How to quickly check if your domain was penalized by google

In this post I will show you how to see if your domain has any penalties such as spam penalties, or duplicate content penalties.

The "long" way

If you are familiar with Google Analytics, then you probably know about Google Webmaster Tools.

The reason why this is the long way is due to the fact that you have to set up your site through Webmaster tools, and then submit a sitemap, wait for everything to be indexed, yadda, yadda.

Google Webmaster tools can show you all of your warnings, and penalties.

I currently do not have any penalties, so everything checks out just fine.

If you had any problems with your site, it would show up either here, or under messages.

Rule of thumb: Don't post spam, or stuff your pages with keywords. Post good content that's relevant and adds value to the net.

The quick way

Okay, here it is. I will now teach you how to easily check Google to see the status of your site.

We are going to be using my site as an example:

So, basically we are going to be checking "footprints" in Google, and we are hoping for good results.

So, the first step is to open your browser in incognito/private mode.
Then, navigate to Google.

Type this in Google:

site:yourwebsite.extension 

e.g.

site:caffeinatedgaming.com

Oh good, my site is properly indexed in Google. This is a great sign that we are not penalized.

But, that's not all we have to check. Now let's try the next test:

sitename extension

e.g.

caffeinatedgaming com

This is another check to see if we have spam marks against our domain. This should return your site on the first page. If it does not, then it is a good chance that you are penalized.

Shown below:

How to exactly check if you received a penalty:

It's always easy to check if you have a penalty because there are two kinds of penalties. Automatic and manual penalties.

Automatic penalties are the hardest to check because there are no notifications when your site receives one.

Manual penalties are easy to check for, because if you are using Google's Webmaster Tools, then you will be notified.

Other ways to check for penalties:

• Check your Google Analytics account for Traffic Data. Usually a penalty will result in severe detriments for your traffic flow. So if you see that your traffic is moving at a normal rate, then some day along the graph, your traffic takes a head-dive, or you stop receiving traffic altogether, then it is a good indication that you received a penalty.
• Check for a recent Google Algorithm update, as these flag sites, and issue all of the automatic penalties.

Don't mistake a traffic change for a specific keyword has a penalty. This is just an indication that the keyword has lost interest with the general public.

What can cause a penalty exactly?

So this is pretty much common sense. Don't use Black Hat SEO tactics such as buying PR links, or buying PBNs. Don't use duplicate content either, as this is a sure-fire way to get marked instantly.

How to remove a penalty?

Well this is where the fun nightmare begins. Google doesn't usually remove penalties, unless you prove that you are engaging in healthy site activity. (New relevant content, natural link building, natural social signals, etc)

The other way is to use their Reconsideration Request. You can perform a search for this as I will not link to it. Google suggests that you only send in a request if you get a manual penalty. If the penalty is algorithm related, then fix your on-site/off-site SEO that is now "negative".

Well, that's it for now, thank you for reading, and if you have any questions, please leave them below!

Thank you,

Kyle