things Google strongly suggested it was targeting with the Mayday algo, which was longer ago than "lately". That said, I didn't know that there was specifically a "thin content" penalty.

Regarding Mayday... I remember, at the time, that Matt Cutts said somewhere (and I wish I had the reference) that these sites were basically selling "anything". They were cookie-cutter, push-button type sites... many selling knockoff goods. No real reputation of any kind behind them, either for consumer protection or for search ranking purposes. Those that I explored were boosted by layers of fake blogs and doorway pages.

I'm assuming any domain associated with such a site is now toast. We had a thread on buy-beware domains a little over a year ago....

Can deleted (expired) domains be tainted forever in Google?
April 24, 2013
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4567497.htm [webmasterworld.com]

Matt Cutts had published a video on the topic in April 2013, and I commented at length in the thread. This is part of it...

Essentially, buying a penalized domain would put you in a hole, requiring that you build your way out, but the exact answer depends on the particular history of the domain and the type of penalties it has. I recommend watching the video a few times. Matt fuzzes the answer enough to keep the "secret sauce" secret, but I think he provides pretty good guidelines regarding cautions you need to take.