How To Determine If Your Site Is Banned In Google

Reader question: I think my site has been banned ingoogle. It used to have all of these top positions for the past threeyears, and it suddenly disappeared. Can you help?

Answer: In Part 1of this article, I went over the differences between being spidered,indexed, and ranked in the search engines. This information isimportant when you determine if your site has been banned in Google. InPart 2, I will go over the 8-step process I use to check for searchengine penalties.

Step 1: Check log files or Web analytics reports for search engine activity.

Instead of relying on positioning software to determine whetheror not a site is banned in Google, review your log files or Webanalytics reports to see if Googlebot is actually crawling your site.Staff with advanced technical skills can review log files; lesstechnical staff can review Web analytics reports.

If you notice a significant drop in Google crawling, it can mean one of two things:

1. Site has been banned, or

2. Google has difficulty crawling your site due to technical reasons.

Step 2: Check index count.

A site's index count is the number of pages that are includedin a search engine index. A page cannot rank unless it is included inthe search engine index.

One way to check the index count in Google is to perform the following search:

site:yourdomain.com yourdomain.com

If your site is included in the Google index, it has not beenbanned. However, if your site has an index count of zero, it is astrong indication that your site might be banned.

Step 3: Check link count.

A site's link count is the number and quality of links pointingto a Web site. Link development is actually a more complex process thanit seems. But for the purposes of this process, all we are concernedwith is the actual number of links to your site that Google can find.

Whenever you do a link count on Google, remember that it isdone on a per URL basis. In other words, you will have a link countnumber to your home page, a different link count number to anindividual category page, and so on and so forth. Since most sites tendto have the highest link count to their home pages, then getting ahome-page link count is probably all you will need to do.

In Google, getting a link count is very simple:

link:www.yourdomain.com

If there are links to your site in the Google index, your sitehas not been banned. However, if your site has a link count of zero, itis a very strong indication that your site might be banned.

Step 4: Review and fix possible technical issues.

If your site's index count is low and Google is finding linksto your site, then the site might not be banned. Google might have adifficult time crawling your site due to technical issues. Items toreview include:

· URL structure

· Robots exclusion protocol

· Server redirects which are improperly formatted

· Site navigation scheme(s)

· Poor cross-linking

· Password protection

Technical issues often arise after a site redesign and serverchanges. For those of you about to redesign your site, especially ifyou are going from a static to a database-driven site, make sure youbring in a professional search engine marketer early in the designprocess to ensure that your design/development team isn't doingsomething to prevent the search engines from crawling your site.

Also, Google has technical issues from time to time. I call ita search engine hiccup. Usually, the technical glitch is resolvedwithin a month.

Step 5: Resubmit and monitor.

After fixing all possible technical issues, resubmit your site to Google at Google.com Add Url.I generally submit the home page and site map (as a back-up). Googleshould be able to crawl your entire site from your home page.

You don't have to resubmit your site to be included in theGoogle index if Google were able to find high-quality links to yoursite. People just like the security of being able to submit.

After resubmission, review your log files and Web analyticsreports. You should see more Google activity once technical issues arefixed. However, if you see little or no Google activity, then it is avery strong indication that your site has been banned.

Step 6: Review spam penalty checklist.

To review, your site has probably been banned in Google if you see the following:

1. Log files/Web analytics reports indicate that Google is no longer crawling your site.

2. Index count is zero.

3. Link count is zero.

4. No technical issues exist that prevent Google from crawling your site.

Step 7: Review Google guidelines, terms, and conditions.

If Google has penalized your site, you will have to changeeverything that violates their terms and conditions. You can reviewtheir Webmaster Guidelines at Google.com Webmasters Guidelines and general Webmaster Info at Google.com Webmasters.

All too often, unsuspecting Web site owners have hired a searchengine marketing firm that spams the search engines. With Google, it iscommon to find free-for-all link farms, doorway pages and domains, andcloaking.

In order to get your site unbanned, you will have to find theexact issue (or issues) that violates Google's terms and conditions.You will have to send this information in an email to Google when youask to be let back into their index.

Step 8: Email Google, resubmit, and monitor.

For the sake of this article, let's assume that the spamproblem is a doorway domain that gets link popularity through a linkfarm. When you send an email to Google at help@google.com, make sure you include the following information in the email:

· The domain that you believe has been banned.

· All of the contact information of the person in charge of that domain.

· The reasons why you believe the domain has been banned. (Hint: show Google that you've read their terms and guidelines).

· What you have done, specifically, to change your site.

· If you hired a search engine marketing (SEM) firm, then youneed to give them the name and URLs of the SEM firm, the URLs of thedoorway pages, and at least a couple of links to the FFA link farm.

· An apology and a promise that it won't happen again.

In general, a Google software engineer will not directly replyto your request for re-inclusion. You will know if your site has beenaccepted back into the Google index by reviewing your log files and Webanalytics software for Google activity.

Conclusion

It must be rough to suddenly lose Google traffic after threeyears of search engine visibility. Maybe it was a Google hiccup. Maybethe site was redesigned. Maybe the competition has better qualitycontent and better link development. Or maybe the Web site owner hiredan SEM firm that spammed the search engines. Hopefully, this 8-stepprocess will help readers get on the right track.

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