Two weeks ago my ten+ year old site at http://www.alkenmrs.com was totally deindexed from Google with no warning.
During this time, and with the help of some wise people from this forum, who have gone through the site looking for anything that could have caused this deindexing, I have also posted two spam reports and two reinclusion requests. Neither seem to have had anything done about them.
The site has had a few fixes put in place although none were bad enough to cause a total deindexing.
It was discovered that parts of the site had been proxy hijacked with some of my pages coming up under the proxy URL. Steps were taken to block access to the proxy and it's associated IP's. Furthermore, I contacted both the proxy owner and the hosting company and the server seems to have been taken down. Pages from my site still show up un Google but only in the cache. The first spam and reinclusion requests were filed in respect of the proxy.
Other 'fixes' put in include 301 redirects fro the www vs non www of the site. Disallows in robots.txt for the likes of multiple Privacy Statements, Contact Us annd thank you pages. The site is set up with a number of sub directories each containing themed minisites with each one having it's own Privacy and Contact pages.
There was also one orphaned page that had been on the site since day one (10 years ago). That page has been removed and 301 redirected to another url within the site. I also discovered a couple of orphaned links within the index page code. They were links to other pages within the site and ended up in the HTML due to continually shifting things about on the page with Xsitepro. However, they have been removed and page code checked on other pages throughout the site.
I could at least hold my hands up to those problems and posted a further reinclusion request confessing my sins, if indeed that is considered such a hideous crime.
So here i am today, with no listings whatsoever in Google and it would seem the chances of getting back in are becoming less and less as each day passes.
During this time, Googlebot has continued to fetch all sitemaps on a daily basis and the PR on all pages has remained the same. The only thing that hasn't happened is any crawling. The last crawl date, according to webmaster tools was June 25.
I am really at the point now of not knowing what else I can do to get the site reindexed. I am however seriously considering shifting some of the minisites in the sub directories out to their own domains, putting in some 301 redirects and resubmitting the new sites. Not sure if that is a good idea or not but I really can't see another way out of this nightmare.
Any of you wise people here got any better ideas because I have run dry!!
I thought about that as well and even posted a thread about it. However, the concensus was that the translations were not the cause of the deindexing.
I have actually modified the translator script to look only in the cache on my site and not going to Google. Having said that, it only looks for a translation page if somebody actually clicks on the flag. To that end, it is not automated in the true sense of the word.
Even so, I would be interested in anybody else's view on this.
Alan I have exactly the same problem - again with a well used - well positioned site. It is the third time that it has happened - for no 'apparent' reason. On both previous occasions February - 10 days then April - 6 days, I did nothing other than to re-submit my site, and after the times I have quoted, normality came once again. This time I am just sitting tight after having removed an affiliate link that I set up on 37 of my pages (Naughty I understand, but they were all relevant to the Affiliate program). (I am not actually just sitting tight, for I have several other sites, which need to be bought up to spec, together with which - as a long term 'cushion' to the vagaries of the big G, I am aiming more at some of the other major search engines - Yahoo in particular, which still gives me top positions I once had with G. No help to you, but at least you know you are not alone! Regards Data
> I thought about that as well and even posted a thread about it. > However, the concensus was that the translations were not the cause of > the deindexing.
> I have actually modified the translator script to look only in the > cache on my site and not going to Google. Having said that, it only > looks for a translation page if somebody actually clicks on the flag. > To that end, it is not automated in the true sense of the word.
> Even so, I would be interested in anybody else's view on this.
> Alan
> On Jul 10, 5:57 pm, Burt wrote:
> > Dunno, but maybe google doesn't like automated translation queries.
> > On Jul 11, 12:30 am, alkenmrs wrote:
> > > At least it seems that way to me!!
> > > Two weeks ago my ten+ year old site athttp://www.alkenmrs.comwas > > > totally deindexed from Google with no warning.- Hide quoted text -
Thanks for the moral support David - Maybe it has something to do with being in the UK :-)
The only thing that has ever worried me about having so much on one domain was what would happen if the server went down for any length of time. I never thought in a million years about getting deindexed by Google especailly after playing by the rules and wearing the cleanest white hat that I could find.
I have now lost confidence in adding any more minisites to this domain and will be using a different one in future. Too many eggs in one basket and all that!!. I will certainly keep the site updated with new content as too much time, effort and money has gone into it to let it die plus the fact that Yahoo and MSN bots live on the site anyway.
> Alan > I have exactly the same problem - again with a well used - well > positioned site. It is the third time that it has happened - for no > 'apparent' reason. On both previous occasions February - 10 days then > April - 6 days, I did nothing other than to re-submit my site, and > after the times I have quoted, normality came once again. > This time I am just sitting tight after having removed an affiliate > link that I set up on 37 of my pages (Naughty I understand, but they > were all relevant to the Affiliate program). > (I am not actually just sitting tight, for I have several other sites, > which need to be bought up to spec, together with which - as a long > term 'cushion' to the vagaries of the big G, I am aiming more at some > of the other major search engines - Yahoo in particular, which still > gives me top positions I once had with G. > No help to you, but at least you know you are not alone! > Regards > Data
> On 10 Jul, 18:34, alkenmrs wrote:
> > Hi Burt
> > I thought about that as well and even posted a thread about it. > > However, the concensus was that the translations were not the cause of > > the deindexing.
