I posted a question two weeks ago, because my web page disappeared
from the Searches.

We are a leading laptop Online Store and our business hurts bad, since
our web page http://www.USAnotebook.com was removed from Google and at
the same time from Yahoo too.

I was told to write to help@Google.com, but I didn't get any answer.

Until now, nobody replied and my website still is not indexed at
Google. From other answers here at Google answers I understand that
such a problem may only be a temporary one and that after around one
week the site should be reincluded. I am waiting for around two weeks
now, and my site still does not appear at Google or Yahoo.

I did not intentionally do anything wrong, but since I'm aware some
guidelines what my webmaster ignored. Since I did fix those possible
problems.

I would like to know why has my site been removed from the index and
how can I reinclude it again and how long it will take?!

Sincerely: Julius L Kluger

---

Request for Question Clarification by serenata-ga on 11 Jun 2003 17:48 PDT

Hi Julius:

I am posting this as an Request For Clarification as opposed to an
answer, because no Google Answers Researcher can really speak for
Google and tell you "why your site has been removed from the index",
or how long it will take to reinclude it, if ever.

I can also restate what you were told in previous answers that no one
but Google knows if you've been banned; and if so, why. And there is
no guarantee that Google will tell you.

The best any of us can do is give you the benefit of knowledge
available and our "best guess" estimates of what is happening and why.

Here's a article from Search Engine Watch dated June 3, 2003,
discussing the recent "Google Dance" and some of changes. Pertinent
information includes the information on spamming, about half way down.
 - http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2216081


Even though you said you've "did fix the problems", there are still
links to usanotebook.com from link farms, which Google considers
spamming, and they have announced they are and will be penalizing
those. " New spam filters are always being tested, as are changes to
the ranking algorithm. Such alterations are designed to benefit
searchers with better results, even if the side-effect is that
few-some-many (depending on your point of view) webmasters feel
pained."
 - http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2216081


There are still identical sites, just different names that which might
also be seen as URL spamming (see Webadept-ga's answer to your
previous question)
 - http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=211151


Other links TO your site from other sites are repeated several times,
which can be considered linkspamming, for which they will also
penalize and/or remove a site. From the Search Engine Watch article,
"on the link side of things, is that Google is preparing new changes
in how it leverages links as part of its overall algorithm.

"We definitely are looking at the next itineration of algorithm
improvements. I think that we're in fine shape now, but I think
looking toward the future that there's still are some easy wins we've
identified with link analysis that we're going to go ahead and push
into production," said Cutts."
 - http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2216081

and, "Google has some new spam filtering systems that it is preparing
to release. So references about spam filters yet to be applied in the
index relate more integrating scoring from the new systems, once
ready, rather than Google simply not having any spam penalties in the
index at all, Cutts said."
 - http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2216081

In summary:

Only Google can say whether or not they've banned your site, and they
don't guarantee they'll tell you if it has been banned; and if it has,
why. See Google's explanation "Other Reasons your site may not be
included"
 - ://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html#A1

However, Google does recommend, "you might try 'cleaning up' the page
and sending a re-inclusion request to help@google.com. We do not make
any guarantees about if or when we will re-include your site."
 - ://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html#A1

It would be a pretty safe statement, though, that you should continue
to clean up those areas which can be perceived as spam, or face the
consequences, including the planned future changes.

If you feel this qualifies as an answer to your question, let me know,
and I'll post it as an answer.

Good luck,
Serenata

Hi Julius,

The short answer is that Google might take longer than a couple of
weeks to get back to you, however while problems with your site(s)
still remain, you will not be re-indexed.

Here's a summary of the things I believed have happened, and the best
available solutions to your problems.


GOOGLE'S VIEW
=============

[My only connection to Google is here at Google Answers. No-one
outside of Google search engineers can 100% definitively know what is
going on, however I have a lot of experience in this area, and I have
confidence in my answer].

Google is constantly trying to improve the quality of search results,
from the point of view of the searcher. The goal is quite
straightforward - they want:

- results that are relevant in the eyes of the customer
- results ranked in order of relevancy
- no repetition of results that are exceedingly similar

The keys to relevance are the text on each page, and the links to a
page (analogous to a vote for the quality of the page). To avoid
repetition, they only want one instance of duplicated content to
appear in the index.

