Penalized and banned websites. How can I find out if my website is banned or penalized?

Monday, 22 March 2010 01:51

I can't find my website in google search results. How can I find out if my website is banned or penalized?

6 February 2012 - 6/02/2012

Many novice website owners who no doubt have even the most rudimentary grasp or understanding of what the delicate art of SEO involves will quickly find themselves in something of an almighty fluster whenever they cannot see their website listed on Google.  When they check their page rank and see that it is zero, they automatically assume that their website is now classed as a banned website, or a penalized website. They worry themselves and get extremely neurotic about this issue but the reality of the matter is this: there is probably a much less serious explanation.

First off, your website may have a page rank of zero simply because it has not yet been processed by the search engines and this is especially true of newly created websites. Whilst the search engines are powerful, they are not omnipotent! If you have not already done so, you need to make sure that you actually get in touch with Google and inform that your site actually does exist.

Even seasoned website owners automatically assume that a drop in their page rank is a definite sign of a penalized website.

In reality, they may have altered the coding of their site and implemented something new such as Flash, which is not especially well received by the search engine spider bots and so this has caused a slight diminishing of the traffic. The keywords that are associated with that website could also have depreciated in value, meaning that there is less traffic associated with it.

Lower traffic is not always an example of a penalized website. More often than not, the penalized website is only penalized by virtue of one thing and one thing only: a clumsily designed, poorly structured and ill defined website that does little to welcome either visitor or program.

It is also important to note that the search engines will on occasion alter their algorithms (the equations they use to calculate and apportion page ranks and traffic) again causing potential traffic variations. If you are in doubt, then make sure that you contact Google and ask them whether your website is a penalized website.

However, one of the best ways to avoid becoming a penalized website is to ensure that you actually read and rigidly adhere to the Google terms of service and the rules, in order to avoid being caught out. In so doing so, this means that you can comfortably eliminate a breach of the rules as the reason behind your current misfortune.

6 February 2012 - 6/02/2012