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Does Google ever forgive a penalized website?
Getting high rankings on Google is so important for the
success of a website that some webmasters try anything to
get on Google's first result page.
Unfortunately, many of the methods that promise high search
engine rankings are basically spam. Google doesn't like spam
at all and if Google finds out that your website contains
spam elements, your website will be penalized.
Which web page elements are cosidered spam by Google?
Google considers quite a few things as spam. The most
popular ones are automatically generated doorway pages,
cloaking and false redirects, keyword stuffing, hidden
text or hidden links, paid links and automated linking
systems.
What does Google do to penalize websites?
When Google penalizes a website, the website will either
be removed completely from the index or the positions of
a website in the search results will be lowered.
Does Google ever forgive a penalized website?
In a discussion in
an online forum, webmasters shared their experience with
re-inclusion requests on Google. One webmaster reported
that it took over one year until a website had its old
rankings back:
"One of my clients was completely banned from Google
for a spammy link exchange program; we cleaned 'em all
up and filed a reinclusion request, and they are currently
#1-3 for just about every relevant search phrase you
could think of.
They're ranking higher now than they ever did before
the penalty - but it did take about a year to work their
way up to that point."
Another webmaster confirmed that it takes long until Google
re-gains trust in a website:
"That's what I've seen, too. A long, slow release
from 'probation' as trust builds.
I do think Google always has a record of the past
penalty somewhere, and any future infractions might be
dealt with quite harshly. But you definitely can see
a site get completely released from the ranking effects
of a penalty."
It's very likely that Google keeps a record of all previous
penalties that have been applied to a website.
What does this mean for your website?
You should avoid shady SEO methods at all costs. Do not
participate in automated linking schemes. If someone promises
you a quick and easy solution that requires no or little
work then it is very likely that it's spam.
If your website has been penalized, remove all spam elements
from your website and file a re-inclusion request on
Google.
It seems that Google does forgive penalized websites but
it takes a long time until a penalized site has its rankings
back. During that time, you'll lose a lot of visitors and
sales.
If you want to be on the safe side, only use ethical
search engine optimization methods to promote your
website. These methods might not sound as impressive as
some of the promises that you can read on the Internet
but they make sure that your website will get lasting
results on Google's first result page.
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