Google manually adjusts results?

[bikeman]

I read somewhere that Google has been known to manually adjust search result placement for a domain for a 'considered' misdemeanor which doesn't warrant a ban.

Is there any truth to this? What can be done?

I think my site might be affected - we've been permanently dropped from 1st place for almost all our chosen keywords to about page 10. I've worked diligently over a number of months link building etc but our rank resolutely refuses to go back up.

[AussieWebmaster]

how long was it in the top position? did this drop happen after the Branding update? Do you have a lot of inbound links from non relevant sites or site wide links etc?

[bikeman]

The domain ranked top for about the past 5 years.

I doubt we have a lot of inbound links form non-relevant sites but I can't see this being relevant as it would be an easy way for one company to nobble another. I think google can't possibly see this negatively.

Of course there are a few internal links but no more than 1 or 2 per page.

[bikeman]

I shouls add that Google no longer shows our site links in it's results. And in web master central it now says that it has not generated any site links.

[bikeman]

We're now not in the first 50 pages for our preferred terms.

Site:www.domain.com still lists all pages so I guess we're not banned.

Do they manually adjust results? How can I find out if we've been 'adjusted' and why?

[patrick24601]

I don't think you will ever be able to get any info from G about this. You are at their mercy.

[maneetpuri]

Hello Bikeman,

I don't think that Google will manipulate search results manually because the kind of credibility it has in the market takes years to build and is more tough to maintain that credibility.

Another reason is that if Google does this manually then it will spoil its Adword Market which is the main source to get revenue.

There must be some problem on your site or your seo process so check it thoroughly, I am sure you can catch it.

If its possible for you to post your website address here or PM me then I can do it for you.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

[bikeman]

From a bit a research I understand it is common for Google to penalise a sites SERPs for misdemeanors which don't warrant an outright ban.

I believe my site has been penalised and so have submitted a reinclusion request to google. My request was acknowledged but there was no confirmation that we had been penalised or why.

My stats show that a google employee then visited the site and reviewed my home page and the links page for precisely 58 seconds!

This indepth review has not resulted in any futher communication from google or a change in my SERPs.

My sites url is in my profile, if anyone has any idea how exactly the site contravenes googles tos I'd appreciate some feedback.

Thanks

[JohnW]

>visited the site and reviewed my home page and the links page

Hmmm... you got a manual review and these are the pages they viewed, maybe that's a hint ;-)

I didn't really investigate your links page or look at your links but I did see the link to LinkMachine. Not sure if using LM is considered link farming, guess it depends what you do with it. I would start looking at your linking practices.

[jag]

Google your domain and check whether it is in index or not. Build quality and trusted inbound links for your keywords as anchor text and have updated information in your site. You can see the difference.

Best,

[maneetpuri]

Hi,

Do you regularly check your sitemap report for crawling errors?

That too can be a reason of your ranking problem.

[bikeman]

TO answer above Qs.

Have sitemap, there are no errors in web master central.

We have quite a few inbound links of chosen keywords - remember this site previously ranked very well.

Site is index'd.

I can't see why link machine would be a problem. It's just a tool to manage links it is not a link farm or anything dodgy.

I've been very careful to avoid recip links to dodgy sites but to be honest how can you tell if you link to a site that is penalized? Afterall my site is penalized and you'd never be able to tell - it is still index'd, it's serps for relevant keywords have just dropped through the floor.

[bikeman]

update - site was penalised by google. FOr what I don't know but I put in a re-inclusion request and it's now working it's way back up.

It's a great shame that google seems to allow all and sundry to benefit from duplicate content pages and doorways yet penalises a legitimate site without reason or explanation.