October 2, 2008 by Matt Thomas
It’s a situation that more than a few site owners have found themselves in – they’ve strayed into unethical SEO territory, been caught, and therefore punished by Google. Fair enough, the rules are there for a reason and the chances are you knew the risks when you decided to bend them, so you sit back and take your lumps.
But what happens then? After you’ve taken the rankings hit, paid your debt to the Internet and cleaned up your site, how do you get Google to let you back in from the cold?
With a reconsideration request.
A reconsideration request is an online form in which you make your case, grovel a bit and, in theory, attain Google’s forgiveness. I say ‘in theory’ because a lot of these requests get ignored or rejected. Here’s how to make sure yours isn’t one of them.
The main mistake people make is not being completely honest with uncle Google. Even if your site is now completely clean, you have to exhaustively outline each and every questionable bit of SEO, link buying etc. that you did. Think of Google as your priest – you need to do a complete and full confession before you can be forgiven. You could even go as far as writing a timeline of all your crimes. It’s important to be thorough because if, in your list of transgressions, you fail to mention the actual reason you were punished then they will reject your application out of hand.
It’s also essential to get this right first time because, oftentimes, after a first request has been rejected they’re a lot less likely to listen to subsequent requests.
I know, I know, it doesn’t sound much fun, but if Google appreciate a bit of begging on the part of wayward sites and I’m afraid you’ve just got to play that role. After all, if you cant do the time…
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