I think I have been penalized in Google SERPs for some reason

[OMSmarketing]

Hi
On 10/18/2014, at 1 am, it looks like all this website's traffic dropped off
I researched it and shows all keywords serps dropped. From main keywords that have appeared in top 5 of page one for over 3 years now not appearing in first five pages in google.

I manage this website for the owner, and know he does not use seo whatsoever, has never had more than 3-4 backlinks ever to it and always has been ranked high.

Can anyone help explain what has been done or how to fix this?

[removed link]

[edited by: brotherhood_of_LAN at 4:50 pm (utc) on Oct 20, 2014]
[edit reason] Removed your site link as per the terms of service [/edit]

[aakk9999]

The dates of your traffic drop ties in with Google launching Penguin. There is more on this thread: Confirmed: Google Penguin 3.0 released Late Friday Night [webmasterworld.com]

Have you analysed the backlinks? Could the site be hit because of that?

[OMSmarketing]

I found the actual culprit.
This site has never ranked lower than #5 on first page of google for main keyword in over 3 years.
Checked in ahrefs, over the period of 9/13 thru 10/12 there has been an average of 500-2500 backlinks added daily with irrelevant anchor text such as "rape videos", "free #*$!" , etc

Before this there was never any seo done on this website, only ever had 3-4 backlinks ever and never needed any.

[Robert Charlton]

Hi OMSmarketing, and welcome to WebmasterWorld. The "irrelevant anchor text" you mention pointing to your pages suggests that your site may have also been hacked as part of a blackhat scheme, ultimately either to redirect visitors or link juice from your site to an eventual target site. The hack on your site, if there is one, would be set up so that the content and links would be visible only to Googlebot.

Here are two threads on the topic that might be helpful...

Understanding hacked sites that rank in Google
April, 2013
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4561487.htm [webmasterworld.com]


Google launches new tool to identify site security issues
Oct 31, 2013
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4620501.htm [webmasterworld.com]

The first thread should provide some background, and the second contains links to security tools Google has created which might be helpful.

This isn't the only explanation, but it's a likely one. Please let us know what you find.

[OMSmarketing]

Hi Robert
Thanks for the info, however I already scanned the site and server for any vulnerabilities. I have not found any.
However all backlinks seem to point directly to the homepage of the domain.

I believe this is a negative seo spammed by a competitor

[goodroi]

...site has never ranked lower than #5 on first page...never any seo done on this website, only ever had 3-4 backlinks ever...

Wait a minute, something doesn't make sense here. You had great ranking for years from only 3-4 backlinks?

Either your serp is not competitive or some of the numbers might not be accurate. Most competitive serps need many more than 3 backlinks to rank on the top of page one results for years.