Google’s Webmaster Central Team just announced a new communications console within Webmaster Tools.
I think for both agencies and little guys, this is outstanding news. I’ve said before that I think some bad behaviors by little webmasters tends to occur from good intentions (the road to hell, etc.). Having clear communications when these good intentions really do lead into hell will benefit the perpetrators, and hopefully improve overall content quality within SERPs.
As far as agencies are concerned, I already think Webmaster Central gives the agency a better view of what the client may be doing on their own, especially as far as ill-conceived (well undoubtedly well-intentioned) independent link-building is concerned. Having a formal communications channel when penalties or removals occur helps deal with client confusion, and to deal with the inevitable questions:
- “You’re an SEO. Can’t you just call someone at Google and have them fix it?” (no)
- “How can you tell I’m penalized?” (duh, check your traffic and indexing)
Ought to be fun to see how this develops…