Website "penalized" 3 times by Google
-
I have a website that I'm working with that has had the misfortune of gaining rankings/traffic on Google, then having the rankings/traffic removed...3 times! (Very little was changed on the site to gain or lose "favor" with Google, either.)
Notes:
- Site is a mixture of high quality original content and duplicate content (vacation rental listings)
- When traffic crashes, we lose nearly all rankings and traffic (90+%)
- When traffic crashes, we lose all rankings sitewide, including those gained by our high quality, unique pages
- None of the "crash" dates appear to coincide with any Panda update dates
- We are working on adding unique content to our pages with duplicate content, but it's a long process and so far doesn't seem to have made any difference
- I'm confounded why Google keeps "changing its mind" about our site
- We have an XML sitemap, and Google keeps our site indexed pretty well, even when we lose our rankings
- Due to the drastic and sitewide loss of rankings, I'm assuming we are dealing with some sort of algorithmic penalty
Timeline:
- Traffic steadily grows starting in Jan 2011
- Traffic crashes on Feb 19, 2011. We assumed it was due to a pre-panda anti-scraper update, but don't know.
- Google sends traffic to our site on March 1, then none the next day
- On June 16th, I block part of the site using robots.txt (most of the section wasn't indexed anyway)
- On June 17th, Google starts ranking our site again. I thought it might be due to the robots.txt change, but I had just made the change a few hours ago, and Google wasn't even indexing the part of the site I blocked
- Traffic/rankings crash again on July 6th. No theory why.
Site URL: http://www.floridaisbest.com
Traffic Stats: Attached
I know that we need more backlinks and less duplicate content, but I can't explain why our Google rankings are "on again, off again". I have never seen a site gain and lose all of its rankings/traffic so drastically multiple times, for no apparent reason.
Any thoughts or ideas would be welcome. Thanks!
-
Good to hear. Hope your site doesn't bounce back out of the index again.
-
Well, good news. I implemented a strategy based on the assumption that our site was just outside Google's duplicate content or quality guidelines. Our traffic rebounded yesterday!
-
I got a PM from another user who has a site with known duplicate content that was also penalized on July 6th. To my mind, that is further evidence that our site is suffering from algorithmic penalties due to duplicate content.
-
My apologies. I included a space.
site: http://www.floridaisbest.com (a space after the colon) shows this article as the first result, and the site not indexed
site:http://www.floridaisbest.com shows the site correctly indexed.
-
Site appears to be well indexed to me. You get no results for a site: search?
-
Hi Adam.
I looked at your home page and robots.txt file. All seemed ok. I confirmed the site is not indexed with Google. My next thought went to external links.
On the home page there is a "Travel Search" block. Those links don't work and cause my browser to hang. I tried a couple times and from different pc's using different browsers. I would suggest investigating the issue as it could be related.
-
-
Traffic from Yahoo/Bing is nearly non-existent.
-
Yes, nothing abnormal there.
-
No bought links.
-
No downtime that I know of.
-
-
No answers for you at the moment, but a couple of more questions.
-
Is there anything at all similar happening in Yahoo/Bing, or has their traffic been normal this whole time?
-
Have you checked Google Webmaster Tools for any notices from Google about possible penalties or hacking of your site?
-
Anyone in the company tried to "help" by buying links?
-
Any downtime with servers?
-
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Birthday Update - noticeable industries?
Anybody see anything specific around which sites are seeing upswing from birthday update? We saw a lot of rankings drop, most drastic in terms that are more loosely associated with our offerings but also seeing more sites with higher DA taking a spot or two above and some more images in top spots for ecommerce terms that you might not usually think to click images to view. For a lot of these terms we're sure our conversion is better, and we offer to more of the search query intent, than some of the competitor sites that have taken top spots - even Amazon and staples who I'm guessing will move back down after google sees people leaving their site to find what they are looking for (hopefully).
Algorithm Updates | | david-johns-sheetlabels1 -
How do you get a url to show as a tagline in google mobile search?
When searching in google via mobile, I am seeing urls changed to taglines. I have attached pictures that show the url in a web search, but a tag line from the mobile search. Does anyone know how to get a tagline to show in place of a url in a mobile search? Any advice would be appreciated! uLkYWRx.png wljXRI3.png
Algorithm Updates | | David-Kley0 -
A Google Update Happened?
I'm curious to know what us MOZ folks have to say about an update on Google. Article here: http://searchengineland.com/big-google-search-update-happening-chatter-thinks-258142 Any ideas?
Algorithm Updates | | Chenzo0 -
Google & Tabbed Content
Hi I wondered if anyone had a case study or more info on how Google treats content under tabs? We have an ecommerce site & I know it is common to put product content under tabs, but will Google ignore this? Becky
Algorithm Updates | | BeckyKey1 -
Getting Listed in Google Places
How do I get listed in Google Places if I don't have a physical address? EG: I am a medical health insurance company in Colo Springs, Colorado, but service 20 cities? What is the best procedure? Getting a mailbox at Mailboxes, etc. or UPS Store?
Algorithm Updates | | GregWalt0 -
Google site links on sub pages
Hi all Had a look for info on this one but couldn't find much. I know these days that if you have a decent domain good will often automatically put site links on for your home if someone searches for your company name, however has anyone seen these links appear for sub pages? For example, lets say I had a .com domain with /en /fr /de sub folders, each seoed for their location. If I were to then have domain.com/en/ as no1 in Google for my company in the UK would I be able to get site links under this or does it only work on the 'proper' homepage domain.com/ A client of mine wants to reorganise their website so they have different location sections ranking in different markets but they also want to keep having sitewide links as they like the look of it Thanks Carl
Algorithm Updates | | Grumpy_Carl0 -
Are multiple domains for my website hurting my Google ranking?
Hello, I currently have two domains showing up in google search: shwoodshop.com shop.shwoodshop.com These domains are currently ranked in the #2 and #3 spot, however my page is much more trafficked than the current #1 ranking. I am wondering if the fact that I have two domains competing for the #1 spot is hurting my search ranking. If so, what is the best way to remedy this issue and get back my #1 spot? I'm rather new to SEO and teaching myself as I go, so I appreciate the feedback!
Algorithm Updates | | shwoodshop0 -
Will signing up for Google Places affect my national rankings
OK, Here is a question which I can't find but think people have thought about. I would like to know others opinion. I have had a site that ranks well under generic national keyword terms. (not geographically specific) Its a small website, only 10 pages. We get 85% of our business from online applications. These applications come from all over the united states.Our SERP rankings generate 70% of all our traffic. My question is this: we operate in a state where we don't do business. We are a virtual business. Should I sign up for google places? Will It hurt my national SERP rankings?
Algorithm Updates | | FidelityOne0