Search engines must be more transparent on search penalties

Hello,
and thank you for visiting newsR, our news navigator which provides original news coverage of world events as well as syndicated content from trusted news providers around the globe.

Our network of sites spans three languages and many countries, and we have worked hard to provide our users with a valuable online resource - helping you keep up to date with the latest news events and discover the best media coverage online. In the year 2012 alone we served more than 15 million users.

However, it hasn't always been smooth sailing for us. In particular, for reasons still unknown to us, Google accidentally subjected our site to a search penalty, effectively causing all Google visitor traffic to disappear almost overnight for a prolonged period of nine months. Given Google's dominant market position in search, such drastic restrictions can severely impact any online business.

A serious problem with penalties imposed by search engines, the effective gatekeepers of the internet, is that search engines are not transparent enough when it comes to informing concerned website owners about any punitive restrictions imposed - often accidentally - on their websites. There is currently no means for website owners to find out whether a penalty is in place, and why.

We have therefore mobilised a campaign called "Have I been penalized..?" which calls for greater openness and transparency from leading search engines on the subject of penalties.

Website owners should have the right to know when their site has been subjected to a punitive penalty and should be offered an efficient appeals process in case the measures were imposed accidentally.

Please join our "Have I been penalized..?" campaign mailing list to keep up to date with our campaign initiatives and developments.

Thank you.
Dr. Marc Pinter-Krainer
Founder & CEO, newsR