You may be wondering, specifically–why would I ask a question like this? And then try to answer it. Well, it may seem like a no-brainer. Upon first thought, you might think that this is one of the dumbest questions. But let’s delve into this deeper and look at a specific example of a website that removed themselves from Google and then examine the search results a day later, after they have “undone” what they previously did–which was to remove themselves from Google.

As you might be not be aware, RipoffReport.com accidentally removed themselves from the Google search engine by entering that directive in Google Webmaster Tools. Google verified that they removed themselves–but now, less than 24 hours later, the website is now back, with hundreds of thousands of pages back in Google.

If you haven’t heard of Ripoffreport.com, it is a website that prides itself on making companies’ businesses difficult by catering to negative business reviews. Companies do not like the fact web pages from that website rank so well for their company name, and provides an overall online reputation management nightmare for lots of companies. I have heard from colleagues that the company charges as much as $16,000 or more to have their online listings removed from the website changed. That’s just a rumor, as I have no actual proof. But generally speaking, many think the business is no good–and is essentially blackmail.

But let’s get back to the question at hand. Does removing your website from Google hurt your search engine rankings? Yes, obviously if your website is not listed in Google then you aren’t going to get any traffic from Google. However, it appears that once you are re-listed, as in the case of Ripoff Report, your search engine rankings will come back–and the screen capture below show exactly what I mean.

Last night, at about 10:00pm Central Standard Time, a search for site:ripoffreport.com showed absolutely no search results in Google. But this morning, as I post this, the website is back in the Google search results. And it appears that their search engine rankings, such as a search for “Radialabs”, are back.

Does removing your website from Google hurt your search engine rankings? Yes, as long as your site is NOT in Google. But once you are back in the search engine, your rankings appear to come back, rather quickly. Keep in mind that the website was NOT banned in Google. The search engine did not remove the website. That is a big difference here, and being banned from the search engine will hurt your search engine rankings.

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