Is it possible to reverse a G algo update (Penguin/Panda)?
-
...if yes, how? Can you share resources / blogs / etc... I want to reverse my site's rankings.
Here's the gist of it:
- I recently purchased a website that has 600+ pieces of aged content on it.
- Domain was ranking great about 10 years ago (1M uniques a year)
- It apparently got hit by a G algo update in 2012/2013 (Penguin and Panda?), because the rankings have tanked (10 hits a day)
- In the past two years, the previosu owner published about 100+ off-topic blog posts and it appears been using the site as a PBN. The UX sucks and there's a ton of 404s. (NOTE: I am in the process of removing that content and have cleaned up the 404s).
Domain stats: 20+ years old (1998) and DA 32, linking domains 850+, inbound links of 16k+
What I've done:
- disavow (550 domains),
- fix all the 404s
What I'm doing / about to do:
- remove spammy content
- write new/fresh on-topic content
- update the site UX
- start a backlink building campaign
My questions:
- is it common to bounce back from a G algo update? is it hard / am I over my head / am I a sucker trying to get the site back alive?
- are there articles about bouncing back that you can share so I can learn more about this process? Or agencies / consultants, etc that you recommend?
- what other recommendations / suggestions do you have that would help reverse this 8-year-old penalty?
-
Agreed... the SEO landscape has changed greatly since 2012. I'll definitely have to re-invest in new, fresh content and start building backlinks.
But what I'm looking for specifically is a playbook for bouncing back from an algo penalty. I need a strategy. I was hoping others have been able to bounce back and have shared their experience.
ps - it's an algo penalty, not manual, so no messages or warnings in GSC unfortunately.
-
Hi there,
It is doable, but it will not be an easy task since now you have more competitors than back in 2012. I would say it depends on your specific vertical, your budget, and your end goal for this site. You need to see who you go against to because you need to consistently invest money into content and links in order to beat your competitors. If you still have a penalty is GSC then you should submit a reconsideration request by saying that you are a new owner of the site.
Ross
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Organic search traffic down 60% since 8/1/18\. What now?
I have a small health & fitness blog, and my Google search traffic suddenly dropped 60% around August 1 (I've attempted to link an image). My rank has dropped for 86 keywords. I have no manual penalty, so I'm guessing I was affected by the algorithm change. My technical skills are VERY limited. I've tried to find answers on my own, but every time I try to "fix" something, I only seem to make it worse. I do seem to have some structural/performance issues with my site (e.g., lots of 404 errors from uninstalled plugins and unwanted permalinks). I asked my server for assistance (I used managed Wordpress hosting), and they said they couldn't help. As you can imagine, this is quite devastating, and I have no clue where to go from here. I don't know if I'm allowed to link to my site here, but it's mommyrunsit dot com. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks. Sharon 0lPu4wY
Reporting & Analytics | | RoniFaida1 -
Bounce Rates: Leaving my domain.com/blog to shop on mydomain.com counts as bounce rate?
Hello! I have a kind of difficult question. On my main domain i have: Store: mydomain.com and wordpress blog on mydomain.com/blog If I have a link to a specific product on my blog and user goes to the product on the store, will bounce rate increase or as it's the same domain will be like a new page view? Different CMS's and blog is on a different analytics account than the store. I hope i could explain myself! Thank you
Reporting & Analytics | | prozis0 -
Google Analytics Goal/Event/SOMETHING to show only Wordpress "Posts", not pages, etc
Hi all, Our site is build on Wordpress and formerly the post URL's had the typical date format at the beginning. This made it easy for me to look at, for example, all search traffic to the blog. I would just view URL's containing /2014/ and /2015/ and boom. We have since removed the dates from the URL's with proper redirects etc, which is great, but now I can't figure out a way to look at ONLY the blog in GA. I like to track a KPI of 'search visits to blog posts' and I can't figure out how to now. Can I set up a GA event that only fires when the post type template for blog posts loads? Some other solution? I'm lost here, and there's gotta be a good way to do it...
Reporting & Analytics | | 3DR0 -
Is there an efficient way to block/filter referral spam in Google Analytics for a large network of websites?
Hello, everyone - I'm looking for guidance on how to block or filter referral spam in Google Analytics. But I'm needing to block for an entire network of Wordpress websites. We have two networks which total over 2,500 websites. We are currently blocking sites we find out about via htaccess. This works, but only after we see we are getting hit with the spam. Updating 2,500+ Google Analytics accounts with filtering is not an ideal option due to the time factor and the fact that new bots coming out almost daily. We can continue the htaccess method, but does anyone have any other ideas for blocking referral spam for a large network of sites? These are the other ideas we have. 1. Blocking all traffic from Russia and China based up subnets. We know many will still get through, but it should block 50% of it, we hope.
Reporting & Analytics | | copyjack
2. Moving sites to Google Tag manager. This is a huge tasks but we have seen that sites using Tag Manager are not effected, at least for now. Other ideas are appreciated!0 -
What type of links/redirect is Yahoo! using?
So I'm trying to figure out exactly what type redirect or hyperlinking Yahoo! is using on their article pages. For example:
Reporting & Analytics | | William.Lau
https://shopping.yahoo.com/blogs/fashionate/spring-clean-your-beauty-routine--10-tips-on-looking-fresh-this-season-000058218.html Hover over an external link, it shows you the ending URL. Right or left click it, it gives you a 302 redirect. When you actually left click it, it adds and "id" attribute, I assume for tracking. However, when you left click the the hyperlink, it no longer shows as a 302. I have limited working knowledge of web development techniques, so anyone with advance knowledge or have actually done this, it'd be helpful to understand this more.0 -
Determining Exact Reverse Path in Google Analytics
Within Google Analytics does anyone have suggestions for how to determine the exact reverse path for a product purchased? The goal funnel does not provide in a detailed way, especially if a step is taken out of the exact funnel provided. If this information cannot be obtained through Analytics is there another tool we can use to get the exact path?
Reporting & Analytics | | bozzie3110 -
How is it possible that this site has a higher page authority than my site?
Judging by open site explorer, I'm crushing my competitor in every imaginable way. And yet, somehow they have a higher page authority than me and, consequently, are ranking higher than me. How is this possible? My site is on the left: 40atcpP.png
Reporting & Analytics | | ScottMcPherson0 -
Should you get a new Google Analytics account if your site has a new domain after a site redesign/new development?
We recently developed a new site for a client and they have opted to move forward with a domain change. Should we create a new Google Analytics account for the new site?
Reporting & Analytics | | TheOceanAgency0