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There is absolutely no reason why you can't turn it all around again To a degree, one of my customers also took a hit and with the changes we have made, they are starting to see rankings working their way back up again.

Remember to stick closely to the Google Webmaster guidelines and you will be fine - just don't try anything that could be seen as dodgy in any way and keep hitting that content hard.

Regards,

Andy

Firstly, avoid link networks at all cost as these will come back and bite you hard at some point.

Because everything is still being found by Google, I would say this is the algorithm at work.

When  you say you have spun articles, unless this has been done to read as a completely unique article, and not just changing a few phrases around, then you will be OK - However, Spun content needs to be of the highest quality so that if you put the two articles net to each other, neither would look like a spun version of the other.

My worry might be that you are being too active in trying to get links back from the wrong places. For example, if you have a news article on a new development for cars, then this article should be discussed only in car forums and blogs. You will be also seen by others who have a genuine interest in what you are saying.

If you have been hit by Panda, it can take many weeks to be re-crawled again, so don't expect fast changes.

Regards,

Andy

Concentrate on getting some unique and high quality content into your site rather than link building at this stage - remember even with link building, you need content for other website owners to want to link back to. Otherwise, the best you can expect are a few non-target website links or no-follow blog posts.

Combat the content first

Andy

Without seeing the site, it is awkward to make a judgement call on what has happened but from experience, a penalty is usually a lot more harsh than just 5 or 6 pages.

My best guess would be that it is Google Panda at work - and as such look for duplicate content and remove it, or 301, but ultimately, remember to have as much completely unique content as is possible. Focus on this rather than your SEO as a starter.

Regards,

Andy

I can't see how letting Google know through the use of canonical tags which is the predominant page to look at, is going to have any impact on your SEO, other than a positive one. Remember that in doing this you are making positive changes.

As Theo mentioned above, you can also 301 two of the pages you dont want indexed as well.

Good luck,

Andy

Avoid the sites that got hit with the Google stick. You will spend waste time chasing your tail for nil / minimal gains.

Regards,

Andy

Remember that google can't distinguish between that of a brand or a small website. They work on algorithms, so throw out of the window what you think should be right and go do some research on it. Matt Cutts from Google was part of a discussion on this. You can't get any closer to the source and was quoted as saying that they have been giving too much away to sites with keywords in the domain. Read between the lines here and you have another change on your hands. I think my time trying to offer advice in this Q&A has reached it's limit so good luck on your search. Andy

Yes, I guess there would be a backlash in the same way that panda was about to use triggers to allow them to weed out the site that are not playing ball.... Never try and second guess what Google will or can do... And I speak with more than just a little experience here... and more than 80,000 first page terms for my customers. As soon as I get wind that there is to be a change, I prepare well in advance for my customers so that they will not get a knock of any sort. I guess this is what keeps customers coming back.

If Google says they have been giving away too much to websites with keywords in the domains, then you had better be sure that to improve their results, that they will do something with it. However, will they tell us? Probably not. But after doing this for just over 10 years, you learn not to mess around with the search engines. If you feel you want to go against a metric that Google will start using at some point, feel free to put your customer in that position, but it will be a cold day in hell before I would endorse or undertake something like that myself. Andy

I might as well have not bothered posting here Just to reiterate my point again, Google is going to start clamping down on those sites that have too' many keywords in the domain, and this has been confirmed by Google, so you follow that route at your customers risk. Those that take this route now are going to regret that decision very soon. Those that ignore the warnings of Google better be prepared to pay the price... And there will be one! Never known of SEO's that go against what Google is doing. Crazy world!

I think the key word in Daniel's reply above is "sustainable". There is no point in going after low hanging fruit that offers no on-going benefits. Also focus on other 'bloggers' who have something of a reputation and see if you can engage them as well.

Write an article and ask for input from others is something else that I find works well. People like the chance to be a part of a study etc.

Regards,

Andy

Just about every site when starting out gets an initial boost - I have seen this dozens of times. You appear quite highly ranked for a while and then suddenly drop.

This is nothing more than Google putting the site where it really belongs. I wouldn't worry about it at all, but this is quite common. If you think about it, Google placing a site first page in just a few short months is pretty much unheard of.

I can't imagine that the addition of links at this early stage would be responsible for the drop as the site is still young.

Just keep concentrating on good (non reciprocal) links from trusted sites and keep the content flowing.

Regards,

Andy

Really? Well, that is very wrong If Google gets wind of anything like that, you will get a real kick in the pants! Get your fingers busy and start writing some great content for others to link to Regards, Andy

That sounds to me like you are wanting to start your own little link-farm - I would advise you steer well clear of this!

Regards,

Andy

I am not a developer, but I would say that if you are planning on anyone hitting your homepage to be forwarded, then this should be a perm redirect 301. Google understands these.

Regards,

Andy

I would avoid trying to run a website based on keywords or phrases as Matt Cutts has been quoted as saying that they have been paying too much attention to this in the past, so expect this to get a hit at some point. Those that have keywords in the name or that are made up of keywords will probably suffer a little.

Just go with the company name as this is the brand that people will remember and recognise.

Regards,

Andy

One of the first things I would do it look at is the flash at the top of the page. Does it need to be there? Google is going to see this as something of a wate of space.

I would also then look at standard SEO practices. For example, your page title is 92 characters. Shorten this and dont keyword stuff. Max should be 55-61 characters.

The content looks to be fine on that page so perhaps the internal links are also causing you some problems.

Quite often it is not just one factor, but many smaller ones - do yourself a check list and ensure every 'i' is dotted and every 't' is crossed.

Regards,

Andy

There are many factors that could be causing this - any chance you can drop yourURL here for us to take a look at?

Regards,

Andy

If it has come back and lost it's rankings again, there is definitely something happening that Google ddoesnt like. This will be anything that they might consider black hat, so check their webmaster guidelines, but my guess would be back links still. You have to remember that you are already in a grey are with the subject matter of the site, as many are unethical and will employ unethical techniques. If you are linked to any of these, you could also be getting penalised. Regards, Andy

And I should add that Aaron sorted me out. thanks dude Andy