Wednesday, July 02, 2008 at 9:49 AM
If your site does not appear in Google Search results, you might be understandably worried. Here, we've put together some information to help you determine when and how to submit a reconsideration request for your site.
You can follow along as Bergy (the webmaster of example.com in our video) tries to find out whether he needs to submit a reconsideration request for his Ancient Roman Politics blog. Of course, not all webmasters' problems can be traced back to Wysz (-:, but the simple steps outlined below can help you determine the right solution for your particular case.
Check for access issues
You may want to check if there are any access issues with your site - you can do this by logging in to your Webmaster Tools account. On the Overview page you'll be able to see when Googlebot last successfully crawled the home page of your site. Another way to do this is to check the cache date for your site's homepage. For more detailed information about how Googlebot crawls your site, you might want to check the crawl rate graphs (find them in Tools > Set crawl rate).
On the Overview page you can also check whether there are any crawling errors. For example, if your server was busy or unavailable when we tried to access your site, you would get a "URL unreachable" error message. Alternatively, there might be URLs in your site blocked by your robots.txt file. You can see this in "URLs restricted by robots.txt". If there are URLs listed there which you did not expect, you can go to Tools and select "Analyze robots.txt" - there you can make sure that your robots.txt file is properly formatted and only blocking the parts of your site which you don't want Google to crawl.
Other than the examples mentioned above, there are several more types of crawl errors - HTTP errors and URLs timed out errors, just to name a few. Even thought we haven't highlighted them here, you will still see alerts for all of them on the Overview page in your Webmaster Tools account.
Check for messages
If Google has no problems accessing your site, check to see if there is a message waiting for you in the Message Center of your Webmaster Tools account. This is the place Google uses to communicate important information to you regarding your Webmaster Tools account and the sites you manage. If we have noticed there is something wrong with your site, we may send you a message there, detailing some issues which you need to fix to bring your site into compliance with the Webmaster Guidelines.
Read the Webmaster Guidelines
If you don't see a message in the Message Center, check to see if your site is or has at some point been in violation of the Webmaster Guidelines. You can find them, and much more, in our Help Center.
Fix your site
If your site is in violation of the Webmaster Guidelines and you think that this might have affected how your site is viewed by Google, this would be a good time to submit a reconsideration request. But before you do that, make changes to your site so that it falls within our guidelines.
Submit a reconsideration request
Now you can go ahead and submit a request for reconsideration. Log in to your Webmaster Tools account. Under Tools, click on "Request reconsideration" and follow the steps. Make sure to explain what you think was wrong with your site and what steps you have taken to fix it.
Once you've submitted your request, you'll see a message from us in the Message Center confirming that we've received it. We'll then review your site for compliance with the Webmaster Guidelines.
We hope this post has helped give you an idea when and how to submit a reconsideration request. If you're not sure why Google isn't including your site, a great place to look for help is our Webmaster Help Group. There you will find many knowledgeable and friendly webmasters and Googlers, who would be happy to look at your site and give suggestions on how you could fix things. You can find links to both the Help Center and the Webmaster Group at google.com/webmasters.
36 comments:
Hi,
is there a maximum of time (after request For consideration) until a site is reviewed?
Thank you for the tips. Helpful stuff.
Hi,
Thanks for an informative article..
I will be glad if any one answer my queries :)
1.what is the estimated amount of time taken by google to consider our reconsideration request?
2.Does google block the whole site or just that particular web page?
Hello, I have already requesting on reconsideration using web masters tool but i didnt get any response from there so what should i do because i m not in searching result on google So Please suggest me..
Thanks.
Good afternoon,
My web hosting company offers Google Webmaster Tools. Although my both web sites are in "Verified" state on the company's site, but when I click on the GWT, it shows one of my web sites as not verified. It gives me two options to follow to get it verified, which I am not familiar with. This web site is www.sadr.ca
Can you please advise why this is and how I can fix it.
Thanks,
Changiz Sadr
Just insert the snippet (verification code) into your header and request verification.
GaryTheScubaGuy
I am curious about your demonstration of hidden about hidden links and how they were all in white color. Suppose a page is on white background with colored links. However the header / footer is of a dark color and so the links in them are white in color. Does Google recognize that such links are actually on a dark background through CSS and not penalize the site or the algo blindly assumes that because the body background is white and the links are white and so it must be hiding the links. In other words is it safe to assume that Google search violation detection tools are intelligent enough to properly parse the css and make a correct decision on whether the links are actually being hidden or not?
