Recovering from Google Penguin/algorithm penalty?

[xelaetaks]

Anyone think recovery is possible?

My site has been in Google limbo for the past 8 months to around a year or so.    Like a lot of sites we had seo work done a while sgo and had tons of links that Google now looks down on.

I worked with an seo company for a few months now and they seem to agree Penguin is the likely culprit, we are on page 8-10 for keywords that we used to be on page 1 for.  Our site is informative and has everything in tact.

We deleted whatever links possible and some sites are even hard to find contact information for and some sites want money, I paid a few a couple bucks in hopes maybe it could help the process.

Anyway we now have around 600 something domains on disavow file we  out up in March-April, with around 100 or 200 added recently as well.  If need be a new site could be an option as well but will wait and see if the site can improve on Google with a refresh.

Anyone think recovery is possible in a situation like this?

Thanks

[xelaetaks]

Thanks.  I'm hoping the next Penguin refresh shows improvement.  The consensus seems to be that to recover from a Penguin penalty is a matter of the refresh happens to see any changes.

[xelaetaks]

Yeah, on page seo wise I think we are good. My site blogs regularly about the niche area it's in and news related to it, also try to make it interesting, but yes seo wise I think it passes all the tests too - someone from Google's forums checked it out and thought it looked good seo wise as well as a online marketing company I just worked with that was trying to help my site out of any penalties.  They also ran some checks on competitors websites and their online tactics, etc.

Some of  the top rankings in our keyword is actually sites like Amazon and Office Depot - which might be a common trend now anyways.

For links the seo company did an analysis and  I also added whatever I found that looked like shady directories or anchor text heavy links.   I also checked out websites or ranks and if they came  on Google's searches when typing their name.  Anything questionable I disavowed as it seems now better safe than sorry with backlinks.

[xelaetaks]

Thanks for those links. I'm gonna take a look through them. I also thought about being followed by the penalty I guess it makes sense since technically Google may notice a site from the same ip and google accounts being linked between a new and old site, etc.   I guess basically if a penalty can be overcome that would be the ideal situation.

[GPainter]

Hi King,

there is no direct "yes that's normal and easy to fix" as each case is different.

You also do not need to wait for the next run in order to start fixing a site from a penalty. There is a lot of litriture about Moz of recovery from penguin etc. if you do a search.

Not that I put much faith in it but there are also "link detox" software's that can help but be careful with them as its very easy to disavow good links etc. its only an algorithm after all.

Side-note: I thought there might of been a refresh/update end of last week as there was a lot of movement and John Mueller hinted its coming soon in a recent video.

thanks

[Kingof5]

You guys couldn't just give him the direct answer he's looking for?

OP, recovery from Penguin is possible, but you need to wait until the Penguin algorithm is run again. In 2012 and 2013 it was run multiple times, but it has not been run in 2014. It was last run in October 2013. So keep your fingers crossed for a refresh and hope it improves your rankings. If you've done as much as you could to remove links and done a proper disavow file, you should come out looking better.

[David-Kley]

Something to remember with Google and backlinks: changes take time, sometimes months.

Recovery is possible, and I am sorry you are feeling desperate in your situation. The fact is you are doing the right thing by looking into the links of your site and getting rid of any ugly linking domains.

Outside of links, have you compared your seo (on and off page) to the top ranking sites in your industry? A lot of people say that their website is informative and has well done seo, but usually that is because they are so close to their own site to see any errors. (can't see the forest for the trees) Informative doesn't necessarily mean well-optimized.

I would do a competitive analysis along with your link removals. What I would not do is sit back idly by while waiting for Google to put your changes into effect. Be proactive while you wait, and when they do come around and see you have made positive changes in all areas of your site you might get your old ranking back.

Question: what methods did you use to determine what links were bad or harmful?

[GPainter]

Recovery is always possible. Remember starting a new site is hard and Google have paid it is possible for a penalty to follow you so might as well fix it now.  You shouldn't ever have to pay for a link removal if you do just add it to your disavow list no problem.

There are loads of goodl resources on moz take a look through Q&A e.g

http://moz.com/community/q/google-panda-and-penguin-recovery

There are also some great blog posts too e.g

http://moz.com/blog/how-wpmuorg-recovered-from-the-penguin-update

Also a shout out to Marie Haynes (she has some great knowledge on the subject too!)

I know its depressing but keep at it there is a light at the end of the tunnel, one last bit of advice whilst you are removing links don't forget that you also need to replenish the link juice afterwards as you will have a dip so have a strategy ready.

Good luck