I've had a number of emails from readers who have inadvertently spammed the search engines and now, for all intents and Google searches, do not exist. The cry from these worried business owners is high and lonesome: How do we get back in the good graces of the search engines?

For those of you who have committed search engine sin, it's time to read today's article, by Paul Bruemmer. He wrote this article (at your request!) to deliver search engine salvation.

Near the bottom of today's issue, you'll find reader responses to a reader's problem: how many pages should you submit to the search engines?

We're still working on the best way to publish responses to reader questions, so for now they're going to appear towards the bottom, down by our new WebPro feature: free downloads!

Answering questions makes my day! Thanks to everyone who's written in.

Garrett

Search Engine Damage Control
By Paul J. Bruemmer
Web-Ignite Corporation

Google and other search engines will boot anyone using spam tactics to get high rankings. Should marketers fear these threats? You better believe it. What can be done as damage control if you suspect you’ve been penalized?

If you believe you have inadvertently spammed Google or others and wish you could clean-up your act, I have some good news for you.

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First Things First

Begin by reviewing some of the possible reasons for your page/s being excluded from the database. For instance, Google, and most others, publish a page with Reasons your site may not be included. Take a look at each engine to determine if you have inadvertently breached their guidelines or simply have not followed the correct procedures for getting listed in the database.

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If you suspect your page was manually removed from a search engines index because of spamming, the engine will likely not comment on the reasons for removal. Furthermore, they will not give you an exhaustive list of practices that can cause removal.

Spamming Tactics

Below are some of the common tactics identified as search engine spam:

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Getting Caught

If you intentionally spam the engines with any of the above tactics and get caught, the removal of your links will be disturbing when you are penalized. Spamming is not worth the temporary benefits. Search engine marketing done right is a long-lasting marketing investment, so don't jeopardize your rankings with any suggestion of spamming a search engine. Search engines have many ways to detect spamming with so called spam filters. They also actively encourage spam reporting by users. So even if you get by the spam filters a few times, others might report you, especially your competitors.

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Getting Back on Google

If your site was removed from Google's database, the first thing to do is to clean up the page/s and send a re-inclusion request to help@google.com. Google probably won't make any guarantees about if and when it will re-include your site. If everything is in order, your site should reappear in a month on the next Google refresh.

Before re-submitting your site, ensure there are no technical problems with your server. Check for any robots.txt files that turn away search engine spiders. Remember, if you use frames or Flash, it can be hard to get indexed. You need plenty of relevant text on your pages and tags to get indexed by search engine crawlers.

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In any event, you should contact the search engine in writing. Also make an attempt to contact them by phone. Admit your mistake and make a sincere promise that it will not happen again.
Read more about getting back on other search engines.

	When submitting is it best only to submit the index page or is it advisable to submit 3 or 4 sub links as well? Chris When you submit your web site to the search engines it is best to only submit the main or home page. The search engine spiders will crawl the rest of the site. Also, your meta tags should only be on the home page. Anita Cohen-Williams Generally speaking it's best to submit your main index page as well as some of the key entry pages to your site. By key entry pages I mean the home-page for your different solutions etc. However, some indexes, particularly directories consider it spamming if you submit more than once so ensure that you read the instructions on each individual site carefully and adhere to them. (According to my sources, the pages you submit must be rich with relevant content. Any pages that are link lists are typically considered spam, so put descriptions on your index page if you're submitting that. --G) Hope that helps (asked to remain anonymous)

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