Fake Google Penalty Emails to German Webmasters

May 11th, 2007

Several German webmasters received fake penalty notification emails that allegedly came from Google Search Quality from donotreply@gmail.com. Google has clarified that these emails have not been issued by Google.

Search Engine Roundtable points to a discussion at WebmasterWorld thread where he as well as others have been receiving “Google Search Quality Team” emails warning of bans.

Google has clarified that these emails are not related to any of Google’s efforts concerning webmaster notification and they have temporarily discontinued sending such emails till they provide more secure communication mechanisms. They further clarify that 301 redirects (mentioned in those emails) are not a violation of Google Webmaster Guidelines.

How to identify a true Google email?

* The sender email has an @google.com address
* Google emails never include an attachment.
* They direct the webmaster to a reinclusion request form

Google drives huge search engine traffic to websites and such warning emails can really make webmasters anxious. Follow the webmaster guidelines always and you have no reason to worry. And if you are truly banned by Google, file a reinclusion request.

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