I'm Deindexed... Now What?

Mar 25, 2008 - 9:27 am 6 by
Filed Under Cloaking

A High Rankings Forum member has lost his high rankings (no pun intended). Apparently, he's been deindexed since January 2008. His first inclination at this point is to check the IP address, assuming everything else is looking good.

Is the IP really the right direction to go? As one member puts it, it can help, but moderator Randy has a different take.

As a general rule the search engines do not ban IP numbers. There are simply too many sites out there on shared hosting plans, so if they did they'd end up throwing out a lot of babies with the bathwater.

So what can you do instead? First, check if the search engine spiders are visiting at all. If they're not, you might be right about the IP blockage. But also investigate other possible reasons for being deindexed. Here's what you can do to check:

  1. Make sure your robots.txt file isn't blocking spiders.
  2. Browse your site as Googlebot and see what the spider sees.
  3. Investigate files and ensure they aren't hacked.
  4. Run Xenu on your website and check any external links
  5. Register your site with Google's Webmaster Tools to check for red flags

What else would you add to this list?

Forum discussion continues at High Rankings Forums.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Follow

Search Video Recaps

 
Google Core Update Rumbling, Manual Actions FAQs, Core Web Vitals Updates, AI, Bing, Ads & More - YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google Updates

Google Urges Patience As The March 2024 Core Update Continues To Rollout

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:51 am
Google

Official: Google Replaces Perspective Filter With Forums Filter

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Now Offers Additional Review After Appeal Is Denied

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:31 am
Google Maps

EU Searchers Complaining About Google Maps Features Changes Related To DMA

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Showing Fewer Sitelinks Within Search

Mar 18, 2024 - 7:11 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 15, 2024

Mar 15, 2024 - 4:00 pm
Previous Story: SEO Clients Not Being Responsive?