[superCool]

In this thread [Google & sponsored posts for Chrome] we're talking about google penalizing themselves for paid links. There is a link to a page with quotes from matt cutts that raised a question for your friend supercool. The link = google gets penalized for sucking

The quote from matt cutts

In response, the webspam team has taken manual action to demote ww.google.com/chrome for at least 60 days. After that, someone on the Chrome side can submit a reconsideration request documenting their clean-up just like any other company would. During the 60 days, the PageRank of ww.google.com/chrome will also be lowered to reflect the fact that we also won’t trust outgoing links from that page.

That seems to imply that the manual demotion will last longer than 60 days if a reconsideration request is not submitted and approved. Is that the way it works? superCool always assumed that the penalty or demotion would naturally drop or be magically reviewed after the specified period, but this statement might be saying that a reconsideration request is needed to make that happen. Do you think that’s true? superCool has always been wary of submitting any kind of request to google with the fear that they will dig deeper and see something else they don’t like. Do you guys and gals submit reconsideration requests?

There's no way to know how long you've been penalized for anyway right? So how long would you wait, and when would you expect action? superCool knows there's no "right" answer to that question, but just asking for opinions....

Also - the penalty seems to have been applied using pagerank, which superCool has heard is not really that important anymore. So what gives?

Thanks for any opinions you care to share on this... even if you feel you need to mock superCool with caustic wit

[Convergence]

Fortunately, have not had to have any sites reconsidered. Then again, never been "told" there needed to be.

Do know of a merchant who felt their site SERPs dropped unnecessarily. They submitted a request for review and within days their site was back where they felt it should be.

One of our drop shippers recently had glitch in their webmaster account. Pricing in their datafeed for the Google Shopping directory did not match their website. Had the customer notify the Google and let them know that they fixed the pricing issue. Still waiting on re-inclusion...

[EDIT] Looks like the customer is back in the shopping directory. So far about 3K of their 16K products...

[teezone]

even if you feel you need to mock superCool with caustic wit

Something tells me superCool would still win that exchange

I've never actually submitted a reconsideration request either - as an affiliate publisher, I've always accepted the up/down nature of our sites. And I've also made enough mistakes along the way, assuming that my ongoing tinkering has sometimes cost me in rankings. But when I get antsy, I'm with superCool on this:

superCool has always been wary of submitting any kind of request to google with the fear that they will dig deeper and see something else they don’t like

As an affiliate site, I'm always expecting a move down the rankings based on the dreaded 'thin content' assessment. That usually prompts a full-site assessment - removing links to stale pages, adding more content, etc. Lather, rinse, repeat...

[Chuck Hamrick]

I have had an affiliate who was google slapped for link building. He contact G after correcting the mistake and plead guilty. Was reinstated in the index. He does about $20k/year in AdWords and felt that had a lot to do with it.

[superCool]

Originally Posted by teezone

And I've also made enough mistakes along the way, assuming that my ongoing tinkering has sometimes cost me in rankings.

Yes, that's probably it - just did the wrong things at the wrong time(s).... many times

Originally Posted by teezone

As an affiliate site, I'm always expecting a move down the rankings based on the dreaded 'thin content' assessment. That usually prompts a full-site assessment - removing links to stale pages, adding more content, etc. Lather, rinse, repeat...

That's been superCool's approach - clean stuff up or give up on the site for a while, but that comment from dorkface made me wonder if there could be some old penalties hanging over the sites.