#google links

If you own your own company, imagine waking up in the morning, turning on your computer, and realizing that something is terribly wrong with your traffic. If your traffic has suddenly disappeared, you may have received a Google penalty, which can wipe your business out overnight. If you’ve ever been in this situation, then you know how hard it can be to identify the problem in the first place, let alone to recover. Even if you haven’t been in this situation, it’s worth taking the time to learn how to avoid penalties, because they are much easier to get into than they are to get out of.

What is a Google Penalty?

There are two types of penalties: algorithmic and manual. Algorithmic penalties can be the most devastating because they can affect thousands of websites at the same time. These penalties can be caused by algorithm updates, and they are also used to penalize unscrupulous marketers who are using black-hat techniques. Manual penalties, on the other hand, may only affect certain pages, which most likely will not significantly affect your overall website traffic or your ranks. You can try to have it removed, but it may be easier to simply delete the page in question than to try to fight this kind of penalty.

Why Would Google Penalize You?

Google wants to make sure its users have fast access to valuable websites that provide accurate information so they won’t waste their time on the countless junk sites that are online today, so they are continually looking for ways they can adjust their algorithms to make sure the very best sites end up on top. Keyterm stuffing, purchasing links, overusing H1 tags, excessive outgoing links, duplicate content, and even links to sites in other languages can all result in a penalty. Tread with caution if you are venturing into this area, because they are watching, and their methods are becoming more refined every day.

How to Recognize a Google Penalty

If you receive a manual penalty, most likely you will be told directly, but in the case of algorithmic penalties it may be more difficult to pinpoint the culprit. In fact, even people with a great deal of experience may be taken by surprise. One way to begin looking into this is to log into your Webmaster Tools account to see if you have received any manual actions, and from there you can try programs like Algoroo, Panguin Tool, Fruition, or the Google Chrome extension Chartelligence to analyze the data they provide to try to determine if a penalty has occurred.

Your Guide to Google Compliance

By Juergen Baetz, AP, Jul 3, 2014

BRUSSELS (AP)--Google’s removal of search results in Europe is drawing accusations of press censorship, as stories from some of the continent’s most prominent news outlets begin vanishing. The U.S. internet giant said Thursday it is getting 1,000 requests a day to scrub results.

The U.S. firm must comply with a May ruling from the European Union’s top court that enables citizens to ask for the removal of embarrassing personal information that pops up on a search of their names. Among links to vanish were stories on a soccer referee who resigned after a scandal in 2010, French office workers making post-it art, a couple having sex on a train and a lawyer facing a fraud trial.

At least three British media outlets, including the Guardian newspaper and public broadcaster BBC, said Google notified them search results in Europe would not contain some links to their publications.

“It is the equivalent of going into libraries and burning books you don’t like,” Daily Mail Online publisher Martin Clarke said.

BBC Economics Editor Robert Peston said the removal of his 2007 blog post, which was critical of Merrill Lynch’s then-CEO Stan O’Neal, means “to all intents and purposes the article has been removed from the public record, given that Google is the route to information and stories for most people.”

The company is only starting to implement the ruling on the “right to be forgotten” and so far the numbers are small: The Guardian cited six articles, the BBC said one critical blog entry was removed, while the Mail Online saw four articles hit. Several German media contacted Thursday said they had not yet received notifications from Google.

“It’s not yet really clear what the magnitude of this is,” cautioned Joel Reidenberg of Fordham University, currently a visiting professor at Princeton University. “Google may be choosing to go overboard to essentially create a debate about censorship.”

The company said it had received more than 70,000 removal requests by the end of June. Each application on average seeks the removal of almost four links, meaning its experts have to individually evaluate more than a quarter-million pages.

Google does not explain the decision to remove a link or say who requested it. The company is not disclosing how many appear to fall into areas the court specified as potentially objectionable: results that are “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant.”

The purge of search results applies to Google’s local search pages covering the EU’s 28 member nations and four other European countries, encompassing more than 500 million people. The company has a 90 percent market share for searches in Europe. Those who switch to the firm’s American domain, Google.com, will find unaltered search results.

The Mountain View, California, company finds itself in an uncomfortable position. It has no choice but to comply with the ruling by the EU top court, which cannot be appealed, but many decisions to remove search results are likely to draw criticism.

“This is a new and evolving process for us,” Google spokesman Al Verney said Thursday. “We’ll continue to listen to feedback and will also work with data protection authorities and others as we comply with the ruling.”

Princeton’s Reidenberg said while the court gave Google little practical guidance on how to implement its decision, it effectively gave the search engine a responsibility similar to those traditional publishers always had--judging whether an information is in the public interest, whether it will withstand legal challenges and whether an individual complaint against it is warranted.

“Google algorithms are already making value judgments all the time as to which information is relevant,” he added.