> > I have actually modified the translator script to look only in the > > cache on my site and not going to Google. Having said that, it only > > looks for a translation page if somebody actually clicks on the flag. > > To that end, it is not automated in the true sense of the word.
> > Even so, I would be interested in anybody else's view on this.
> > Alan
> > On Jul 10, 5:57 pm, Burt wrote:
> > > Dunno, but maybe google doesn't like automated translation queries.
> > > On Jul 11, 12:30 am, alkenmrs wrote:
> > > > At least it seems that way to me!!
> > > > Two weeks ago my ten+ year old site athttp://www.alkenmrs.comwas > > > > totally deindexed from Google with no warning.- Hide quoted text -
> I thought about that as well and even posted a thread about it. > However, the concensus was that the translations were not the cause of > the deindexing.
> I have actually modified the translator script to look only in the > cache on my site and not going to Google. Having said that, it only > looks for a translation page if somebody actually clicks on the flag. > To that end, it is not automated in the true sense of the word.
> Even so, I would be interested in anybody else's view on this.
> Alan
> On Jul 10, 5:57 pm, Burt wrote:
> > Dunno, but maybe google doesn't like automated translation queries.
> > On Jul 11, 12:30 am, alkenmrs wrote:
> > > At least it seems that way to me!!
> > > Two weeks ago my ten+ year old site athttp://www.alkenmrs.comwas > > > totally deindexed from Google with no warning.- Hide quoted text -
> It still means that you use a service that you don't credit, cached or > not.
> If I had such a service, and you used it like that, I would ban you :)
> And, your translation script is a bit buggy;
> After translation links are pointing to the google translation > service, but results get redirected to your own site again.. ?
> My guess is that your translation thingie may be a problem.
> If you need translations, use some translation service, online or not, > and make them hardcoded.
> My suggestion is to remove the translation thingies, and wait a while > before adding them again, in a hardcoded way.
> If it takes to long before you get some listings again in G, then file > a re inclusion, explaining your previous translation "problem".
> What I say may not be "consensus", neither may it the "reason why", > but if I were G, I wouldn't like what your are doing.
> On Jul 11, 1:34 am, alkenmrs wrote:
> > Hi Burt
> > I thought about that as well and even posted a thread about it. > > However, the concensus was that the translations were not the cause of > > the deindexing.
> > I have actually modified the translator script to look only in the > > cache on my site and not going to Google. Having said that, it only > > looks for a translation page if somebody actually clicks on the flag. > > To that end, it is not automated in the true sense of the word.
> > Even so, I would be interested in anybody else's view on this.
> > Alan
> > On Jul 10, 5:57 pm, Burt wrote:
> > > Dunno, but maybe google doesn't like automated translation queries.
> > > On Jul 11, 12:30 am, alkenmrs wrote:
> > > > At least it seems that way to me!!
> > > > Two weeks ago my ten+ year old site athttp://www.alkenmrs.comwas > > > > totally deindexed from Google with no warning.- Hide quoted text -
> Do you host your site on your own web server? If you do, check the > logfiles to see if googlebot was there.
As I said above, Googlebot comes along every day and picks up all the site maps and robots.txt. It also goes to various pages within the site but hasn't done a proper crawl since June 25 (according to webmaster tools)
As the site is totally deindexed, searchenginegenie can't find any pages and therefore assumes the site is banned.
> Do you host your site on your own web server? If you do, check the > logfiles to see if googlebot was there.
> On Jul 10, 2:21 pm, Burt wrote:
> > Hmmm,
> > It still means that you use a service that you don't credit, cached or > > not.
> > If I had such a service, and you used it like that, I would ban you :)
> > And, your translation script is a bit buggy;
> > After translation links are pointing to the google translation > > service, but results get redirected to your own site again.. ?
> > My guess is that your translation thingie may be a problem.
> > If you need translations, use some translation service, online or not, > > and make them hardcoded.
> > My suggestion is to remove the translation thingies, and wait a while > > before adding them again, in a hardcoded way.
> > If it takes to long before you get some listings again in G, then file > > a re inclusion, explaining your previous translation "problem".
> > What I say may not be "consensus", neither may it the "reason why", > > but if I were G, I wouldn't like what your are doing.
> > On Jul 11, 1:34 am, alkenmrs wrote:
> > > Hi Burt
> > > I thought about that as well and even posted a thread about it. > > > However, the concensus was that the translations were not the cause of > > > the deindexing.
