Google banned - More than just index removal

February 22nd, 2007

Almost a whole year ago, I wrote about the events management website coole.co.uk. They have been busted by Matt Cutts for stuffing a whole load of keyword stuffed, hidden text on their website, for which they were removed from the Google index.

I thought I’d check back on them last night and see if they’d sorted their act out yet. They’ve had a bit of a redesign and have removed the hidden text, but they are still not in the Google index. The interesting thing is, they have a Google Coop search box on their homepage and when I tried to perform a search, I got this:

“Unfortunately, the site violates our terms of service so your search could not be completed.” So I guess this means, if you break Google’s terms of service, not only are you removed from their index, but you are unable to use their services! No search boxes, no adsense, no maps.

Becoming reliant on the ever increasing array of Google services means a greater loss if you break the rules. So play nice