Are you aware of the things that could sabotage your precious website? I've read an interesting Forbes article titled The Saboteurs Of Search penned by Andy Greenberg. She noted 7 ways to sabotage a website. Here they are:

1. Google bowling
2. Tattling
3. Google insulation. This can be done by filling the SERPs with so much content that you move your competitors right off the page.
4. Copyright takedown notices. This is a marketing technique in and of itself. The article said:
Search engines can legally link to sites that steal copyrighted content-unless they've been notified of the site's copyright infringement. If a copyright holder files a complaint, a search engine must remove the page from its index for 10 days while the copyright holder decides whether to sue for infringement. So by filing a copyright complaint against a competitor, a site can sometimes have it temporarily erased from search engine results -though a fraudulent takedown notice is often a ground for a lawsuit.
5. Copied content. "If the same text appears on two different Web pages, one will be penalized in search results to avoid offering users a worthless entry," the article continued. "Sites that are older and more search-engine friendly than their competitors can sometimes rip off and republish a competitor's content, thereby hijacking its place in search results."
6. Denial of service.
7. Click fraud.

Some are old school ways but we should avoid them at all times. To start from scratch is in regard web promotion is a totally devastating story!