2by4 - 8:19 pm on Mar 15, 2005 (gmt 0)

ciml, in the above example:
kw1 900,000,000 results
kw2 150,000,000 results
kw3 30,000,000 results
kw4 200,000,000 results

Phrase 1 = kw1 + kw2 + kw3 -> algoed
Phrase 2 = kw1 + kw4 + kw3 -> not algoed

When the site became unalgoed in alegra, searches for phrase 1 are about 10 times more common than searches for phrase 2. Both phrases rank about the same. Both phrases return about the same number of results.

If the site as a whole had been algoed as a whole, how could this be? Every phrase should have been equally depressed in the serps, but this was't the case. And many others have noted this as well. Other phrases were not algoed. But the competitive phrases were. When site became de-algoed, serp positions were almost exactly the same as before being algoed, and those positions are basically exactly the same as what was returned using the allin type tests during it's algoation.

I don't think google is running two algos, one pre march 04, one post march 04. That simply doesn't make any sense, it violates the most basic rule of computer programming: keep it simple, don't run dual systems, they are a pain to maintain, as anyone who's ever tried to run a bilingual website, or a dual ns 4 / other browser site can tell you. I always look for the simplest explanation. The google guys are good programmers, they aren't going to tie themselves into that type of web. My guess is a new site flag coupled with the hilltop filter, which does contain that type of keyword search phrase list. Flag on page + hilltop = sandbox is my guess.

I suspect beedee could tell us if it was agressive link campaigning that algoed his sites, that's a very simple thing to determine, if the site is algoed, and no aggressive link campaign happened, that doesn't seem like an adequate explanation.

As caveman notes, it's possible, with great care, and some luck, to not get flagged, but that's another matter I think.

Then as Rollo notes, there are some pleasant business benefits to this as well, ignoring those is pretending that google is not a business, they are a business, they are very good at what they do, usually.

But what really interests me is how BillyS sees this, assuming he really does do large scale db programming, I'd say he has a better idea of some of the fundamentals than most here, no?