Almost all businesses, at some point, have asked, “How do I know if Google has penalized me?” After Mobilegeddon, Pirate 2.0 and the Penguin rollout in 2014, the question is understandably common. According to KISSmetrics, 10% of search queries were affected by Panda in 2014— meaning many websites were penalized.
If you were penalized from any rollout or updates, you want to know about it now so you work to recover. You have to face your penalty head-on before you can achieve search engine success. And the first step is answering the question, “How do I know if Google has penalized me?” Here are five sure-fire signs that you have, unfortunately, been penalized by one of Google’s algorithms:
As a well-established company, when you search query your brand name, your website is one of the first few listed. If you are no longer on the first page of results for your company’s name, it is a dead giveaway that something has gone awry.
If your website isn’t showing up until page two or three, that’s bad enough. But when the first listing you finally come across is something besides your homepage, then you may be in seriously in trouble. That likely means your homepage has a penalty against it.
If you have a page one position, it can usually stay that way unless your competitor’s edge up or you make some changes. However, if you notice that you are suddenly on page two or three and you haven’t made any edits, then there’s probably a reason—and it’s probably a penalty.
One of the largest factors that determine your PageRank is the number of inbound links your site has. Most small businesses that put in some SEO effort usually have a rank of two or three. So if your PageRank is zero that means something has happened to your links. And since it’s unlikely the users removed them all, you can bet that Google is to blame.
Sure, you can still find your site if you enter your domain directly in the web address bar, but if you can’t seem to find it anywhere via Google search (even by searching site:yourdomain.com), then you have undoubtedly been penalized.
Do any of the above situations sound all-too-familiar? Then it’s safe to say your website has been penalized. But the good news is now you know the answer to the question, “How do I know if Google has penalized me?” Why is that good news? Because knowing the problem means you can fix it and see your top spot on the SERPs again.
Not sure how to do that? Contact Zero Gravity Marketing today. We will help you overcome a penalty and go on to flourish.