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starlygirl
11-11-2003, 03:41 PM
Hi - I think I'm in trouble with Google. I've always ranked very well for my search terms, but suddenly my main index page is nowhere to be found under my usual search terms (or found AT ALL as far as I can tell).

I was listed on an "online mall" type place and instead of just linking the normal way to my site, they used some type of meta-refresh forward type thing. I'm assuming this was the no-no that caused the problem. I've already written the mall and had my link removed.

Now, I'm just wondering, will my site reappear in Google on its own or do I need to write to someone at Google and explain the whole mess?

How can I tell if my site was actually banned or just temporarily penalized? Thanks for any help. Jeez, I can't believe this has happened after all the work I've done!

Stacy Rockwell
starlygirl.com
cyanide
11-11-2003, 10:31 PM
I highly doubt that's why your postiioning has fallen.
You can't be faulted for some idiot's 'strange' way of linking to you. You have no control over that and Google is aware of it.

Keep digging for answers and optimizing your pages.
cbp
11-11-2003, 11:38 PM
Who links to you can never harm you. Who you link to can harm you.

If what you describe is the problem, I will urgently set up a similar link to all my competitors .... one way to beat them in the rankings :-)

CBP
minstrel
11-12-2003, 12:21 AM
Hi - I think I'm in trouble with Google. I've always ranked very well for my search terms, but suddenly my main index page is nowhere to be found under my usual search terms (or found AT ALL as far as I can tell).
No, it's there: a search for "starlygirl.com" yields:



Starlygirl Hippie Clothes - Hippie Clothing, Patchwork Clothing
Starlygirl Hippie Clothes - Hippie Clothing, Patchwork Clothing, FEATURED
ITEM: Moon Block Print Tee FEATURED ITEM: Sun Block Print Tee, WELCOME ...

How can I tell if my site was actually banned or just temporarily penalized?
...or neither? How long ago did you move your website? Maybe it hasn't had time to get relisted? Maybe more people have entered the hippie clothing market?

Google shows only these two links to your site, which may be a problem:



Starlygirl Patchwork Clothing - Handmade Hippie Clothes
Starlygirl has moved! Please visit my new website: Starlygirl Hippie
Clothes (http://starlygirl.com) Remember to update your bookmarks!
Description: Large selection of pre-made apron tops, dresses, skirts and pants. Will gladly take custom orders as well.
Category: Shopping > Niche > Hippie
starlygirl.8k.com/ - 10k - Cached - Similar pages

KindWeb - Other Shopping Pages
KindWeb - Other Shopping Pages. ...
www.kindweb.com/Store/other.htm - 3k - Cached - Similar pages

Looking at your new index page:



<TITLE>Starlygirl Hippie Clothes - Hippie Clothing, Patchwork Clothing</TITLE>
<META name="description" content="Handmade hippie clothes, hippie clothing, patchwork clothing. Hippy clothes, accessories & housewares.">
<META name="keywords" content="hippie clothes,hippie clothing,patchwork clothing,patchwork clothes,hippy,handmade,custom order,custom,applique,starlygirl">
These look okay to me - I always put spaces after the commas in a keyword list but to be honest i have no idea whether the spiders care.

And when I type in hippie clothes as a search phrase (there were a LOT more hits than I expected for that phrase!), look at what shows up as #10:


Starlygirl Patchwork Clothing - Handmade Hippie Clothes (http://starlygirl.8k.com/)
Starlygirl has moved! Please visit my new website: Starlygirl Hippie
Clothes (http://starlygirl.com) Remember to update your bookmarks!
Description: Large selection of pre-made apron tops, dresses, skirts and pants. Will gladly take custom orders as well.
Category: Shopping > Niche > Hippie
starlygirl.8k.com/ - 10k - Cached - Similar pages

It's not your current page but it's your old one and it does list your new URL. The problem with that re-direct page is (1) there is no clickable link, and (2) I would recommend a "redirect after 10 seconds" tag, like this:

Put this in the <HEAD>... </HEAD> section:

<META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="10;
URL=http://starlygirl.com">

and change the <body>...</body> part to something like this:

Starlygirl has moved!


Please visit my new website:
<a href="http://starlygirl.com">
Starlygirl Hippie Clothes</a>.


Remember to update your bookmarks!


