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Reasons for Dropping Out of the Index During Website Promotion

24 March, 2013

Dropping out of the index refers to a situation where a website with a significant ranking parameter suddenly disappears from search engine results. This issue can arise from either a site ban by search engines or a technical error. Below are the potential causes for a website to leave search engine indexes.

Site Ban and Its Causes

  1. Use of Prohibited SEO Techniques
    • Link Spamming: The site owner employs forbidden tactics to artificially increase the number of external links.
    • Excessive Purchased Links: Search engines disfavor sites with numerous purchased links that don’t relate to the site’s primary content.
    • Irrelevant Outbound Links: Publishing content with external links to non-thematic directories can lead to penalties.
    • Link Overload: Having too many outbound links, generally more than three per page, can trigger a ban.
  2. Low Content Uniqueness
    • Plagiarized Content: Websites filled with non-original texts copied from other sites are quickly removed from search indexes as search engines efficiently detect copyright violations.
    • Unauthorized Multimedia: Publishing others’ audio and video materials without permission can also lead to removal if a complaint is filed by the copyright holder.
  3. Black Hat SEO Techniques
    • Keyword Stuffing: Overuse of key phrases can result in penalties.
    • Redirects and Cloaking: Using deceptive practices like redirects and hidden texts threaten a site with bans.

Accidental Site Drop

Technical issues can also cause a site to unintentionally drop from search engine indexes. Common causes include:

  • Hosting Downtime: If the site is inaccessible during a search engine crawl, it may be dropped from the index.
  • Incorrect Robots.txt File: Misconfigurations can block search engine crawlers.
  • Search Engine Errors: Occasionally, technical glitches on the part of search engines can cause drops.

Resolving the Issue

Directly contacting support can help determine the exact cause of the issue. If the drop is due to a ban, the only solution is to rectify the underlying issues, such as removing non-original content and ceasing the use of prohibited promotion methods.

Conclusion

Understanding these causes can help in preventing drops from search engine indexes and maintaining a healthy website ranking. Regular monitoring and adherence to SEO best practices are key to avoiding such issues.