What Happens When Your SEO Goes Wrong?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Saturday, 5 of July , 2008 at 8:31 pm

There are times when an individuals search engine optimization techniques actually end up doing more damage than good, to the point that search engines like Google remove the site from the index altogether. When this happens, what can you do?

Identifying the problem:
If you feel your web site may be in difficulties your first step should be to do a search on your websites URL. Even the most search engine optimization program will see your URL returned in the search results fairly quickly. Enter the URL in inverted commas, “yourwebsite.com”. If the results show not found when it has been found in the past, you know your site has been removed.

Find out why:
The Google WebmasterCentral Blog has a good step by step guide. If you have Google Analytics activated, go to your Webmaster Tools center and check for any problems. You can also check the Message Center to see if there are any messages.

If everything appears ok, check your own activities, have you used any search engine optimization techniques that may be considered black or, at worst, grey. If so, reverse them.

Advise Google:
Once you rectified any problems, you can go to your Webmaster Tools and send a “Request reconsideration” notice. Follow the prompts and submit to Google. You need to ensure your search engine optimization activities are in compliance with Google’s policies, otherwise they will instantly reject your request.

Don’t hold your breath. It can take several weeks, sometimes longer, before they look at your site and restore it. While waiting, continue your normal activities including your search engine optimization program. Once your site is restored, try to avoid future problems by following effective search engine optimization techniques that fall within the guidelines of all the search engines.

Category: SEO

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