> > > I have actually modified the translator script to look only in the > > > cache on my site and not going to Google. Having said that, it only > > > looks for a translation page if somebody actually clicks on the flag. > > > To that end, it is not automated in the true sense of the word.
> > > Even so, I would be interested in anybody else's view on this.
> > > Alan
> > > On Jul 10, 5:57 pm, Burt wrote:
> > > > Dunno, but maybe google doesn't like automated translation queries.
> > > > On Jul 11, 12:30 am, alkenmrs wrote:
> > > > > At least it seems that way to me!!
> > > > > Two weeks ago my ten+ year old site athttp://www.alkenmrs.comwas > > > > > totally deindexed from Google with no warning.- Hide quoted text -
That page translator script has been bugging me as well but I couldn't find anything written to say that it couldn't be used in this way. Moreover, there are a heck of a lot of sites out there using similar page translation scripts, so if this a cause of my problems, there is likely to be few more casualties.
regarding translated pages (only just found it) and Adam Lasnik seems to confirm your comments.
Do you think it best just to remove the links to the already cached pages or remove the pages as well. If the latter, I will have to put in some 301 redirects as most language pages are indexed in Yahoo and MSN and a lot of them were in Google until I got the boot!
> It still means that you use a service that you don't credit, cached or > not.
> If I had such a service, and you used it like that, I would ban you :)
> And, your translation script is a bit buggy;
> After translation links are pointing to the google translation > service, but results get redirected to your own site again.. ?
> My guess is that your translation thingie may be a problem.
> If you need translations, use some translation service, online or not, > and make them hardcoded.
> My suggestion is to remove the translation thingies, and wait a while > before adding them again, in a hardcoded way.
> If it takes to long before you get some listings again in G, then file > a re inclusion, explaining your previous translation "problem".
> What I say may not be "consensus", neither may it the "reason why", > but if I were G, I wouldn't like what your are doing.
> On Jul 11, 1:34 am, alkenmrs wrote:
> > Hi Burt
> > I thought about that as well and even posted a thread about it. > > However, the concensus was that the translations were not the cause of > > the deindexing.
> > I have actually modified the translator script to look only in the > > cache on my site and not going to Google. Having said that, it only > > looks for a translation page if somebody actually clicks on the flag. > > To that end, it is not automated in the true sense of the word.
> > Even so, I would be interested in anybody else's view on this.
> > Alan
> > On Jul 10, 5:57 pm, Burt wrote:
> > > Dunno, but maybe google doesn't like automated translation queries.
> > > On Jul 11, 12:30 am, alkenmrs wrote:
> > > > At least it seems that way to me!!
> > > > Two weeks ago my ten+ year old site athttp://www.alkenmrs.comwas > > > > totally deindexed from Google with no warning.- Hide quoted text -
> That page translator script has been bugging me as well but I couldn't > find anything written to say that it couldn't be used in this way. > Moreover, there are a heck of a lot of sites out there using similar > page translation scripts, so if this a cause of my problems, there is > likely to be few more casualties.
> regarding translated pages (only just found it) and Adam Lasnik seems > to confirm your comments.
> Do you think it best just to remove the links to the already cached > pages or remove the pages as well. If the latter, I will have to put > in some 301 redirects as most language pages are indexed in Yahoo and > MSN and a lot of them were in Google until I got the boot!
> Alan
> On Jul 10, 7:21 pm, Burt wrote:
> > Hmmm,
> > It still means that you use a service that you don't credit, cached or > > not.
> > If I had such a service, and you used it like that, I would ban you :)
> > And, your translation script is a bit buggy;
> > After translation links are pointing to the google translation > > service, but results get redirected to your own site again.. ?
> > My guess is that your translation thingie may be a problem.
> > If you need translations, use some translation service, online or not, > > and make them hardcoded.
> > My suggestion is to remove the translation thingies, and wait a while > > before adding them again, in a hardcoded way.
> > If it takes to long before you get some listings again in G, then file > > a re inclusion, explaining your previous translation "problem".
> > What I say may not be "consensus", neither may it the "reason why", > > but if I were G, I wouldn't like what your are doing.
> > On Jul 11, 1:34 am, alkenmrs wrote:
> > > Hi Burt
> > > I thought about that as well and even posted a thread about it. > > > However, the concensus was that the translations were not the cause of > > > the deindexing.
> > > I have actually modified the translator script to look only in the > > > cache on my site and not going to Google. Having said that, it only > > > looks for a translation page if somebody actually clicks on the flag. > > > To that end, it is not automated in the true sense of the word.
> > > Even so, I would be interested in anybody else's view on this.
> > > Alan
> > > On Jul 10, 5:57 pm, Burt wrote:
> > > > Dunno, but maybe google doesn't like automated translation queries.
> > > > On Jul 11, 12:30 am, alkenmrs wrote:
> > > > > At least it seems that way to me!!
> > > > > Two weeks ago my ten+ year old site athttp://www.alkenmrs.comwas > > > > > totally deindexed from Google with no warning.- Hide quoted text -
