How to Recover From a Google Penalty

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Google is known for launching updates like the Panda Update and the Penguin Update, where sites with poor quality content and links get penalized. But being penalized doesn’t mean the end of the world. You don’t have to drop SEO altogether just because you suffered a Google penalty. You can begin by improving your online reputation by using a reputation management service like @Reputation_com and also by taking the following steps towards full recovery...

Purchase a New Domain Name


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If you want to get rid of the penalty, then you’ll have to scrape off your domain name and buy a new one to replace it. Transferring your old domain name to a new one is the best possible start you can take to gaining back your rankings. The key here is to buy a user-friendly domain name instead of an “exact match one”. Why? Because after the Panda Update, exact match domain names are being penalized since the Big G knows most such sites carry bad, useless content.

Take Care of the Registration/Hosting


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Register your domain name privately so that your whois details are hidden from the search engines. Once you’re done with the private registration, the next step is host it on its “own dedicated” IP address since it’s safer. Gone are the days when you could host a number of sites of sites on the same IP address. Today you can have all your sites de-indexed if even one goes down.

Clean Up Your Site


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Your aim now is to make the new domain look squeaky clean. You don’t want Google to have the slightest doubt about the new site. Start by de-optimizing the content and improving its quality . Buy and use a new theme (if you’re using something like WordPress). Basically, try and make it look as different as possible without compromising on the quality.

Use 301 Wildcard Redirect


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This is when you redirect the pages resting on your old domain name to their respective counterparts on this new domain name. This can be easily done by logging into the cPanel area and visiting the “redirects” page in order to set up a ‘new’ wildcard redirect. As far as SEO goes, you get almost all the link juice is passed on to the new domain from the old. It lets you rank almost instantly for all the keywords that you were previously ranking for. So in a way, all the links you built to your old domain name get transferred to the new one.

All in all, recovering from a Google Penalty is very much possible. As time goes by, work on consistently building quality links to your new domain name using whitehat methods so that you’re able to grow and retain your rankings.

By Prayag Verma
A blogger and wannabe Web Developer + Designer currently in college learning about computers. A CSS Lover , Blogger Template Designer , Manga Fan , Geeky Nerd , Music Addict and Yogaholic ! Get more from Prayag on Google+ and Twitter

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