My Google Recovery - Thanks GaryTheScubaGuy‎!

[Frank Benjamin]

Like many, I was slapped hard by Penguin last April. I used to rank in the top 5 for one of the sportsbooks that I promote plus a couple other nice keywords. That all changed after Penguin.

I started seeing my site return in the SERPs in August, just in time for the NFL season. I then started working on the site again and doing a little more SEO. Unfortunately, my site got slapped again and most of my traffic was coming from Italy for one keyword (not good when I only cover American sports).

A few weeks ago I reached out to GaryTheScubaGuy and asked his thoughts on two routes that I was ready to take: move the site to a new server or start all over with a new domain on a new server.

Gary suggested the first option with another suggestion of having it as a subdomain. This worked perfectly because I was already planning on migrating to a new server in a cost cutting move and I really didn't want to have to get new logos and such made for a new site.

The migration was finally completed on the 16th, but was on and off again over the previous week as I forgot a couple details and databases of other WP installs that I also had on the server.

So getting to the results....

I know it is VERY early in the move, but the results are promising.

I now rank 39 for the sportsbook that I once ranked in the top 5. I also rank in the 60's for another KY that I ranked in the top 10 and brought in some nice traffic.

WMT says I rank 33 for another targeted KY, but I couldn't find it while manually checking the SERPs. though it could be dancing a bit or I missed it, lol.

Anyway, I wanted to post this for others in the same predicament as me and also the thank Gary. This forum is fortunate to have someone like this that is willing to shell out this kind of suggestions and help for nothing - especially in a day and age where there are companies charging top dollar for recovery.

I will update this post periodically with results.

[GaryTheScubaGuy]

Thanks for that Frank. This is honestly the main reason I keep coming back to GPWA. This exact thing happened five or so years ago and someone approached me at a conference and thanked me. I've been hooked ever since. Lately its just finding the time.

I am actually coaching the guy that owns oddsnavigator.eu through the same problem, so its good to hear back from people when these things work like they are sup[posed to. Things always change and you can't test everything every time Google gets a wild hair.

Thanks again.

GaryTheScubaGuy

[Frank Benjamin]

Gary, you have helped me many times over the years and I can never repay you.

Do you have any advice on setting up a private network? I have 5 domains (3 currently live) all on unique class A servers and about 8 free blogs that I I have already used for SEO. I have been adding content on the domains without outbound links but plan to add a few articles for SEO in the near future. Anything special that I should consider?

Thanks again for ALL the help and advice!

[Frank Benjamin]

A little update...

It's incredible how the site has returned to the searches. While I am not ranking high for all of the KY's yet, I am happy to be in the top 20-60 for terms that I completely fell out the SERPs after the Penguin update. Impressions are up over 100 in just a 11 day span compared to a 15 day span before the change to a subdomain. I have images below.

As of typing this, I have seen and huge jump in SERPs for two of my main target KYs. Before today I was ranking consistently in the 50's for this one KY. But now I am dancing between 10 and 11. The other KY which was my main KY last year. When I first changed to a subdomain, I was ranking in the 20's for a day or two before falling completely out of the SERPs. But today I am now ranking #25.

I know there was a Panda update on the 20th, but I wouldn't think this would happen 10 days later. I have also redesigned my site over the last week, but Google is still showing an old version of my site in its cache. So I don't think either of these two things explain my jump in the SERPs for these two terms.

Since the change, I haven't done any SEO. I am going to start a little bit for a few of the sportsbooks I promote. Nothing crazy, just a 10-20% increase in backlinks. I am working on a list of onsite SEO and will post more about that in the coming months.

Here are the pics from WMT:



The above image is from before the move. Not only was it all over the place and didn't have clicks, the terms I was ranking for were worthless and most of them were ranking in other countries.



While the clicks are about the same the impressions are up, and this is a smaller sample size than the first image. Also, I am ranking for popular and searched KY's and the traffic is coming from the U.S., which I am targeting.

Impressions are only part of the what is going on. While the clicks on the two images above are the same, GA shows a 53.38% increase in Visits, 60.49% in Pageviews, and over a 400% increase on time on site!

How I wish I did this early in the NFL season instead of right before the Super Bowl, lol.

[Frank Benjamin]

Just a little update on my site's recovery.

The site is ranking for more and more keywords and I'm climbing for my targeted keywords. One thing that seemed to help is customizing my tag pages. They are keyword targeted and are ranking for some nice keywords. Over the last week my traffic has also increased significantly. Returning visits have also increased.

Now that my on-site SEO is complete I have started off-site SEO. I am expecting some more improvements from this first but of off-site SEO in a few weeks. I'll be sure to update then.

[nameeta26]

Hi, Frank,
Thanks for that thread, This is a very Google recovery bug post, I wanted to read something like this approximately two months ago, please continue putting in here articles like those.

[moran.poborsky]

great information! thanks for writing this!