How to get a reply from Google re:Serps

[Andyase]

Hello all
I have just joined this forum and hope someone can help...

I have a website its been registered for just over a year. I was developing and testing until late April and it was doing ok in the serps for certain keywords.
In late April I tidied up the site i.e removed test items from database, changed the colours around to make the site look nice. Then I re did the sitemap and in webmaster tools renewed it. In Early May all my keywords disapeared from serps completely, I was page 4-8 then not even on the last page.
I waited a few weeks thinking it would right itself, when it did not I started to ask for advice on forums and made a few changes. I have made 3 lots of changes and re-submitted the site in webmaster tools 3 times.
I asked in the submission forms if there was anything I have done wrong on the site so that I could change it, I have not had any replies via webmaster tools and cannot seem to find any way to get in touch with Google regarding this.
The website is being visted thousands of times per month by Google, Yahoo etc and I have lots of pages indexed in all SE's.
I have a few keywords in Serps but nothing of any value, they seem to appear and then disapear at random. The keywords that completely disapeared are still missing as far as I can see.

If any one could let me know me how to contact Google of give any advice I would by very gratefull.

Kind regards to all.

[AussieWebmaster]

Do you have a copy of the original site backed up some where? I would go back to it and then just do the color changes through a CSS file

[Andyase]

Hi Aussie webmaster

I do not have a backup of the original...

I think looking by the amount of views of this post, a lot of people would like to talk to Google. I think I should have made the Title a little clearer. 4000+ views in one day and only one reply :)

Regards

[jimbeetle]

The best way to talk with the folks at Google is through its Webmaster Help Group (http://groups.google.com/group/Google_Webmaster_Help). Post a question there and somebody should stop by to help you out. Alternatively, attend a conference that you know Googlers will be at; they're usually very approachable and helpful. (Hint: look for the guy holding a can of Sprite.)

Getting back to the problem in your original post it looks like you might have taken some bad advice. If the site started out somewhat good positioning in the results, then dropped down, well, that's basically normal for Google. New sites get what's generally called a "freshboost," a bump up in the SERPs from where they would normally be ranked. The general theory -- and this is just supposition -- is that Google wants to see what interest a new site gets from its users and how it performs. After a period of time the "freshboost" is gone and the site is ranked where it naturally should be.

The only advice you really should have been given -- instead of making "3 lots of changes" and playing with you site map -- was to do everything you could to increase links from other sites to pages on your site. Backlinks are crucial to getting into and staying in the index and PageRank, determined by backlinks, is still an important part of the indexing and ranking algorithms.

Basically, what it all boils down to for new sites (if they are at least somewhat solidly built from the git go), is a waiting game as their backlink profiles mature. Repeated changes will only tend to confuse the search engines.

[Portran]

Hi Andy

jimbeetle is right, you can't contact Google and may have inflicted damage on yourself with the attempts so far.

The prime practical problem with your site is the url structure, which courses significant duplication in indexing, such as:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK242&q=site:holidayhomelistings.com&start=300&sa=N&filter=0
Which are files that could be robot excluded anyway but there are more pertinent cases, relating to core pages. You need to take control of your url structure and make decisions on what you really want indexed.

Beyond that, you have created a problem for yourself, or made things worse. A possible cause of your rise and fall in the SERPs lies in the inbound link base you manufactured. This is based on self entered blog comments and forum posts, which might have held up for a while but were discounted, which is why your ranking situation changed. Not neccessarily penalised as such, just the links discounted, which gives the same impression.

Despite rumours, Google do not not algorithmically penalise sites for inbound links, or we could all screw our competitors very quickly. However, you applied for reinclusion, which warranted a human review. If in that review, the human conclusion was that you had patently gone down the road of spamming links yourself, which you have, then that's a problem. You might say "how can anyone tell the difference, I could still do this to a competitor" Well, that's a judgement call and in your case, the judgement is all too easy. I'm not condemning you, you made a choice but that was a bad choice and you have paid the price.

