PR0 - Will Google Tell You Why?

[jgaffney]

I have a client with a PR0 site. I've checked for all the well-discussed things Google hates and can't find anything wrong.

We're thinking maybe something in the past was done that caused the penalty, but no one really knows.

Is Google likely to respond to a request for information on this? Would like to know:

1) If there is a penalty in place.
2) If yes, why (so we can fix it).

Thanks for any guidance...

[edit_g]

1) If there is a penalty in place.
2) If yes, why (so we can fix it).

1) no, they won't reply.

2) no, they won't reply.

My advice would be to question your client further. Make sure you know everything. If branding isn't everything for your client then it might just be easier to start over with a new domain. Keep in mind that sites can also pop back in after the offending material/techniques have been removed.

[korkus2000]

Have you tried using the wayback machine [archive.org] to see if the problem is in the archive? They won't reply but if you could find out what was wrong and then send an email saying you fix [insert spam technique here] it may help.

[martinibuster]

I've checked for all the well-discussed things Google hates

One thing site owners concerned about their search performance love to do is check how they rank- with automated site checkers.

The wayback machine is a good idea.

[pageoneresults]

When did this site become PR0? And, is it a true PR0 (penalty) or just an artifact of the current status of Google?

[annej]

[qoogle]just an artifact of the current status of Google?[/google]

I agree. I've never had a PR0 until the last few months. Now it seems like almost any page that is even remotely new can go PR0. So there is no point in even worrying about individual pages. In fact some semi new & new sites could lose PR on the whole site with these fluctuations.

Are the pages in the serps? That's what counts.

[div01]

It could be a domain issue. Is this a recently expired domain?

[jeyval]

1) If there is a penalty in place.
2) If yes, why (so we can fix it).

1 - They answered me, no one but twice, so I would say the question is Yes or very possible

2 - Even if they reply to question 1, they will not give you specifics whatsoever

[Chicago]

I sent an email to G three days ago inquiring about a possible penalty [using my WW Nick}. My response was first an autoresponder telling me about how G strives to answers all inquires personally and next, a day and half later it was, "Unfortunately, we are unable to investigate and provide individual feedback ...in our free search. If you are concerned that your website may have been penalized, please review our quality guidelines."

Make of it what you will...

[allanp73]

Why don't you try a reinclusion request?
write to [e-mail] with the subject reinclusion.
If there is nothing wrong with the site this would be the best way of getting it sorted out.
(Though I must admit sometimes it is slow and they generally don't give you anything other than an automated response.)

[jeyval]

Apart from the known autoresponder, they answered me back with a clear, we cant comment in why but we can say that your site has been manually blocked from the index.

It took this email a week to arrive, I replied straight away and asked for a reindexing consideration telling them than my site was now clean.
They replied to this second email within minutes letting me know that they will in fact review the site and consider it for reinclusion and before a week after that my site was back

I send two emails (one of which never got replied to) to [e-mail] and to [e-mail] with my webmasterworld knickname on it

[Stefan]

Now it seems like almost any page that is even remotely new can go PR0.

There is no more inherited PR on new pages. In the past if you threw up a page internally linked from a PR5 page it would at least show PR4. The displayed PR for any new pages now is PR0... at least that's what i'm finding. PR means nothing these days until this "update" is finally done.

[GoogleGuy]

How old is the site? Newer sites take time to build up PR sometimes (not always).

[jgaffney]

It looks like a reinclusion request we sent to Google a few weeks ago may have just borne fruit.

Our client has jumped to PR4 from PR0 for their home page, and is now at least searchable in the index (previously even their domain name couldn't be found).

Should have waited a couple more days on my post. ;)

div01, I'm curious about your comment. Are you suggesting that an expired domain that is purchased by someone else can bring with it a penalty from it's previous life?

[hutcheson]

>Are you suggesting that an expired domain that is purchased by someone else can bring with it a penalty from it's previous life?

How could it not?

[korkus2000]

>>Are you suggesting that an expired domain that is purchased by someone else can bring with it a penalty from it's previous life?

Yes it can. Also all backlinks it previously had are not counted any longer.

[pageoneresults]

Are you suggesting that an expired domain that is purchased by someone else can bring with it a penalty from it's previous life?

Think of it this way, it is like buying a used car. You have no idea how the previous owner treated that car unless of course complete maintenance records are provided. Even then, there may be things that are not recorded in the maintenance records. ;)

[jgaffney]

Guess I was assuming Google checked for domain expiration and then reset PR.

On actually *thinking* about this, I guess that would be quite a project, with it's own downstream problems.

An interesting topic: "Things to Consider Before You Invest in a Used Domain"...