Google Ventures-Backed RetailMeNot Climbs Out Of Its Google Penalty

What changes did RetailMeNot make to recover from the Google Panda algorithm? It is unclear but their rankings did bounce back.

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RetailMeNot, a ventured-back Google company that helps users find coupons and discounts at retail stores, was hit hard by Google’s Panda algorithm when they released Panda 4.0 in May 2014. Since then, RetailMeNot has climbed its way out of that Google penalty – Google doesn’t like to call algorithmic updates penalties – and is ranking better than ever according to SearchMetrics data.

It seems that RetailMeNot has seen a steady increase in their Google rankings return soon after the Google Panda 4.1 update touched down in late September 2014. Here is a chart from SearchMetrics that shows how well their rankings are for their main keywords in Google’s search results:

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As you can see, their search visibility is the best it has been in over a year, and even better than two years ago. It is unclear what changes RetailMeNot made to be released from the Panda update. We asked RetailMeNot for a comment on what changes they made, if it was content, structural or something else. We asked if they made no changes and if Google just updated their algorithm. RetailMeNot responded that they would not comment on their Google rankings.

Back when Panda 4.0 hit them, they said the reports greatly overstated. But when their rankings have returned, they have no comment.

SeekingAlpha noticed that despite their Google ranking growth, their stock has not reflected the increase in the renewed search traffic.


About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is 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.

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