If your browser supports &quot;Client Pull&quot;, you will be automatically taken to the new site in 10 seconds.



Otherwise, please click on the link below:



http://starlygirl.com (http://starlygirl.com)

Do you still have access to that old redirection page (i.e., can you modify it)? or is this the one you asked to remove you? if the latter, maybe you could very quickly write back to them, apologize, and beg them NOT to remove you - that #10 spot may be hard to recapture. If you can't change the redirect page yourself, can you ask whoever created it to make the changes suggested above?
cbp
11-12-2003, 01:47 AM
"I always put spaces after the commas in a keyword list but to be honest i have no idea whether the spiders care"

I too put commas and spaces between keywords, BUT, I did read somewhere that Inktomi prefers just commas and no spaces. As Inktomi is the only search engine that seems to use the meta tag keywords, this could be of relevance.

BUT

I just spent a while searching the Inktomi site and could only find this:
"This line is not as important as is commonly believed. Put phrases that relate to this page in the Keywords line, separated by commas"

... which actually does not say anything about a space or not ... so not sure what the best way to go is.

CBP
Derald
11-12-2003, 06:01 AM
Who links to you can never harm you. Who you link to can harm you.

"Who links to you can help you, but never harm you. Who you link to can harm you, but never help you."

I've thought about this phrase since I saw it. It's a very concise way of remembering the rule. It also brings to mind a few questions:

Can someone with a lower page rank harm me? (i.e., I have a PR of 4 and the person requesting a link has a PR of 3).

Is there a url that goes into detail on the benefits and pitfalls of linking?

Thanks,
Derald
janeth
11-12-2003, 06:47 AM
When some one links to your web site it only helps. A pr0 can help your site.

If you link to a site that has been banned that can hurt you, but if you link to a site with a pr0 pr1 pr2 that is not a problem.
starlygirl
11-12-2003, 10:46 AM
Thanks for your replies - maybe I was overreacting. The strangest thing is today I'm finding my site at #12, but instead of my URL (starlygirl.com), it lists the URL "www.whatyouget.com/ enter_shop.php?vendor=1493&afsrc=1", which is the online mall I was in. Even though the URL is the online mall's link to me, the Title and description for my store look the same as they used to when it listed my actual URL.

Any ideas what's going on there? I guess somehow the online mall moved up in rank and my actual URL has dropped way back. Oh well, I guess I'll just give it a little time and see what ends up happening.
Thanks for all the responses!

Stacy Rockwell
minstrel
11-12-2003, 10:58 AM
starlygirl:

Did you see my note near the end of that long post about your "redirect" page at #10? Can you fix that page or get it fixed?

That's a huge opportunity to let slip away...
rlrouse
11-12-2003, 06:05 PM
Can someone with a lower page rank harm me? (i.e., I have a PR of 4 and the person requesting a link has a PR of 3).

A link into your site can only help. The only exception that I can think of is having lots of links from porn sites. They would show up in the SERPS, possibly giving your site a bad reputation. But even those types of links wouldn't harm your Google rankings.

If you link to a page that has been penalized, you'll likely have a problem.

Rules of thumb for linking:

- Inbounds are usually always good for search engine purposes.

- Outbounds are usually only bad if linking to a "bad neighborhood".
starlygirl
11-13-2003, 10:36 AM
minstrel: I actually do still have access to that old site, so I will take your advice. I had originally planned to set up a 301 permanent redirect, but Freeservers wouldn't allow me to. Thanks.

~Stacy
Electronic Perceptions
11-13-2003, 05:46 PM
FWIW I personally think something weird has been going on at Google for the past couple of weeks. The primary problem I've noticed is that a lot of previous links for some sites have not been showing up (When searching for link:website).

I read some articles recently about "Tagbacks" in blogs causing major problems with the link ranking/popularity system, and I suspect some of the weirdness is either caused by that, or caused by the attempted cleanup.
minstrel
11-13-2003, 07:08 PM
minstrel: I actually do still have access to that old site, so I will take your advice. I had originally planned to set up a 301 permanent redirect, but Freeservers wouldn't allow me to. Thanks. ~Stacy
You're welcome - glad to hear that you can access it - you've got a #10 ranking there to exploit to bring people to your new site...

Good luck!