We had several microsites that ran seperately and we just consolidated them all (for example http://www.hoteldownshop.com and http://www.downdeals.com now go to one website http://www.shopdownlite.com but within a sub section). We seemed to have lost the google page rank of 4-5 we had before with hoteldownshop.com specifically. My webmaster has made sure all the 301's are in place but it did not seem to carry over the great page rank we had :-(
Hi - my site was ranking number six for my keyword phrases before I added a 3-way links page. The 3-way links page did not benefit my site (the ranking stayed at number six even after it was added), presumably because the links had already been devalued by Google anyway.
However, a penalty was applied to my site, which dropped my ranking to 67 for my keyword search phrases. So I immediately removed the 3-way links page at that time and submitted a Request for Reconsideration through my Webmaster Tools account.
I do not sell links on my site, but the penalty is still being applied to my site rankings for my keyword search phrases even though the 3 way links page has been gone for almost three weeks from when I submitted the first Request for Reconsideration.
I thought the Google Webmaster Tools account was created so that Google can stay in touch with Webmasters regarding the status of their site, but I have yet hear anything back from Google. I also submitted several posts to the Google Webmaster Help Group under the "Webmaster Tools" topic, but have not gotten a response from a Google representative yet. Just a lot of speculation which didn't fit my circumstances.
Do Google representatives monitor the Google Webmaster Tools messages and the Webmaster Help Group? Could someone from Google please respond to my queries through my Webmaster Tools account or the Webmaster Tools topic under Google Webmaster Help Group, or this Webmaster Central Blog?
- Julie
My experience with Webmaster Tools is bad, I reported spam of several sites and sent other requesting on reconsideration, I have not had any kind of response. The feedback is null.
Sorry for my bad english.
Julie,
I wonder sometimes if they even care.
@Angsuman - Hidden links detection is intelligent enough to handle the case you present. If you have specific situation on your site that you suspect is being detected as hidden text, you can check the Webmaster Tools for any warnings.
@shopdownlite.com - I would give it some more time and double check your site in Webmaster Tools to ensure their aren't any issues being reported.
@Julie - Filing a reconsideration request will not help your site if it's still got issues with meeting the webmaster guidelines...please recheck the guidelines and your compliance. Also please review the Webmaster Help Groups thread you posted titled "Messages to my Webmaster Tools account." In that thread some of our long time members have pointed out some potential issues in their responses.
Hi, Jonathan - I've gone through the Webmaster Guidelines to confirm compliance, but I do not see where the issues pointed out in the Webmaster Help Groups thread are addressed in Google Webmaster Guidelines. For example, Phil Payne stated that my real estate site, http://www.charlotte-eba.com/ would have been penalized because a page from the Homes & Land online magazine site linked to my site even though the Homes & Land link to my site included the "nofollow" attribute, and was from a url which I have no control over. I wrote back that I could not believe that Google would penalize my site over a link to my site that I had no control over and included the "nofollow" attribute, but Phil stated that the Googlebot would not be able to tell the difference. Do you know if this is true?
Which issues that are pointed out in the thread are listed as violations according to google Webmaster Guidelines?
- Julie
Hi Julie,
I'd get the link that Phil mentions updated to not use Javascript in order to ensure the rel=nofollow attribute is properly discovered. In addition I suggest using Webmaster Tools to review all of the links to your site. Here is a Help Center article that covers "nofollow" in more detail:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=96569
If you have further questions or responses please post them to the Webmaster Help Groups.
Jonathan, I have posted further questions about your post to the Webmaster Tools Help group -
@Jonathan I haven't seen any warnings other than duplicate meta tags etc. which has since been corrected. However I have noticed that all the main pages of the site has been de-indexed while irrelevant pages like page to email content of the original page and somewhat irrelevant pages like tag pages have filled up the Google index!
I am searching for all possible angles but coming up blank. What would at least help is some kind of communication from Google stating that either the reconsideration request has been processed so we can find whether we need to take further action or just wait and preferably that the issue has been addressed or not. Lack of any communication whatsoever makes this a frustrating experience.
