Does Google Every Totally "Forgive" A Site For Being Penalized?

Jul 22, 2008 - 8:48 am 3 by

There is an excellent thread at WebmasterWorld discussing if Google will ever fully "forgive" a site after it has been penalized.

For example, let's say you have been slapped with a link penalty, and you remove all those bad links. Will Google every rank you as well as you once ranked? The thread has some excellent experience to quote:

Senior member, netmeg, said that Google does completely forgive:

one of my clients was completely banned from Google for a spammy link exchange program; we cleaned 'em all up and filed a reinclusion request, and they are currently #1-3 for just about every relevant search phrase you could think of. They're ranking higher now than they ever did before the penalty - but it did take about a year to work their way up to that point.

Yes, I agree that it takes a long time to earn back your trust from Google.

But WebmasterWorld administrator asks a key question, Google may forgive, but do they forget? Tedster said:

I do think Google always has a record of the past penalty somewhere, and any future infractions might be dealt with quite harshly.

I am very confident Google records each and every penalty for a website, historically. This is incredibly important data for Google to have when manually reviewing a reconsideration request. Does Google have a three-strikes and your out rule? I doubt it, but all this information is 100% relevant for the process.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Order Of Disavow Link File Does Not Matter

Jul 9, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Be Careful With Google When Publishing AI Content

Jul 9, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Defends Hidden Search Terms As Solely Privacy Driven

Jul 9, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

New Google Search Console Discussion Forum Search Appearance Filter

Jul 9, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Generating Fewer Clicks? Why?

Jul 9, 2025 - 7:11 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 8, 2025

Jul 8, 2025 - 10:00 am
Previous Story: Google Webmaster Tools Warns Of Spikes in Bandwidth Fees