Google punishes....Google

The internet has been abuzz lately with the news that Google has handed out a significant penalty for a specific sponsored posting campaign?  Why is this significant, you ask?  Because Google has handed out the penalty to….Google.  The Google Chrome home page will no longer show up on the first page (or first 5 pages for what I can tell) for searches such as “browser”, “internet browser” and even searches like “chrome” and “chrome browser”.

Although there are no remaining violations, Googles spam fighting team has levied a 60 day penalty against the page.  Below is an excerpt from a press release that Google sent out regarding the situation:

"We’ve investigated and are taking manual action to demote www.google.com/chrome and lower the site’s PageRank for a period of at least 60 days.

We strive to enforce Google’s webmaster guidelines consistently in order to provide better search results for users.

While Google did not authorize this campaign, and we can find no remaining violations of our webmaster guidelines, we believe Google should be held to a higher standard, so we have taken stricter action than we would against a typical site."

While this 60 day penalty does not equal a ban, it can have definite long lasting effects.  It has long been thought that Google will “flag” sites they have levied penalties against, meaning that more severe penalties can occur with more infractions, and that the site/page can be under a more watchful eye.  After the penalty is over, there is no guarantee the page will resume it’s spot on the first page, meaning it could take even longer to regain that position. 

Imagine if this was your site, how would it affect your business?  I don’t think it will affect Google that much, as “Google Chrome” is all but a household name now.  However, if you were to lose visibility of your site for your most important keywords for 60 days it could be very severe.  You could lose visibility for keywords that are searched thousands upon thousands of times a month, which could equal a lot of lost business, not to mention the time it would take to get the site back up on the first page and the “flag” Google could place on the site. 

So how do you prevent this?  To keep it simple, stick to the webmaster guidelines that Google has laid out. We know that you are constantly bombarded with “link building” opportunities from 3^rd parties, and we strongly encourage you to consult your Page 1 Solutions Internet Marketing Consultant before pursuing any of these.  We have dedicated PPC specialists and optimizers that are very aware of white hat and black hat techniques, and will do everything they can to ensure your site is well within the guidelines so as to avoid any kind of penalty. 

If you have any questions about this, please contact your IMC for further discussion.  

- Dashiell Harrison