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Wow, Google sure has been on a tear lately, haven't they? Blog networks deindexed, Panda slaps, "love notes" sent to webmasters via Google Webmaster tools, rankings tanking..... and on and on.

So, what's going on? What are some things you need to know?

First off, R-E-L-A-X, ok?

I know it FEELS as if Google is our boss, or the law, or whatever when you work online, but they're not.

Let's talk about some of the things going on lately.

About all the blog networks getting de-indexed...

Google has always passed very little link juice/ranking power from links within blog network posts. That's why it took SO many of them to make a dent in your rankings.

Thing is, Google didn't have the resource power to actually send a program out into the Wild Wild Web and de-index all those sites that had a certain footprint to them.

A footprint? Yes, Google tries to do as much as they can algorithmically. It doesn't take much for manual reviewers to pick up on some tell-tale footprints and then the Google algo guys put them into their algo. It's how Google works.

So Google has been collecting these "footprints" of blog networks and finally got the resource power to deploy an "algo" to go out there and get 'em so they can get that junk out of their index.

Also, it kinda is a "tell" that these kinds of links DO work to manipulate rankings in Google, but the keyword is "manipulate" - and that is a no-no with Google.

What Does This Mean To You?

If the majority of the back links to your site(s) were from these types of public blog networks that are now getting de-indexed by Google, you can expect your rankings to drop.

Why?

Because you are losing links. Lost links almost always means lost rankings - especially when those links were the only "power" behind your rankings.

To regain your rankings, you will need to regain links - just don't go the public blog network route to get them (or spammy forum profile links and junk like that). If those rankings really meant something to you and/or your bottom line, you're just gonna have to dig in and get back to work.

What About the "We Found Unnatural Links To Your Site" Message from Google Webmaster Tools?

First off, this message is a warning - not a death sentence.

Google sent out over 700,000 of these "love notes" in the first part of 2012 (yes, seven hundred THOUSAND of them). That's more than they sent out 2010 and 2011 combined.

On one hand, it's good that they're sending these warnings. It's like Google giving you a 'Heads Up' that they are seeing funky stuff going on with your back links so you better be careful.

On the other hand, it's like a 'witch hunt', in my opinion.

Google is trying to get webmasters to tell on their selves. Tell WHO and WHERE they got those links as they beg for mercy and promise to never ever do it again. And yes, you pretty much have to do that when you file a reconsideration request - AND do the best you can to REMOVE those links IF you can figure out which are the "bad" links AND get the site owner to remove them.

Good luck with that if you used some public and popular blog network.

Should I File A Reconsideration Request?

This is a tough one to answer since every situation is different.

However, based on all the folks that have contacted me via Twitter and forum posts, etc, asking my input, I would say that 85-95% of folks that got a 'love note" from Google should NOT file a reconsideration request.

I have had SO many people come to me and say, "I didn't do anything wrong!! All my link building was totally White Hat!!!"

Two things about that:

1) NO link building is considered 'White Hat'. If you build a link with even the hope that it will improve your ranking in Google, it's not totally White Hat.

2) Once I really dug into these sites that people asked me for help with, it was clear that there WERE link networks used at one time, and/or forum profiles or automated comment spam. Even if it was done YEARS ago, that is enough to trigger that 'love note' from Google.

So for most that I've come across, the best idea is to NOT get Google involved any more than absolutely necessary. Get to work building GOOD back links that will, in time, dilute your cr@p links and improve your back link profile.

Remember also, many of these network links are falling out of Google - meaning you are naturally losing these links as each day passes.

Yes, this means your ranking will drop too, but it makes it a bit easier to make a junk back link profile look better in less time.

Was My Site Penalized For Those Links?

If you can't find your site when you do a site:YourDomainName.com search in Google - yep, you can count on the fact that you got the worst penalty of all - your entire site got de-indexed.

Now, total de-indexing is rarely due to ONLY bad back links - it is usually something you did ON your site that violates Google's webmaster guidelines.

It's hard to get a de-indexed domain BACK into Google so you might want to take your loss and move on.

However, you might be suffering from some of your main keywords taking a big dive in Google. For example, you used to always rank somewhere on Page 1 and now your somewhere in the 50's or worse.

That most likely is a -50 penalty (or some sort of penalty). It could be caused by an overly high ratio of keyword anchor text links to your page/site - or it could be another type of penalty. If it's an algo penalty, it will correct itself when you undo what caused it.

If it's a manual penalty, it is time-based. For the most part, these manual penalties are issued by a real live human being who reviews your site and puts you in "time out" for 30,60,90 days or so.

These "time" penalties usually fall off on their own as long as you don't make things worse.

It Seems Like My Entire Site Won't Rank For ANYTHING Anymore!

Right now, a LOT of site owners are feeling that pain when their site just tanks and won't rank for any good keywords anymore.

This most likely is a Panda Penalty.

Panda was released on March 23rd and of all the query spaces I watch and keep an eye on, it seems the damage to rankings occured the 24th-25th of March from this Panda run.

I watch TONS of query spaces and not just ONE site for a keyword search, but the top 20 or 30 so I can SEE what happens in the BIG picture when Google makes changes. These aren't even keywords that I work on either....

I am seeing ranking graphs like this one below ALL over all the spaces I keep an eye on:

There is only ONE WAY out of a Panda Penalty. Fix the issues that caused the slap in the first place and then wait for Panda to be run again and if all is good, the 'slap' will be removed from your site.

Panda is run about every 4-5 weeks. So far, the schedule this year has been:

Jan 18th

Feb 28th

March 23rd

Problem is, figuring out WHAT caused it can be quite challenging.

For the most part, thin affiliate sites that are almost completely "Self serving" are sites that are really getting it. Other than that, there is no "one size fits all" fix for Panda. You'll have to look at the sites in your keyword query space that ARE still ranking well, see what they're doing that you're not....and take it from there.

Last But Not Least

I said this in Live Chat today, but I feel it bears repeating.

With all these thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of network sites being de-indexed, we are going to find a lot of them hitting the market place in the next months and years.

BE CAREFUL when buying an expired domain name. In fact, be careful when buying ANY domain name for the time being. Just because the name you want is available to buy does NOT mean it was never used (and abused) before.

Buying a penalized domain name is no fun. Yes, you MIGHT be able to tell Google via a reconsideration request that you just bought the domain and get some mercy from them, but who wants to deal with all that?

Any questions? Ask away!

Jennifer

~PotPieGirl