New from Google -e.mail violations

[ctabuk]

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Update on penalty notifications

This came in this morning.

Comments please

David

[saikatblogger]

Does the email highlight on what ground they have penalized? I do not use Google Webmaster Tools, is there any way to check the stats of my site?

[dartman]

If they had problems with spoof emails before what's to prevent it from happening again. Notification thru webmaster tools is an excellent workaround but only for those that participate.

[wige]

From the sample messages I have seen, the messages seem to give a general reason for the penalty, however since they were samples I am not sure how much detail the actual messages contain.

It's good that Google is communicating with webmasters about problems they see in sites (hopefully they will do this with sites where they detect malware also) but I can't see the spoofing issue resolving any time soon. A lot of webmasters will probably panic and follow whatever instructions are in a Google penalty notice without noticing or checking if the message is legitimate.

[ctabuk]

There is almost a darker side to this. On one hand Google is saying - 'hey chaps we are user friendly' but in all honesty are they not overlooking two things?
1 - When a website is set up you get an e-mail address -how often is that checked?? I must have dozens of them.

2 - they should produce a simple format programme which should be issued free by every URL/Hosting Company - Then they would be user friendly.

[dartman]

Originally Posted by ctabuk

1 - When a website is set up you get an e-mail address -how often is that checked?? I must have dozens of them..

I never bother with webmaster@ or admin@ nor have I put a forward on them.
Contact emails are on the sites I work with but now I'll look closer at my webmaster
tools account in case ther is a message. If they have to send me something I'd rather
it be 100 shares of G. I suppose OSP's could offer some sort of web publishing guide
for the SE's. That would be a nice value added.

[wige]

I think Google uses the admin contact or technical contact contained in your WHOIS information, and if this information is blocked, contacts the hosting company. This information has to be accurate and up to date. After switching servers, we did away with one of the e-mail addresses listed in our WHOIS record. A few months later, we got a call from our registrar (yes, verified) saying that a complaint was filed with ICANN and ICANN was threatening to revoke the domain unless the information was updated in three days. I have never heard of this before, but apparently it can happen.

[tomcatuk]

Sounds like good news to me (I have a Google account with WM tools though). Generally speaking, I don't like e-mail with actual content, particularly hyperlinks. The company I work at get's over 100 phishing e-mails a day. A simple "you have a new message" in your Google account with NO LINKS e-mail would be perfect.

[incrediblehelp]

Most of my comments are here:

Don’t Worry It’s Not A Spoof Or Spam Email, It’s Google Again - Jaan’s Search Marketing Blog - Toledo, Ohio

[cz]

Thanks for the post ctabuk.

Jaan you have a point in getting avg. Joe involved. I have Yahoo e-comm stores with all the stats I'd ever care or figure out how to use. So - I've not implemented the GG Webmaster code and subjected myself to another barrage of stats. (I've read isolated complaint threads of "Tools" issues" also)

My son bought Y! stores that will sell you a cheaper full hosted package for quite a bit less - but they contain no stats like the older "Legacy" models - the kind with "tail fins" on 'em...lol, he said there's way more than enough info there than he cares to sift through - what I have and then a lot more. No, I don't get an email from GG about my site but is it worth it - any Y! store people in here?

Too much dartman "I'd rather it be 100 shares of G." - now what did that open for?

About $85 a share? I should have mortgaged the farm - I could have quit my websites. Hindsight's 20/20 though right?