It seems as though your Twitter and Instagram activity really saved your skin in a traffic sense here Dominique. 

I think Glen's confused for the same reasons as me…

Page Rank updates have nothing to do with traffic. Deindexing means your site is removed from google, zero search traffic.

If it was a manual PageRank hit, other members had a number showing immediately after they got greenlighted, I still see 0 for you?

If it was deindexing, no google traffic should mean less traffic, not more?

Tom,

The reason I believe I was de-indexed and hit with a page rank of 0 was b/c of Google's message. 

At first I was in violation of "unnatural links" then I was told I violated "quality guidelines" and was provided the following message..

"In order to preserve the quality of our search engine, pages from http://www.yourfinancessimplified.com/ may not appear or may not rank as highly in Google's search results, or may otherwise be considered to be less trustworthy than sites which follow the quality guidelines. "

Reviewing the message it seems they dropped my page rank to 0 and the weight of existing and future keywords/linking efforts.

Once I cleared the manual webspam team and quality guideline hurdle I was told

"It may take some time before our indexing and ranking systems are updated to reflect the new status of your site"

I guess the de-indexing part does not add up (using your definition).. but, if Google dropped the weight / ranking of my site my organic traffic should not have surged at all.  Google represents a lot of my traffic!

Page Rank updates have nothing to do with traffic. Deindexing means your site is removed from google, zero search traffic.

If it was a manual PageRank hit, other members had a number showing immediately after they got greenlighted, I still see 0 for you?

If it was deindexing, no google traffic should mean less traffic, not more?

My problem was in the 'widget section" of my blog.  It was easy to see and affected every single last page of my blog. If I had to do it all over again I would instantly remove everything from widget area that has outbound links, then apply for reconsideration.  I removed things in my widget areas last.

Remember a manual Google team found this, not the automated algorithm.  Meaning, a team of people went to my blog and looked for stuff. They will most likely ding things that are easy to see, because they are reviewing your site from the stand point of a normal user.

just a few tips for those who didn't email me yet.

Not sure I understand what happened to you?  You were de-indexed and your traffic increased?

Glen I was taken back  by it as well.  I guess it also takes time for all your links to naturally fall from their positions. I had a very aggressive back linking, guest posting schedule before the last page rank update stripped me my page rank / indexing. 

1st page rank updated my traffic was 80% direct traffic

2nd page rank updated (the one I was hurt) my traffic was 80% of my traffic

That was a huge change in my traffic sources!

The only thing I can think of is the reason I provided in the 2nd and 3rd sentences of this reply.  I honestly think when Google de-indexed me what that really means is, you cannot add to your current positions. 

To add it all together what attributed to my traffic increase was:

Kept with the back linking strategy

aggressive guest posting/staff writing 20+ posts a month

using Corey for carnival submissions (shameless plug)

increased twitter interaction (I really focused on being myself instead of simply posting links)

instagram linked with twitter (pictures of personal life)

buffer + social bro (best time tweet)

weekly podcast (2 guys and your money.) (At least 4-5 yakezie bloggers do this with me) (promotion)

Video blogging

word of mouth! (More non-yakezie aka personal fiance blogger interact with me)

Major blog features (Huffpost 3x etc etc)

As you can see, I kept busy.  I diversified my traffic sources tremendously despite google "de-indexing". 

If you would like screen shots of traffic/page views from then and now.  I wouldn't mind showing you.

Think of it this way…

We all go to Google U

I was expelled from Google U (de-indexed)

You used to be an A student and now you are a C student (page rank lowered)

See how our problems are different?

I was kicked out because of misbehavior.. I did my time and now I'm getting let back in the university, but now I have to deal with the stricter curriculum (panda update) that made your grade slip from A to C.

I have no clue what my page rank will be once my website goes through the panda ringer.  I'm just happy I'm allowed to attend class again.

I hope that makes sense :-)

Congratulation on getting your PR back! It sounds like I'll have to spend sometime on the Webmaster forum. 

Can you share with us what that 1 link was?  It likely affects many here.  Plus, it is nice for others to know to avoid it.

I don't think it would be a good idea to share what I thought the link was in a public forum.  Please email me if you would like specifics.

Sounds like a lot of work. Congrats on being successful.

Thank you.. it was time consuming especially when I "fixed" the wrong things.  I thought I was in violation because of "key words" I literally edited every post for keywords.  Took me forever! I did a lot of things and spent a lot of hours fixing things that weren't the issue.  I wish they just told me what I did wrong in the beginning.