Admission of Guilt Will No Longer Be Required For Google Reconsideration Request
Kudos to Michael for prompting Matt Cutts to agree that it is time to remove the requirement that one must admit to guilt, even if one believes he is innocent, before one is able to request reconsideration for dropping a Google penalty. Matt says:
Michael VanDeMar, just to give you a quick update, I dropped an email to someone at Google to request that we remove the text “I believe this site has violated Google’s quality guidelines in the past.??? from the checkbox in the reconsideration request form, and I requested some other modifications to the language of the form as well. It may take a while for the changes to be pushed in English, and then a while longer for the modifications to be done in all the different languages we offer, but I do think the changes will go through.
That’s been on my meaning-to-do list for a while, so thanks for pinging me about that form. While I was at it, I asked the person to modify our SEO tips and advice page to remove the “you should insist on a full and unconditional money-back guarantee??? sentence as well. I know that was another point that people sometimes objected to.
It has long been a bone of contention that someone couldn't request reinclusion without admitting to guilt, even if that someone thought it was a mistake on Google's part, and not a result of wrongdoing on his part. It is good to see that is going to be eliminated…finally.
Also nice to see that the whole guarantee thing is going away as well. Past time for that too. I know lots of people have complained about these issues, but gotta give props to Michael for being the catalyst that finally caused Matt to act upon them. Thanks, Michael, and thanks, Matt. Two thumbs up!
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Wow, Matt is all over the past the past few days. Does he does this often before a major conference?
The Q&A at the next SEO conference that Matt attends is going to be "interesting".
I am guessing Matt is kicking up his PR machine to either scare webmasters into not buying links or get a large audience at his sessions.
He doesn't really need to do that because I would always hear him talk so I can try to "read between the lines" of what he is saying.
I figure that if I can address the most common questions or concerns before PubCon, that will leave more time for discussing different subjects.
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Matt,
If you come back to read this, I would like to start a discussion at PubCon on how to claim your content is the original. Can we have a ping system set up in WebMaster Tools?
I just had two competitors copy my content (one from a publicly traded company) so it would be nice to know I don't need to track them down since I know that Google knows I am the original source.
Dave Dugdale
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Dave, other people have asked about tools to protect content or detect duplication or scraping. There's nothing to announce right now, but I have heard that feedback and would enjoy chatting with you about it at PubCon.
Good show MV; and thanks, Matt.
Matt, sounds like you guys are either working on a tool for this or at least thinking of creating one to claim your content. That's great!
I would think this issue would be a very hard one for Google to solve.
Thanks,
Dave Dugdale
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LOL that text DID have a bit of a Spanish Inquisition ring to it – did it not?
In fact it's a pity it's gone {sheds tear for the good old times}
[...] mentioned he started the ball rolling on, that DazzlinDonna posted about back on Dec 3rd, "Admission of Guilt Will No Longer Be Required For Google Reconsideration Request", have indeed gone through. For the most part, that [...]
[...] Google Reconsideration Request (formerly known as the Reinclusion Request), that were discussed on SEO Scoop back on December 3rd and here on Smackdown again on the 18th, have finally gone through. Essentially, the changes have [...]
[...] This was important based on the discussion regarding Donna's reconsideration request. [...]
I hope I never need reconsideration. Lol – great post