Once upon a time, you had a decent search engine ranking for your website. Recently, though, it’s more or less fallen off the map, and your ability to connect with an online audience is suffering as a result. How can you tell whether the problem is because of a Google penalty, or if it’s just the competition beating you out?

\”It’s kind of tricky because we have a large amount of algorithms that all interact,\” says Matt Cutts, head of the Google webspam team that basically controls the direction of the search algorithms and how they affect SEO, or search engine optimization. It might be difficult initially to understand why your website is being \”punished.\” Luckily, there are multiple ways you can get your website back on track and connecting with the consumers out there searching for it.

How to Deal with a Google Penalty

Many people still new to SEO are surprised to learn that Google does, in fact, penalize sites engaging in \”spammy\” tactics. If Google feels you are intentionally and illegitimately trying to raise your rank, they can go so far as to completely remove you from the results people see. This has recently happened to several major websites, including Rap Genius, which saw an 80% plummet in daily hits when this happened.

One way to check for a Google-induced penalty is by going to Google’s Webmaster Tools, which will list if you have a penalty notification. You can also check to see if there are crawl errors listed with your website, which could be a problem. If Google hasn’t penalized you but you realize there are low-quality links directing to your website that could hurt you, you can use Google’s disavow tool to cut ties with them.

How to Deal with Better Competition

It might be that there’s nothing wrong with your links — there just simply isn’t enough going on with your SEO, and your competition has been in touch with better SEO experts. In this case, you’re going to need to re-think your current search engine optimization strategies. Have you been doing the work yourself, or working with small business SEO services? If you’re working with someone, why is there a disconnect between what you expect to see, and what they’re getting you?

Often, the issue with a search marketing company you’ll encounter is that they’re using outdated techniques in a fast-paced industry. If they haven’t changed their approach after the latest big algorithm changes of Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird, then they’re behind. In this case, your best bet might be to find new SEO services, and a company that provides better feedback on how your campaign is doing, and how to maintain a great search rank.

What type of SEO services are you using? Let us know in the comments. More like this blog.