[generichard115]

Most SEO articles are focused on stressing what to do and what not to in order to stay away from being penalized by Google. However, if you happen to be unlucky and have been penalized due to unknown spams you weren't aware about their existence you shouldn't as is it not the end of the world yet. You can still do some efforts to lift yourself from being penalized. And one thing to do is to first make sure that you really are penalized. An indication of such is when your ranking dropped. So if you have proven this, then that's the only time you should contact Google for negotiation and other necessary process you need to undergo.