A friend of mine has a web site that used to do very well on Google. But suddenly he has fallen off the Google map.

Just to make sure I tested his site here:
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/sitestatus  And yup, he wasn’t listed.

When a new site isn’t listed, I don’t worry too much. When a site that’s been around for more than a few months isn’t listed, I get worried.

The first thing I did was check Google’s web site guidelines:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

First I scroll to the bottom of that page and check out their quality guidelines and make sure that the site adheres to those rules. If not, I fix it. Then I re-submit the site to Google.

Google outlines the process of adding a site to Google. Generally I use the “add a URL” link (http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl). I check back after a few weeks. If we still aren’t showing up, I create an XML site map (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/docs/en/sitemap-generator.html). Actually I use this tool (http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/) to do it.

I don’t start with the XML site map because I have had some mixed luck with it – but the nice thing about it is that it will provide you with some information on how Google views your site and that can be helpful in diagnosing any possible problems.

It doesn’t happen very often – but it does happen that a web site gets blacklisted by Google. The steps above should help fix it.

Thanks! Ann

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