How To Recover If Your Website Is De-Indexed by Google

What is your worst nightmare?

For many website owners, it is invariably the de-indexing of their websites by Google. After all, you put in all that effort, time and money to develop your website and then went through the entire process of SEO to get a good organic ranking. But in one fell swoop, you find your website is no longer visible on Google. This can happen for a number of reasons.

But thankfully, getting de-indexed is not an irreversible situation. You can, with time and diligent effort, recover your previous position in the Google SERPs (and maybe even improve upon it). And the first step to recovery is to determine why exactly your website was de-indexed. This is where you (or your website development services) should begin.

The following is a detailed discussion of the various reasons for which your site may have been de-indexed, along with the recovery procedures for each of them.

Poor Quality Content

Low-quality content can get you de-indexed from the Google SERPs. If you are using content that is machine-generated, such as those spun using automated article scrapers and content spinners, then beware. These are a direct violation of Google’s guidelines and can get you dropped from the SERPs. Another reason that you may be de-indexed is if you are using copied or duplicate content, or content on multiple pages which vary from each other only superficially.

If you are indulging in such practices, then it is time to stop. Delete the duplicate or machine-generated content first, and then invest some time to develop your own, original content. If you feel pressed for time, consider hiring a top website development company to do it for you.

Improper Linking Practices

Google frowns upon practices such as link buying or link exchanging. So, if your site has recently added a large number of links in a short period of time, it may be seen as a violation of Google’s guidelines and may result in your site getting de-indexed.
Further, if your website has a large number of hidden links or broken links, Google can penalize you as it views these as signs of improper website maintenance and design.

To recover from such problems, make sure your links are built naturally over time. Also, ask your website design services to perform periodic link audits of your site to remove broken or spam links that are harming your website.

Page Cloaking

Page Cloaking refers to the practice when different pages are seen by Google and users when they click the link. Google considers this to be a black-hat practice and will most certainly penalize your website by de-indexing it.
To recover, simply ask your website development services to remove such pages so that Google can view the same pages as your site visitors.

Google Updates

It is common knowledge that Google frequently updates its search algorithm to provide a better user experience. Often, this results in the changing of ranks of certain websites. In the worst-case scenario, your website may be entirely de-indexed as a result of an update. This is something over which you have no control.

If you find your website has vanished from Google just after an update is announced, contact your website design services to learn all about that particular update, understand what changes are needed to get your site indexed again, and then make sure that the same is applied.

Server Issues

If your web server experiences frequent crashes and outages, this can also result in your site getting de-indexed. Keep a close watch on the performance of your web host server. If you feel your site is getting de-indexed due to server issues, consider switching to a more reliable service. With time, your website should get re-indexed.

Expired Domain

Your site may have disappeared from Google simply because your domain license has expired! Be sure to make your domain payments on time so that your site continues to be live on the web.

And Finally…

Be patient. If your site has been de-indexed, it will take time for it to reappear and climb the SERP ladder again. Once you have identified the reason(s) for your website’s de-indexation, you need to take the proper steps, rectify the problems, and then submit a sitemap or reconsideration request with Google, depending on your situation. And if all this seems too much work, consider hiring a top web development agency to help you.

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