Hi,

I recently took over the job over webmaster at http://www.xl-import.com (English site at http://www.xl-import.com/eng/ ) and I've been looking into getting higher search results ranking in google for "t-shirts" keyword or variations (or just any rank actually), 'cause our site isn't currently in the search results for that word.
But I haven't been able to find an answer to this question:
Can a site get banned - not from the index - but from the search results for specific keywords?
The previous webmaster had used the same keyword A LOT on the site, could that affect the search results?

A site can get penalized if it is employing spam techniques while still remaining in the index. Or in your case it may be that Google has decided that other sites are more relevant for the phrase "t-shirts" then yours. That is a very competitive keyword.

Yes, I'm aware that a site can get penalized for spamming. Earlier on the use of the "t-shirt" keyword WAS excessive, but no other techniques that - to the best of my knowledge - would be considered spamming was used on the site.
Do you have to submit a reinclusion request if a penalty for spamming is still effective, or does that pass at some point?
...and sure, it's a competitive keyword...but being excluded from the SERP all together...that's a bit harsh, don't you think... :confused:

If there is spam on a site, it may be that once the spam is removed, the penalty will be automatically lifted because the only reason it was penalized in the first place was due to a filter in the algorithm.

Typically reinclusion requests are only needed if a site has actually been removed from the index.

Ok...that's what I thought. Thanx, David.

BTW, do you (or anyone else) have an opinion about or experience with the analysis tool at the-search-engine-optimizer.com (http://www.the-search-engine-optimizer.com/cgi-bin/bot.pl) ?
Is this useful in any way?