Google is believed to apply a variety of filters to sites that fail to follow their TOS. More often than not, if you correct all errors, you will be forgiven and filters will be removed (even with no reconsideration request required). The major problem is, webmasters might be completely unaware of the fact the site is filtered or under penalty. They might be unaware of (internal) duplicate content problem, notorious bad neighborhood problems or “over-optimization” issues. The possible issues might be numerous and they can be totally invisible even to an SEO-savvy person. So here are a few flags that might mean your site is forced to have lower rankings than it deserves due to the penalty or filter: 1. Sudden Google referral traffic drop (or sudden loss of major rankings). As discussed … Read entire article »