Google FINALLY confirms Rumored WideSpread Banning

[! search-engines-web]

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/confirming-a-penalty/

Head of Google Webspam Team has confirmed a two year rumor that an SEO company as well as HUNDREDS of their clients have been Banned for Years because of SEO tactics frowned upon......


This is a sadistic act - so may potential Jobs lost, so much income lost, so many hopes and dreams tarnished....

Sometimes it is so Shocking how cold the world can be.....100 companies losing tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue..and employees who may have been terminated....

ALL BECAUSE OF A DOORWAY PAGE....When the REST of the SITE is fine and valid...this ALL or NOTHING approach illustrates the depth of heartlessness.....

Why continue the suffering of these companies.....and their workers!!!!!!!!!!!!

[EGOL]

I don't agree. Your proposal is like giving parking fines of ten cents - the amount that should have been placed in the meter.

[seo-ireland]

Big kudos to Matt on this. Well done.

[SEOJaimie]

I do admire google, but I predict that this will cause resentment, and slowly, over time, Google will achieve the same level of blended hate-admiration that Microsoft garners.

That said, saying people don't deserve to get banned for hiring shady advertising agencies is naive. You're liable for everything you do. That said, I'm not a big fan of how Google's been broadcasting their bans. It's not going to help with the above.

But Google still kicks ass.

[kid disco]

If your website is banned from Google, fix it and file a reinclusion request. Period.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/reincl...request-howto/

No jobs need to be lost.

[pk_synths]

This is a prime example of why webmasters need to research SEO companies before letting them do ANYTHING to their site. When the company goes down the clients usually follow.

[Phoenix]

Hopefully some webmasters will not resort to resentment for the banning. Its not usually that difficult to get out of a ban. Other times it can be a long process to do so. Its a dangerous place out there sometimes. I agree with PK, do the research even if you don't want too. You have a 50% better chance these days of finding a crappy SEO company then you did 2-3 years ago. Back then results were easier to obtain. Now, there is more people with less experience working as SEO's, and more obstacles to overcome in order to obtain good results for clients.

[mugshot]

Hating google for banning is absolutely ridiculous but not unexpected.

We have to look at this from the client's perspective. There are basically 3 types of clients.

1 - get us ranked, as ethically as possible - we don't care how much we spend.
2 - get us ranked, we don't care what method you use (obviously this client knows a little about spamming)
3 - we have no clue about search engines - just help us (could be good or bad depending on which SEO company was chosen)

Sometimes we don't give clients enough credit and say that they don't know what's going on. On the contrary, these clients are businessmen, and while they don't understand search engines as well as the SEOs, they do understand business...and in business only one thing matters - $$$.

I absolutely agree with SEOJaime, where the client is liable for all consequences when selecting the SEO company to work with. Now, if that SEO company did not disclose their "methods" - then the companies can claim ignorance, but that only takes one so far.

I think to myself, if company A spends $10k/month and is a fortune 500 company, claiming ignorance will make them look a little silly in the eyes of google.

I don't think google is in the market to destroy businesses and is not a sadistic operation, but I can't say the same for the "individuals" who work at google. Correct me if I'm wrong here but I get a sense that the people at google, EVEN the operators feel a sense of "god power" because of the sheer size of google. The whole idea of "we're google so we can do that" annoys the heck outta me - but what choice do i have :-)

love or hate google, you can't help but to live with google...that's the sad truth. and if businesses didn't rely on google that much, the ban wouldn't have been a big deal

[Darrin Ward]

What ever happened to the program where they were emailing webmasters of those sites that would be banned if modifications weren't made within 30 days or something?

I was very pleased when I heard about that program because it gives those that make accidental problems a chance to rectify them. It also let's the true spammers know that they can't fool Google. Obviously if any one site has 3 or 4 problems over an extended period then they could be safely banned!

[pk_synths]

I believe Matt Cutts at SES said Google will be testing this out more in the near future. I think it's a good idea. Some people's lives and business' rely on Google and can be wiped out in a manner of a ban. Sometimes it's weel deserved but other times just plain bad luck.