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Why has Google dropped all my webpages from search results?

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I recently changed the link structure of an eCommerce site I started a month ago. It was driving a small trickle of traffic at the time.

I changed the link structure from /shop/*products to /buy/*products.

After this change I got hundreds of 404 errors in WMT (WebMaster Tools. Then, as my content was re-crawled, I noticed that my pages weren't appearing back in Google search results under the new URL.

Now my site does not show up for any keyword; NONE! It's still indexed, and I submitted a request for reconsideration which stated "no spam action taken". I then created 301 redirects for ALL the 404 errors.

Its been a month and no recovery in Google's search results. The only good thing is I don't see any 404 errors anymore. Other than that I think I am about to abandon my site. I think that the penalty still counts past existing pages even if they were deactivated as duplicated content.

What's going on?

‹ What are some of the latest SEO techniques in 2012? Why is my high quality website not appearing on the first page of Google's search results? ›

Re-ranking in Google search results will take time

It’s possible there are other problems with your pages preventing them from being returned in search results…

However, I would say that it may take a bit longer than a month for Google to start "trusting" your site again. Here's why:

It seems that you created 301 redirects a long time after you made changes to the URL structure. This has two effects, from google's perspective:

  1. All your pages disappear overnight
  2. Duplicate pages containing the same content as the pages that disappeared starts appearing

This is why you received so many 404 errors initially. As time went on, the disappeared pages were removed from the index, and new ones added.

However, without the 301 redirect, Google treats these pages as brand new. They have to build up their old rank from the start. Also, there is no guarantee that they will rank the same the second time round.

I note that you did start adding 301's to some pages and this will help. However, my advice is to give it more time than a month as your pages, more or less, have to start from scratch again.

Hopefully you won't have to wait too long to start seeing your pages in the search results again.

Submitted by David Mercer on 14 August, 2012.
David Mercer's picture
WSM4B

I am a software developer, serial entrepreneur and bestselling author of programming, development, eCommerce and marketing books.

I love solving complex problems and bringing cool solutions to market. I have a cum laude science degree (double major in applied mathematics and mathematics), and 15 years of Web development, programming and online business experience.