@Angsuman Chakraborty, Thank you so much - that is precisely the point! Some kind of acknowledgement from Google is really needed, especially several weeks after fixing the problem and submitting the reconsideration request. And even though I am submitting very specific questions about the issues I am having, I just get very general answers from Google Webmaster Tools Group (like "check the Webmaster Guidelines to see if you missed anything before submitting your Request for Reconsideration.") So if someone from Google could address the specific questions that I am asking in the Webmaster Tools Help Group, that would really be appreciated, too!
@Jonathan Simon, I have checked the Google Webmaster Guidelines, but have not found any reference to a requirement that webmasters get other webmasters to update the javascript code for their link management programs. I don't know javascript, so wouldn't know where to begin to tell them how to do that. How am I supposed to have control over a link managemant program that I did not set up and do not have access to? Could you please show me where Google Webmaster Guidelines references that requirement and respond here:
http://groups.google.com/group/Google_Webmaster_Help/search?hl=en&q=jtuggle&start=0&scoring=d&hl=en& ?
- Julie
Google is showing that they have noticed over 500 URL's but have only indexed 17 of them? Any help would be apreciated. All tests for ability of the site to be crawled came back clear
@Jonathan, as you suggested, I did post a response to your comment on Google Webmaster Help Groups: http://groups.google.com/group/Google_Webmaster_Help/search?hl=en&q=jtuggle&start=0&scoring=d&hl=en&
Do you or any Google employees ever respond to questions raised on the Google Webmaster Help Forum? If so, could you or another Google employee please address the points I have raised in this thread?
- Julie
elequipodelaconfianza.blogspot.com
I,m Spanish good blog
Hey, great blog here with some very helpful advice.
I have recently experienced Google problems lately AND I don't know what I've done wrong. My site is just over 1 month old and was ranking #1 for the keywords: yung drew. The URL is http://www.yungdrew.com.
I thought that I maybe used too many tags / keywords, but I kept it under 10 for each post. I have so many posts that it would suck to start from scratch.
I am using the "Google XML Sitemap" plugin. Googlebot last crawled my site on Jul 7... I was getting 100+ visitors from Google daily and it has dropped to around less than 30.
I am frustrated because I don't know what I've done wrong. If a Google rep could let me know so I could fix things, I'd be very happy!
All I truly want is for my pages to get indexed properly (not pushed back) and I want to rank #1 for the words: yung drew - so that my friends / visitors can easily find my site.... Like I said, it did rank #1 for about a month and then died out because of my site's banning / restriction.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Hi can you point me in the direction or give me info on how you get reconsideration if your page rank has been taken away? I had a some non-relevant advertising in my blogroll and I now have added 'no follow' to them so I would like my page rank penalty lifted.
thanks
LF3
I am totally frustrated. I do everything I can to provide lots of great, helpful information that is mostly automotive related. My website was #1 for its keywords for years and is clearly the best Google search result for many, many keywords. Now I am ranking in #40 spot or so for everything, even for if I search under my own website. And I have done nothing wrong and Google webmaster tools is of little help. There is no communication in the messages, and now several definite spammers that Google has known about for months are ranking in the top spots. My website is full of helpful, quality and unique content (www.mdwholesale.com). What gives and why do I have the minus 30 or 40 penalty? Is it possible my crazy competitors have done something to bring this on?
Our site continues to be penalized and we have submitted it to be reconsidered twice so far. The domain - wauseon.com has been online for about ten years without any problem, and is a valuable resource for people in the city. Now, the site doesn't show up, and what is there for the search "wauseon" seems to be half or more links to sites that do provide no content and seem to be setup purely for advertising on that keyword. I don't get it.
Thanks for the useful info, Mariya. Your post refers to the Google Message Center as being the place to check for messages from Google. I am trying to access that now (there are apparently 15 messages waiting for me), but all I get is "Your messages are not available at this time. Please try again later.". I have been trying to access them for the last 3 days. Is there something I can do to get to them or at least report the issue somewhere? Thanks.
Hello All:
If you're site or blog has been penalized, banned, lost traffice, etc. from Google, I am a seasoned SEO professional who can help you with a full evaluation and what steps you need to take to get relisted in Google and prevent further penalization and banning.
You can reach me at mrlinksman@gmail.com
MY site, too, was recently penalized after 6 years in the top 10 for my keywords-4 weeks ago I lost all my rankings.I'm not sure what caused it but have tried to revamp and fix what I thought may have been the cause and submitted a reconsideration request.
The latest update on Monday seemed to have removed the penalty-traffic was back, my placement was back and orders were flowing again!But this morning, the penalty was back again.. is this a flux and I'll see the results of earlier this week return?
