Some Tips on Google Reconsideration Request

When you talk about search engine, nowadays it’s “Google”. Like this: “Search Engine = Google” it’s like they are the same thing. It’s similar to gadgets and appliances we are very familiar with. When you say refrigerator, we Filipinos call it “Frigidaire”. Or if we want to photocopy something, most of the time we call it “Xerox”.  So when it comes to people searching the internet, I heard and read people saying “Google it”. And the statistics don’t lie, the search engine market share of Google is dominating which overpowered Yahoo! that sometime ago was called “The Mother of All Search Engine”.

Aside from that, there are also some observation on what kind of people uses that search engine. I once read a post on Yugatech blog that says users of Google are more financially able than those who use Yahoo! So we can assume now that the money is in Google. The more traffic that comes from that search engine, the more potential buyers your site will have. More potential buyers means good conversion rate for any website that have advertising on it. This is the reason why many webmasters and internet marketers do their best to get as much Google traffic in their blogs or websites. If you happen to have lots of visitors from Google, then you are one of the luckiest guys and gals on this planet. But what if someday you see your traffic coming from Google slowly diminishing? That is a very big problem. I read many webmasters in Webmasters World Forum who are complaining about the sudden loss of their traffic blaming the Google update. It’s easier to blame others than yourself. Why not check first on your blog or website?

This is the best thing you can do to solve things: you should troubleshoot those things that are within your control. There are many things you can do to check your blog or websites if it’s functioning properly. Like for example, are your pages producing duplicate content? blogs, forum or dating sites are prone to duplicate content because they are dynamic. Or are you linking to bad neighborhoods? because if you are linking to those sites that Google doesn’t like, well your site will be affected too and also if you are practicing black hat SEO. And worst of all, is your site or blog been hacked? ( Read my horror stories here >> My Wordpress Was Hacked)   So the best guideline you can use is the Webmaster Guidelines. After you checked your site and corrected it according to the Google Webmaster Guidelines, that is the perfect time to submit a reconsideration request if ever you are planning to send one.  It’s because your request will be denied if you don’t comply.

A perfect guideline for submitting a reconsideration to Google can be found on the Official Google Webmaster Blog. There you will find a detailed explanation on how to properly do things before submitting your request.  But come to think of it, how sure are you if your request will be granted? the fact is, may webmaster’s I’ve read on forums are complaining that they are waiting for months but they still have no response or their traffic and ranking still sucks. So, here is a little common sense I want to share. I’m not saying that what I’m going to share is effective or forcing anyone to believe it. The fact is, there are millions of webmasters or maybe billions. How can Google staffs accommodate that much if they don’t have a system? But many are testifying that when they submitted their reconsideration request, the request was granted within a few days. Mine was granted just the next day. I was thinking that it was just a coincidence but I doubt it if  it was really a coincidence because when something goes wrong with my blog and fixed it, the quickest time of recovery takes about a few days.

So analyzing the situation, there might be a system on how they are able to accommodate those sincere and honest request versus the unjustifiable request. Do you know that when a person was interrogated and testify something, those who were telling the truth gives a detailed testimony and those who were lying only gives a few or not so detailed statements? So in my opinion, short messages have the least chance of being read and those long ones can pass through. If you are really sincere, then I think there will be no problem with that because you can easily create a detailed explanation (and can also  prove it) and your statement will coincide with what corrections you have made which will have a better chance of approval.

Oh, before I forget, I want to share this short proverb I heard from a comedian:

Knowledge is like an underwear, you don’t have to brag about it. Because if you don’t have it, it shows!