So, apart from sorting out your core indexing, you need to take care of a more onerous task, removing all the links you planted. Be careful in your travels, several of your links, such as the one on blog.sendtraffic.com, are on malware sites. Add anything else you can think of that isn't absolutely squeaky clean, then file another reinclusion request. Admit what you did and detail the steps you took to rectify this, whether you like the idea or not, a good time to be humble.

[Portran]

Hi Again Andy

Had a brief rip through your site, to avoid having missed anything obvious and saw your links page i.e. the reciprocal obligation. Doesn't matter how many million other sites are doing this, it's against Google guidelines, so will need to go.

[Andyase]

Portran

Thanks for the reply

The first thing is I did not do much of the actual programming myself, so regarding the URL structure, when you say "core index" do you mean the links such as members/stat_page.php?cmsid=8? the bit on the end (?cmsid=8)relates to the CMS (content management system) item that I can edit in the back office to update that page.

As for the links, I admit I have added posts to a few blogs and forums, I did not realise any of these might be "malware sites"...I also added articles to online article directories! is this also wrong? I mean how does anyone get noticed at all if their websites are not advertised in some way?

And what about swapping links with other sites? is this also wrong?

I am asking these questions as I do not know the answer, does anyone? I mean Google say paying for links is a no no, what about adwords? if thats not paying for a page one link...

Sites that I am trying to emulate have thousands of links that they have no doubt added in a similar fashion.

A big problem for me is every time I ask for advice I get a different answer and don't know what to do for the best. This website has cost me a lot of money to set up and I am about ready to just scrap it, if I don't know what is wrong I am never going to fix it! I could keep trying different things for ever and still never know whats wrong.

Regards.

PS: if anyone fron Google reads this, please just tell me whats wrong through webmaster tools/email.

[Portran]

" PS: if anyone fron Google reads this, please just tell me whats wrong through webmaster tools/email."

That isn't likely to happen Andy.

" And what about swapping links with other sites? is this also wrong?"

Strictly speaking, yes. This is not a link given by free editorial decision, there is a price and your site is now in a position where that will be noted.

I'm not going to get into sorting out your CMS/URL situation Andy, that's impossible from here. If you want your site to really do well, you need to carry out as much research as is required. Do bear in mind though, a partial solution is simply to choose not to have sections of your site indexed at all. Nothing wrong with that, x1000 pages in the index are meaningless if they are weak/close to duplication. If need be, you may have to hire someone for a day who is really hot on your CMS but that definitely wouldn't be me.

As to the main question, the content of my post is there for you to read, up to you what you do. No cost to put that right, just a lot of work.

[Andyase]

" PS: if anyone fron Google reads this, please just tell me whats wrong through webmaster tools/email."

That isn't likely to happen Andy. - Yes I know

"I'm not going to get into sorting out your CMS/URL situation Andy"

I was just asking if that was what you meant, I was not asking for you to fix it. There are only around 10 pages using CMS.

-------------------------------------------------

Does anyone know why the keywords I am aiming for have disapeared but I still do have some keywords in the first few pages of Google serps? Can certain keywords be penalised?

Can anyone say whether I would better to just get a different domain name so that there are no links to my site? then the site would be classed as new, right?

Thanks

[jimbeetle]

Can anyone say whether I would better to just get a different domain name
There you go wanting to change things again. ;-)

I think the best advice right now is:

Stop.
Take a deep breath.
Carefully reread what's been suggested here.
Research and formulate a plan to fix any problems.
Come back and ask any specific questions with which you need help.
Read, read, read. Find out how Google works. A good place to start is the Official Google Blog (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/). You might want to pay particular attention to the search (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/search/label/search), search quality (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/search/label/search%20quality) and personlization (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/search/label/personalization) labels. Then move on to some of the other blogs listed on its blogroll.

Above all, be patient.