Have you ever wondered how Google goes about deciding whom to contact and whom not to? From folks I've talked to it is a bit of a problem for them since they really don't want to be giving the bad evil doers, (U know, this guy) a leg up.

As such, many people are often left to lament why Google doesn't tell them (what they're doing wrong) more often. Anyway....

Someone passed me this the other day;

Notice of detected unnatural links? Oh right, spamming. Interestingly, while I don't know the domain name, I do know it seems likely a whack of site-wides (from clean indexed sites) might have played into it.

Which of course raises the question; WTF if this is legitimate or even worse, a bombing attempt?

Would you be able to go back to them (via reconsideration request?) and say, “Hey, wasn't me... let me outta the penalty box!”. And then of course, would they believe you? I can't speak to this specific case, but it sure did get me thinking.

I am also aware, personally, of instances where Google has notified people that have been hacked (and had links dropped deep in the site). But there must be many instances they don't notify the webmaster.

Have you or your clients received notifications via GWT? I'd be interested in hearing about it.

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