There are a number of Google guidelines that webmasters should read
very carefully:
://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html

Google sometimes takes a while to notice when a site has broken
guidelines, although recently they have introduced new algorithms:
http://www.stepforth.com/search-engine-news/2003-news/Jun11-03.html

In my experience, breaking one guideline can give your site a PageRank
of zero, effectively demoting it to the bottom of search results.
Sites which have broken multiple guidelines are quite likely to have
done so deliberately (for example, using tiny text the same color as
the background is unlikely to be by accident), and they tend to be
removed from the index completely.

Google will have noticed that your site breaks the following
guidelines:


Duplicated Content
------------------
"Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with
substantially duplicate content."

http://www.notebook-usa.com/
http://www.usanotebooks.com/
http://www.usanotebook.com/

And possibly this site would be considered a duplicate:
http://www.used-notebook-sale.com/


Link Schemes
------------
"Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's
ranking or PageRank."

I only found one instance:
http://www.computerbroker-u-s-a.com/links/laptopsrefurbished.html

These examples are for usanotebooks.com
http://www.247eservices.com/link_directory/used_computer.html
http://www.tabletpclinks.com/link_directory/online_computer_store.html
http://www.tabletpclinks.com/link_directory/used_laptop_for_sale.html
(many more exist at tabletpclinks.com)

I suggest trying to remove any connection to Build-More-Pages.com that
you can:
http://www.build-more-pages.com/

Tricks
------
"Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule
of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done
to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask,
"Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't
exist?"

I am sure that this page and all those that it links to break the
above guideline:
http://www.usanotebook.com/notebookcomputerL14.html

I strongly suggest removing such pages from usanotebooks.com as well.

Note that AlltheWeb.com have also dropped your site, probably because
of duplicate content:
http://www.alltheweb.com/urlinfo?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usanotebook.com&c=web&cs=utf-8


SOLUTIONS
=========


1. Email Google
---------------

I appreciate that you have already done this, but to get a result it
must be done in the following manner:

a) Fix up every instance of broken guidelines that is within your
power. This includes removing all those pages like this:
http://www.usanotebook.com/notebookcomputerL14.html
...and reducing your number of sites with the same content to one.
Which means that to be reinstated, your content at usanotebook.com
must be changed so that it is significantly different to
usanotebooks.com and notebook-usa.com

b) Email Google at help@google.com. Use a subject like "I have
corrected broken guidelines", so that it stands out as being
important. State that you did not realise you were doing anything
wrong. Detail what you have done to right the wrongs. Promise to
follow the guidelines in future.

c) Wait. I have heard of Google responding within a week, but
obviously they receive a lot of queries. More info, including a last
resort phone number, is here:
http://www.searchengineguide.com/1stsearchranking/2003/0610_sr1.html


2. Have just one site: usanotebooks.com
---------------------------------------

a) Incorporate the retail and wholesale aspects into the same site.
Perhaps have a wholesaler section that can only be accessed by
password. This means they will contact you to get the password (you
can collect their details), and they will feel special about having a
password. In my opinion the plural version of the URL sounds better
anyway.

b) Change your listing at Open Directory (click on "update URL" at the
top of the page) so that it points to usanotebooks.com:
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Hardware/Used/

Update this listing as well, because two links from Open Directory are
much better than one:
http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Florida/Localities/P/Pompano_Beach/Business_and_Economy/

c) Get any sites that link to your other sites to change their link so
it points to usanotebooks.com

d) Give up on the other sites, in their current context. If you use
them again, make sure you avoid the following

- linking them to each other  
- duplicate contact details (like your toll-free number)  
- duplicate legal disclaimers  
- using the same graphics  
- duplicate ownership details in WHOIS records  
- using the same web host  

I appreciate your desire to have the same content, but with different
prices for retail and wholesale. The only way to have them both is if
they are vastly different, with different text, images, file names and
structure.

I also appreciate that usanotebook.com was ranking very highly. A very
large part of its high ranking was due to the link from Open
Directory. Changing the URL there so that it points to
usanotebooks.com will help it enjoy the same good ranking.


Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga

I hired a professional webmaster to make a new web page, but we can't
do anything against the "link farm". We don't know those companies and
we never asked for their "service". I hope that Google understand that
removing the links are out of our control. If a web page can be
banned, because somebody links to it, than even the competitors can
use this kind of unfair strategy to put remove honest dealers from the
Searches.
Thank you for your help. 
Sincerely: Julius