Dumped from Google

[annieo]

I added some new pages to my site that may have had too much duplicate content, but they were unique in a dozen different places.

All of a sudden I can't be found anywhere when I had #1 and #2 ratings before.

I am using this meta tag

<meta name="robots" content="index,follow,noarchive">

I have now removed the questionable links and pages. Is there hope for me? How do I get Googlebot to come back?

Thank you.

[edited by: annieo at 7:21 pm (utc) on Jan. 16, 2003]

[HoloC76]

Do a site search for "noarchive". There seem to be differing opinions on it and how much googlebot likes your site when you use it.

[mayor]

I'd say don't use the no-archive tag. Your lower-ranking competitor might think you're cloaking some spam and report you to the search engines. Then trigger-happy search engines might just boot your site without even looking, or might look and find something else they don't like.

I had two legitimate sites booted from Google and Inktomi and I really think using the no-archive tag had a lot to do with it. I was using the no-archive tag to spoof my competitors into thinking I was cloaking, so they wouldn't bother copying my high-ranking pages. Then one day both sites got Google's PR0, and not to long after disappeared from Inktomi. So my no-archive defense against pirates might have backfired on me.

[WebGuerrilla]

I don't believe there is any kind of direct penalty for using the noarchive tag. There are dozens of legitimate reasons to use it, and I reccommend it to all clients.

However, you do need to understand that using it probably subjects your site to greater scrutiny. It is true that most cloaked content uses the noarchive tag. That being the case, it would be a safe bet to assume Google might spend some time on occasions checking up on pages that use the noarchive tag.

So if you are going to use it, make sure your pages are squeaky clean. :)

[annieo]

I removed the noarchive tag as well as my links to pages with similar content. My page is now sparkling clean. But, will googlebot come back anytime soon to see what a clean page I have?

[troels nybo nielsen]

Depends on your incoming links. The deep crawl ought to be over for this month so you'll have to hope for freshbot. Quality incoming links are a great advantage here.

Btw. Welcome to WebmasterWorld. I hope that others have said that before me.

[mayor]

You've got to do some analysis to figure out if you got the boot (Page Rank reduced to zero) or if your site was down when googlebot came around, or if you were feeding off the freshbot, which comes and goes naturally. There's plenty of info on these subjects here at WebmasterWorld.

If it turns out that you got the boot, you may never get back in, no matter how remorseful you are for your sins. Get a new domain and go on with your life, smarter for the wear and tear.

[Brett_Tabke]

Never build any page anywhere on the internet that doesn't include the noarchive tag.

Unless you have a legal team on staff, you can't afford the liability that the cache represents. It's your website, it's your work - protect it from page jackers and snoopers. Atleast if it is on your site, you control the content should the need arise.

There is no problem what so ever in using the noarchive tag.

>may have had too much duplicate content

Google figures out dupe content just fine. All it does is lower the pr of the page that it finds second - no problem. Quite handy to use to your benefit actually.

><meta name="robots" content="index,follow,noarchive">

Is there a reason to believe google supports that form of construct? I've not seen it on google.com anywhere. It may be thinking you are telling it to stay away. We have no idea how the error recovery of the bot works.

[mayor]

Brett >> Never build any page anywhere on the internet that doesn't include the noarchive tag

There was a time when I would have agreed with you 100%, and I had the noarchive tag on every page. But when my flagship site got the boot, I had to rethink every possible thing that could have "offended" the search engines, and the no-archive tag was added to my suspect list, especially after seeing a Googleguy post saying something to the effect that the tag was used mostly by cloakers (whom they dislike).

I don't subscribe to open copywrite violations, but I'm too small to take Google to court about it. I'll have to wait until some big fish gets hungry enough to do that.