We all understand the importance of top Google rankings - and in some cases people may get a little desperate for rankings and try things they shouldn't. Or maybe they trusted the wrong SEO Firm and bad "black hat" stuff was done without them knowing.

However it happened, once you are in the doghouse with a Google penalty, is there a chance you'll get out?

First let's just take a quick look at the kinds of things you could get penalized for.

The most common transgressions are: keyword stuffing, cloaking (fake redirects), hidden text or hidden links, automatically generated doorway pages, paid links and automated linking systems.

So what happens when you get caught? It varies from dropping positions in the SERPs to being totally removed from the index.

The truth is that people's experiences are all over the map and some of it depends on what the transgressions were.

Some people report a long climb back to the top which lasts about a year and involves cleaning up the issues and submitting multiple reinclusion requests.

Note: Google has said it's OK to submit a request more than once if you don't get a response from your initial request - just don't bombard them over and over, wait a reasonable amount of time. Don't forget when you do submit a reinclusion request: always communicate how the problem happened in the first place, what was done to fix it and what was learned from the situation.

Others report that they are able to get indexed but not picked up in the SERPs no matter what they do.

The best thing you can do is avoid these bad practices and penalties to begin with. If it's too late for that, you should work with someone that knows their SEO stuff and can help you begin the rebuilding process. You will need to earn Google's trust back.

We believe, as do many others, that Google tracks penalties so if the same site happens to end up with another penalty, it will be harsher and harder to get out of.

The message is clear - avoid the wrath of Google and if it's too late, get some help to get your problems fixed and your site back in the SERPs.