Position 6 google penalty. fact or fiction?

[POlka]

So recently one of my page dropped to position 6 for its main key(single keyword) after ranking on the first place for quite some time.

The drop on the serp occured after getting a strong backlink with the keyword as anchor. Generally the Page might be a bit over optimized for said key(in url/title/decription - kw density around 2,5% in content, and as alt tag for a picture)


anyone with some good links or infos on that alleged penalty?

[POlka]

The only information i can find is from early 2008 when the alleged penalty was first discussed eg: Google Ranking #6 Penalty / Filter | SEO Book.com.

Iam mostly looking for recent examples or discussion on the topic.

Thanks in advance

[Michael Martinez]

There was extensive discussion about this at WebmasterWorld a couple of years ago. Google did finally confirm that it imposes a number of automatic penalties which Webmasters can reverse without having to file reconsideration requests.

The -6, -30, -50, -500, and -950 penalties are all considered to be part of the same class of self-imposed so-called "over optimization" penalties.

The general rule of thumb for the cure is to undo whatever changes you last made before the penalties kicked in and then to wait 1-2 months. Your rankings usually improve within that timeframe.

There may, of course, be some situations where no such penalty is incurred. Hypercompetitive queries may simply turn over because other people are doing a better job of satisfying the algorithm.

[Mark]

Did you purchase the backlink or did it occur by chance? I can't believe Google would impose a penalty like that unless they knew you bought the link.

Mark

[POlka]

Did you purchase the backlink or did it occur by chance? I can't believe Google would impose a penalty like that unless they knew you bought the link.

Mark

The Link is on a page with quite a few outgoing links, think donation page but not exactly. All links point to very good neighbourhood.

It seems like Michael is right about the over optimization part. I prolly was too aggressiv with the keyword in anchor. First thing iam trying to do is to get a few more backlinks with diffrent anchors to randomize the backlink profile more.

[Michael Martinez]

On-page factors can also cause these penalties to kick in. Anything where you might be deemed as "trying too hard" (supposedly) is suspect. I've seen a few attempts to create lists of possible causes for the penalties but frankly I think they are only scratching the tip of the iceberg.

[POlka]

I was thinking about on page factors, but then again i havent really changend anything, unless there was an algo update wich triggered the penalty iam looking at offpage first.

There are two new backlinks with enough ommpf that could have caused the mess the first one mentioned in the op, wich is editorial and not connected to my network but because of the nature of the page could be seen as some sort of paid link, and after giving it a thought it could have been a sidewide link from a new page in my network, again with the same anchor, or both

Noteable is that other keys are not penalized and still rank at the same position, give and take a spot on the serp.

As i said iam going to build a few more backlinks with different anchors ala click here or website bla bla bla to make the backlink profile look more natural and then let it rest for a couple of weeks.

Let you guys know about the results.

[Michael Martinez]

I was thinking about on page factors, but then again i havent really changend anything,...

I've had people tell me that and then, upon further questioning, they have admitted to things such as:

• Adding more pages to the site ("none of the old pages changed")
• Deleting pages from the site ("the rest of the pages are the same")
• Redirecting pages on the site ("the content is more relevant")
• Implementing a new CMS ("the content is still the same")
• Implementing a new CSS template ("the content is still the same")
• Upgrading on-page Javascript ("the content is still the same")
• Adding Javascript ("the content is still the same")
• Removing Javascript ("the content is still the same")
• Adding links to a few pages (or many) ("but the text hasn't changed")
• Getting 10 bazillion links from a spammy link resource ("but the site hasn't changed")

You can change a LOT of stuff and convince yourself you haven't changed anything. However, to a search engine, things change when you add or remove 1 character on your page -- I kid you not. Sometimes you're just changing 1 word with that 1-character change, and sometimes you change the entire page.

Could there have been an algorithm update? Absolutely. The major search engines change their algorithms several times a week. Does that explain your apparent penalty? Most likely not (or else a lot of other people would have experienced the same effect).

The only way to know for sure if you an OOP is to undo whatever you did and see if things go back to the way they were.

[POlka]

I absolutly appreciate the discussion but regarding the onpage factors iam 100% confident that the entire page including the homepage/subpages and internal linking have not changed.

The only way to know for sure if you an OOP is to undo whatever you did and see if things go back to the way they were

MIchael could you elaborate on that further, i was always under the impression that getting and losing backlinks in a short period of time would seem unnatural, so far my stance was always make your backlinks look as natural as possible.

as stated in op i gained a strong link(pr 6 editorial, trusted domian and good neigbhourhood, many outgoing links unfortunatly) wouldnt be the most logical thing that becaue of it more smaller sites link to the same ressource?

Agein thanks for your insight.

[PokerDude]

I agree wholeheartedly with Michael Martinez. Ranking is a complex algorithm, and even subtle changes can casue relatively large SERP changes. As already mentioned, a whole slew of things can effect the whole, and your competitors certainly factor into that mix. In your case, does your link emanate from a site that might link to "bad neighborhoods". If so, you could be reaping the negative effect here. If you truly didn't make any changes (and Michael is right, think carefully here), I would remove the link to you, and see if things revert back to the past. If not, you are going to have to look elsewhere (including your competition).