What's the best way for SEO newbie to analyze & fix a site after being hit by Panda?

[48dayscoach]

Hi,

I have a prospective client who was in the top 3 on Google for two of their primary keywords. They fell way back in the rankings immediately after Panda was rolled out on September 27, 2012. Two weeks ago, they were at position #118 for one keyword. After looking for them in Rank Checker today, they cannot be found in Google at all.

Here's my question. Because of the "bad links" (some pointing to Porno sites)... what's the possibility that this situation cannot be fixed?

I don't know... maybe I'm asking an irrelevant question. I'm attempting to assess the situation so I can go back and present my findings to the prospective client. I'm committed to understanding what's going on with their website so I can assess the situation properly.

Fixing their problem starts with a correct assessment.

They have a ranking problem, and I know I can fix that... IF all their site needs is white hat <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">SEO</acronym>.

What I DON'T want is... to sell them <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">SEO</acronym> services, only to find out in 3-6 months... I made an incorrect diagnosis of the problem, and therefore sold them the wrong solution. I know I can close the sale if I can show them with reasonable substantiation that the damage is not beyond repair.

I'm familiar with the basics of <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">SEO</acronym>, but I'm unfamiliar with how "bad linking" might effect the long-term commitment to optimizing. They're wondering if they should start over on another website. I was attempting to do an assessment to better understand if my typical approach on this site would be sufficient. Also... I wanted to get an assessment/report to show them something to substantiate my conclusion(s) about their website.

If Open Site Explorer is sufficient to do the link analysis... great. At least I know I'm working with the right tool. All I have to do is learn how to use the tool quickly. At this point... I'm not sure which tool would be helpful.

So... can you speak to the following 2 questions:

1.) How do you know when  ranking problem is beyond fixing?

2.) What software/tool is ideal for doing some link analysis in order to assess the problem, and prescribe a solution?

Thanks so much!

Ramon

[48dayscoach]

Thank you for your reply.

Ramon

[48dayscoach]

Thanks Dave... your post is very helpful.

Ramon

[48dayscoach]

Great point/question Chris. I was referred to them by a CPA whom I helped with his SEO. He had a most basic issue, and began to see immediate improvements. It made the introduction a no-brainer for him.

Chris... I appreciate your candor.

Ramon

[EGOL]

Your first step is to understand ... "What is Panda?".  "What is Penguin?"

Go learn that, be able to explain it exceptionally well, then come back here and ask questions.

You need to understand the basics before you can fix another person's website.

[Chris.Menke]

I'll tell you, I have to wonder why a company with such a major problem is requesting that a "newbie" fix it for them. Nothing against you, Ramon, but my first thought is that they're hoping to get someone to spend a bunch of time on it for cheap, which could have been what got them in trouble in the first place.

If they're coming to you for advice and they know you're new to SEO, be up front with them and say your best  advise is that they move all the content (minus any low quality outbound links) to a new domain and start over. I wouldn't even redirect the old site to the new one.  Unless they're going to pay you well for all the time your going to take learning everything you need to learn to make a serious effort at solving a difficult problem such as this, cut to the chase and see what they say.

If they go for  that, then you can spend your time fixing the problems you know you can fix and help them build a better link profile.  That's my two cents.

[EvolveCreative]

Hi Ramon,

This is a very difficult question to answer. Before I even try to answer it I'd like to point out the following:

The first Panda filter came out on Feb 25, 2011. On Feb 24, 2012 Search Engine Round Table published a survey asking how many webmasters recovered from the filter one year later. The survey can be found here. As you can see, not many were able to recover from the filter even one year later. This is by no means a conclusive study, but it's really the best we have.

To answer your questions:

1. In my opinion, it's beyond fixing if you lose rankings and you did NOT receive a warning from Google. If you received a warning consider yourself lucky. Follow Google's instructions and use a service like linkdelete.com to get the bad backlinks removed (or just do it yourself).

2. Open Site Explorer works great for identifying bad backlinks. Go through the list of exact match keyword anchor texts and you'll be off to a good start.

Finally, I'd like to plug my post on this subject:

How-To Recover From Google Penalties & Filters

It's a long one, but I include several pictures and examples to make this process easier for folks in your situation.

Good luck!