I had already posted to the Webmasters blog and didn't get responses to my issues, I really need to get this site back whwre it was and not knowing what happened is very confusing!I'm not a seasoned SEO, by any stretch, so some guidance when a penalty occurs would be nice fromm Google, even if it's just a quick auto-message
What is going on with Google lately? My Yahoo Store, DentaKit dot com was top ranking in many keywords for over 6 years. But in the past few months its rank has fallen significantly for its most important words and phrases for no apparent reason! Some of my keywords don't even show my website at all, when they used to show it in the #2 or #3 positions!
My site is (and has been) totally kosher and within Google's guidelines. I have been over my site with a fine toothed comb to try to figure this out. The Yahoo Store people say that I have some DNS/nameserver issues in my site which they are fixing, but other than that, they can't see anything wrong -- and they tell me that the DNS issues would't affect my Google ranking. Google never contacted me to tell me that anything is wrong. Why the sudden drop in ranking?
Webmaster Tools is also saying that I have duplicate meta descriptions when I DO NOT. And it's saying it can't find pages which are legitimate and navigible, and have been for months or years.
What the heck is going on? How can I fix what apparently isn't broken? Why is my site being penalized for no reason? This is my family's livlihood; it's no joke. When I ask SEO experts they all give me conflicting advice. What I need is someone from GOOGLE to tell me what to do to fix this.
PLEASE can someone from Google contact me and tell me why my site is being penalized for no reason?!
Thanks so much for the helpful article, this blog is fantastic, and I've found a lot of answers here that have made a difference in how I manage our site.
Some of our pages have been penalized in the Google serps. We havent receieved an email either on our webmaster tools or in our general mail box to notify us of this penalty, the penalty stops some of our pages (certain url structure) ranking above 40 in the Google serps. For further details we have posted the problem on Google webmaster groups.
View Here
Can any one comment on this? Should we have received
All my sites were penalised in google Migliori-Offerte-ADSL.it is one of them, a helpful site on internet for Italy, spammy sites, or adsense sites are ranking higher, with absoloutly no content, check the keywords migliori offerte adsl and see,
I am puzzled with Google, sites were ranking well, all white hat, fixed links everything, still problems,
I hope somebody can shed some light on this.
Our site continues to be penalized and we have submitted it to be reconsidered twice so far. The domain - wauseon.com has been online for about ten years without any problem, and is a valuable resource for people in the city. Now, the site doesn't show up, and what is there for the search "wauseon" seems to be half or more links to sites that do provide no content and seem to be setup purely for advertising on that keyword. I don't get it.
------------
UPDATE
Up to 6 submissions for reconsideration!
Thanks google, no reason for blocking, no support whatsover, no contact information for an actual human. The site is killed from google for no apparent reason.
NO REPLIES TO 6 REQUESTS
Message center
6 messages« Go to the Dashboard
Subject: Date:
Unread message: Reconsideration request for http://wauseon.com/ Sep 8, 2008
Message: Reconsideration request for http://wauseon.com/ Aug 27, 2008
Message: Reconsideration request for http://wauseon.com/ Aug 5, 2008
Message: Reconsideration request for http://wauseon.com/ Jul 28, 2008
Message: Reconsideration request for http://wauseon.com/ Jul 11, 2008
Message: Reconsideration request for http://wauseon.com/ Jun 17, 2008
I also have such problems. My site went from a pagerank of 6 to 3 overnight. I found out that this was due to putting up sold textlinks, and so added "nofollow" to all of them. 8 weeks later, nothing. I wonder if there is something I am missing that Google is seeing and punishing me for, but they do not do personal responses! How can we find out?
thanks site adminchatturkchat
please! anyone out there. Our site was hacked into, and some malicious software was downloaded into our code. We had our web developer clean it up, we moved our site to a more secure server/host, and we sent a reconsideration request on june, then waited a month, did another in july, two in september, and we still haven't heard anything. I also had stopbadware.org review the site, and they said,
"We have received and processed your request for review of your website, spyeglass.com/. Google's most recent test of your website found no badware behaviors on the site. As such, the Google warning page for your site has either already been removed or should be removed shortly. In addition, if your site has been listed in our Badware Website Clearinghouse, we will remove your site from the Clearinghouse list."
but our site still isn't up on google, and is unsearchable. Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Nat
Post a Comment