With only 72 individuals actually putting their input it, it’s not the most accurate poll but we can draw something out of it (other than the obvious don’t get removed!). The largest group (25%) is the over 3 months category which is worrying. But think about it, why should Google just to reinclude your site after being deemed to have broken the guidelines.

As the RustyBrick folks were quick to point out, the results are really all over the place. But with over a quarter of the results coming in at over 2 months it’s a bit worrisome.

So what do we draw from this? It’s not that white hat is the way to go or that black hat is evil, it’s knowing where the line is drawn. Be careful and clever with your optimization efforts people! If you’re not, you’re looking at possibly 3 months of being banned by Google and that is IF you have a case for reinclusion.