Search Engine Land
  • SEO
    • > All SEO
    • > What Is SEO?
    • > SEO Periodic Table
    • > Google: SEO
    • > Bing SEO
    • > Google Algorithm Updates
  • PPC
    • > All PPC
    • > What is PPC?
    • > Google Ads
    • > Microsoft Ads
    • > The Periodic Tables of PPC
  • Focuses
    • > Local
    • > Commerce
    • > Shopify SEO Guide
    • > Content
    • > Email Marketing Periodic Table
    • > Social Media Marketing
    • > Analytics
    • > Search Engine Land Awards
    • > All Focuses
  • SMX
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • About
    • > About Search Engine Land
    • > Newsletter
    • > Third Door Media
    • > Advertise

Processing...Please wait.

Search Engine Land » Google » Google: SEO » Google Says No Comment On Why Interflora Was Penalized

Google Says No Comment On Why Interflora Was Penalized

The popular UK flower website Interflora seems to have been penalized in Google. They no longer rank for their key terms, such as [flowers], [flower delivery] and related terms — nor do they rank for their own name [Interflora]. Here is a picture of the search results in Google UK for [Interflora]. As you can […]

Barry Schwartz on February 22, 2013 at 8:52 am

The popular UK flower website Interflora seems to have been penalized in Google. They no longer rank for their key terms, such as [flowers], [flower delivery] and related terms — nor do they rank for their own name [Interflora]. Here is a picture of the search results in Google UK for [Interflora].

interflora-google-ban

As you can see, the number one ranking is not Interflora.co.uk; they are only coming up on the first page right now because they have paid for an AdWords listing.

We asked Google to confirm if they have penalized Interflora for any reason, and Google would not comment. They said:

We typically don’t comment on whether we’ve taken corrective webspam action regarding specific companies.

Well, Google does typically comment on corrective webspam action when it comes to large companies not playing by the rules. They’ve done so for JC Penney’s link scheme ordeal, they’ve done so for Forbes and Overstock, as well.

We’ve emailed Interflora for a comment but have not yet heard back. We’ve also emailed some of the SEO companies that listed Interflora as their client and have not heard back yet.

From the looks of it, it seems like this was a link penalty. Typically, in these cases of not ranking for your own name, it shows someone was penalized for buying links. Of course, I was not able to confirm that to be the case with Google, so this is all speculation.

Martin McDonald shows tweets from webmasters who claim they have been asked by Interflora to remove links pointing to their website. That is yet another indication that Interflora is rushing to remove possible bad links pointing to their website.

So now Interflora have asked me to remove all links from my post including the one to their homepage…

— Sarah (@amilliondresses) February 21, 2013

It seems as if Interflora gave bloggers free gifts for blogging about the site. Again, I cannot confirm this is the reason Interflora is no longer ranking well in Google, but it seems likely.

David Naylor shows approximately how much traffic they lost because of the Google penalty, and it is not pretty. Anthony Shapley from David Naylor’s company also posted what he thinks really happened.

Postscript: See our follow up story on why we believe Interflora was penalized named Google Dishes Out PageRank Penalties To UK Newspaper Web Sites For Selling Links. At 3pm, Google’s Matt Cutts warned about using advertorials for passing PageRank.

Related Stories:

  • Google’s Chrome Page No Longer Ranks For “Browser” After Sponsored Post Penalty
  • Google Now Reports “Practically 100%” Of Manual Actions
  • Official: Google On How & When Ranking Penalties Are Removed
  • Google Reminds Webmasters: Selling Links Can Lead To PageRank Penalty
  • Matt Cutts On Penalties Vs. Algorithm Changes, A Disavow-This-Link Tool & More
  • Got A Google Penalty? A Workflow For Managing Google Penalties
  • 90 Days Later, J.C. Penney Regains Its Google Rankings
  • iAcquire Banned From Google After Link Buying Allegations
  • Google Eliminates Another Link Network, BuildMyRank.com – Just One Of Several?

New on Search Engine Land

    Google search results spam for ‘Bill Slawski obituary’ shows the dark side of SEO

    New mobile Google ad experiment puts favicon in-line with display URL

    Google launches video health tools to help publisher monetization

    SEO pioneer and expert Bill Slawski passes away

    New Yelp feature: Request a Call

About The Author

Barry Schwartz
Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

Related Topics

GoogleGoogle: SEOSEO

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Learn actionable search marketing tactics that can help you drive more traffic, leads, and revenue.

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 15-16, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

Discover time-saving technologies and actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges.

Start Discovering Now: Spring (virtual)

September 28-29, 2022: Fall (virtual)

Learn More About Our MarTech Events

Webinars

Take a Crawl, Walk, Run Approach to Multi-Channel ABM

Content Comes First: Transform Your Operations With DAM

Dominate Your Competition with Google Auction Insights and Search Intelligence

See More Webinars

Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports

White Papers

Reputation Management For Healthcare Organizations

Unlock the App Marketing Potential of QR Codes

Realising the power of virtual events for demand generation

The Progressive Marketer’s Ultimate Events Strategy 2022 Worksheet

CMO Guide: How to Plan Smart and Pivot Fast

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily search news and analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • SEO
  • PPC

Our Events

  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX
  • MarTech

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.