Algorithmically penalized site

[jeremyskillings]

I have been doing SEO for years, but luckily have never had a client penalized or had to go through that.  I see everyone talking about it at conferences and know the absolute basics of recovery, but just had someone come to me that was algorithmically penalized about two years ago.  They have no actual data to show me a date and they couldn't tell me a specific date.  According to them, their SEO disappeared and wouldn't give them access to the analytics.  They are definitely showing just about every red flag with anchor tags and low trust links and tons of duplicate content.  Just about everything.  I realize you don't have the deep data to go by, but are there cases when it is just better to start over from scratch. They have literally thousands of bad links and strange site pages that they say they weren't even aware of. Whether they were or not I guess isn't the point now, but I have heard rumors that if you start over, Google will still figure it out and follow you with the penalty.  Is this true or documented?  Don't want to potentially recommend that if that is something that generally happens to bad offenders.  Happy to do the work and try to resolve their issues, but it is a lot of work and is going to be expensive and want to present other options.  Thanks and any thoughts suggestions are appreciated.

[jeremyskillings]

No problem. You were just trying to help.  Appreciate it.

[TheZenAgency]

sorry my bad man, should have read the full question!

[jeremyskillings]

Thanks.  unfortunately they don't have access to their analytics from that time period.

[TheZenAgency]

If you have access to the analytics i would recommend checking out the Panguin Tool

You can line up your analytics with any updates in Google algorithms, very easy to spot any drop off points

[jeremyskillings]

Thank you!

[TimHolmes]

You might be able to see some peaks and troughs in the graphs over at SEMRush. They may not be 100% accurate, but will hopefully demonstrate the timing for when things changed. This will then help you to correlate with which algo updates you were most likely affected.

However based on the info you originally gave and the practices that were originaly undertaken, it would not suprise me if you have been hit with pretty much everything.

Good luck with the recovery. Time and effort will in time see a reward.

[jeremyskillings]

Thanks.  I may dig in to that.  Initial consult was to tell them if they had been penalized, which seems clear.  Will dig deeper with some of these tools if they decide to move forward and try to fix it.  Trying to give them a list of options.

Thanks again.

[jeremyskillings]

Thanks.  Great tip.  They have tons of those spammy anchor text links from the same subnets, etc.  Definitely will start there, though that is the majority, and move on down from there.  Initial consult was just to tell them if they have been penalized.  That seems clear.  I think they knew that.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi Jeremy

I understand - that can definitely be an issue. Have you looked into SEMRush? You can line up historical data to see where traffic and rankings began to fall and pinpoint it from there.

That will definitely help out a bit! Let me know!

[jeremyskillings]

Thanks Patrick.  Appreciate it. Just kind of wanted to verify what I originally thought.  They are a mess.  Though I don't have the historical data to see the specific update that got them, from what I've seen just scratching the surface, they were a candidate for just about every update getting them.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

No problem at all Jeremy.

With the links, concentrate on those with spammy do-follow anchor text first and remember to disavow from a domain level if you think that there is a chance more will be added from that source in the future. Saves a lot of heartache further down the line.

-Andy

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

Do you have any access to Analytics or Webmaster Tools? Reason being, you can line up traffic / ranking drops to algorithm history and go from there.

I would definitely go through a backlink audit and remove & disavow bad backlinks.

As far as redirecting a site, there are differing opinions. Google says it likely won't be negatively affected but then say it might, so there's really no straight answer. I always assume it will.

The best option in my opinion is to assess what data you do have and ask what's the best course of action. I personally would start removing backlinks, make sure the on-site SEO is on point, do a content audit, and start benchmarking traffic / rankings - also, make sure you are annotating analytics.

Whether you attack the problem or start from scratch to build the brand, it's going to take time and money. I would just weigh the options with what data you have present.

Let me know if this helps - good luck!

[jeremyskillings]

Thanks Andy, Yes, I did mean a new site.  I really see very few good links on their profile, but it looks like disavowing them all, from what you are saying is likely their only option if it is going to follow them.  Just like to provide options other than paying me a lot of money to fix you, but that may be their only option, other than not ever relying on SEO again.  Though apparently, they have gone 2  years without it, so maybe that is an option. Thanks again. I very much appreciate it.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

are there cases when it is just better to start over from scratch.

I'm sure there are, but they will be very few and far between. In all these years of doing SEO, I haven't ever had to do this.

They have literally thousands of bad links and strange site pages that they say they weren't even aware of.

Spend a little time going over these and a disavow will take care of it. However, don't expect positive changes in days. Some take many months to update.

Google will still figure it out and follow you with the penalty

Do you mean build a new site to start again? Well if you have a Penguin hit, then this will follow you. Other penalties could be resolved by a rebuild / refresh of the site though as this will all be on-page.

-Andy