Leosghost - 7:43 pm on Apr 26, 2012 (gmt 0)

Theory for you - Google Panda actively promotes some [possible] spam sites into good positions just to check user interaction data with those sites. If they get good interaction metrics they stay in the serps but dropping back to their correct position otherwise they drop away ne'er to be seen again.

My thoughts also , earlier in this thread ( or the spam "thread" they are very similar now, but it would be impossible to "blend" the threads )..the AI learning element needs "reaction" from users..some results that appear to be totally wrong..will trigger the "learning", and then be purged..swiftly..some may hang about between Panda iterations..and be purged the next time..

Panda interacts with other specific algo "events"..and learns..the "where did all the crap come from" that happens some times ..is when the AI goes from recognising the world ..to crawling..to walking ..to running..to riding it's first trike..to a bike etc..from time to time it loses it's balance, staggers and falls on its's ass ..so do kids ( we all were ) at each of those equivalent learning phases..none of us went from birth to riding a bike or a skateboard in one go ..it took many many falls to get really good at it..and would have been even harder if not impossible if the ground we were learning on was shifting and expanding and changing as fast as the internet and the pages on it change..

And toddlers have to learn to distinguish crap from chocolate..and what is good and nutritious and what isn't..some take years to know not to eat enticing looking crap, junk-food and not to be fooled,based on the wrapper or the hype around what is worthless..some never do ..

You can buy ads and gain some immunity from the AI in panda and algo revisions..but then you'll still be subject to scrutiny , or Google's whims vis a vis your campaign or landing pages etc..

It is like the weather..if you never know when the storm is coming ..and they will come..and wash away the road that leads to your door or cut the power ..build solid so as not to be affected by the storm directly, build alternative sources of traffic..links used to be for sending traffic down..not for showing off to Google..