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Today, everything seems to be back as it should be; the index page is returned when I search on the site name, and it has been boosted a couple a places from its pre-Dom ranking.
Is anyone else seeing this problem getting fixed for their own sites?
C
Or, just don't believe it will last. At the moment my site's are doing incredibly well. Thus, I can only conclude that someone at the Googleplex screwed things up, and this won't last. ;)
Also, it looks to me the algorithm is something before dominic and esmeralda. Google finally awake and realize their new algo isn't that cool so that pull back a little bit.
But maybe they will enhance the algo and it might come back later. They are always working for better google.
Assuming it was a filter, I don't see why they should... I don't really see what a frontal attack on index pages gave them in the first place, other than grief.
Certainly the consensus I found was that the SERPS were significantly inferior with the filter/problem/whatever in place. Surely they would be well advised to leave well alone, having now established that people DO start to notice when they omit so many quality sites as collateral damage.
When I make a bad move I try not to repeat it. We'll just have to see whether Google takes the same approach. I certainly hope so!
SERPS seem pretty good for our keywords (we're not no. 1 but the ones above us are there through fair means).
What are things like for more competitive terms? Is there much spam in there?
TJ
The thread for those that missed it:
[webmasterworld.com...]
If they are at all using that patent, it really has nothing to do with the missing index page problem, which has, for the most part, been fixed.
I was critical of Google during Dominic and much of the past few weeks. I must, however, give them credit when it's due.
The index, as it has stood this week is FAR better than it's been in months. With new content being picked up quickly, and a highly relevant, well scored index, Google may be the best they have ever been.
My sites are doing quite well in places where they should be and not as well, when they haven't yet earned it. More what we have come to expect out of Google than the random stuff we have seen for a while.
Of course, this may all change by the time I am done typing. :)
So, they do something in Dominic and Esmeralda. They try some new algo (which has been refer as filter or semi penalty) that block pages from appearing if it is suspected to be manipulated to rank high for specific keywords.
The objective of the filter is good. But the mechanism of it is still new and weak. Some index pages is filtered as intended, but some innocent fishes that shouldn't be caught is stick to the fish net. Ans some small ugly fish rise to the top! :)
They now pull out the filter. But that doesn't mean they never work on it anymore. I believe they will even work HARDER on it and launch an improved version later. So don't 'erase' any bits and bytes in your brain regarding all your research and experience about the matters! :)
The index, as it has stood this week is FAR better than it's been in months. With new content being picked up quickly, and a highly relevant, well scored index, Google may be the best they have ever been.
I concur; from my myopic point of view, "Google may be the best they have ever been". Great work. And we see who's number one for "search engine" again. :)
All jokes aside, this really is an indication that they are properly weighing anchor text and link pop again.
The serps are currently of the same general quality of the Google of old. Some sort of aggressive deepcrawling is occuring. New directory categories are showing for some sites so perhaps the Directory and page rank will show an update soon. All may not be right in the Google world but it is much closer.
Google had a data failure that was objectively observable in the backlinks, and their need to revert to an old batch of data. This lead to some Nellies posting here and changing headers for no sensible reason whatsoever.
The lesson here is to read what Google puts out on the webmaster pages and follow that, rather than phantasmical voodoo theories with no relation to reality.
I like that!
I agree completely. Isaac Asimov once said that by picking and choosing your 'facts', you could establish a pattern between the burping of a herd of hippopotami in the Ganges (?) river, and the rise and fall of steel output in Gary, Indiana. I suspect that same herd could tell us what Google is doing when the SERPS behave erratically.
Nope. Googleguy said a while back they were testing new spam filters with old back link data. That's a better way to evaluate the new filters (apples to apples), as opposed to adding in new links while testing (apples to oranges).
That is absolutely no proof there was a filter. There MAY have been a filter; there MAY have been a data failure; there MAY be a new algorithm in operation now. No one (except the staff at Google) actually knows what has gone on. Too much personal opinion gets translated into fact. It's one thing to discuss ideas and throw around different theories - its quite another to start stating them as fact.
I do a search for the word "the", which includes the majority of English web pages I am guessing.
A few weeks ago, the 8 datacenters, apart from www-ex.google.com, were averaging about 3.75 billion web pages for this search. The odd man out is consistently 300 million web pages less than the other 8 and that difference continues.
On July 9th, there was a change. The 8 datacenters averaged about 3.65 billion web pages for this search for "the". In other words, a net loss of 100 million web pages. I say net because this is presumably newly indexed web pages less those kicked out by the filters.
Yesterday, July 10th, the 8 datacenters averaged about 3.60 billion web pages. So we have an additional net loss of 50 million web pages.
Today the 8 datacenters are running at the same level as yesterday.
We seem to have lost 150 million web pages including the word "the" within a matter of days. I can't imagine this is human intervention. What else can it be than filters?
Barry Welford
That Google "about" number has always been just a guess. It may just be they are guessing differently than before, and nothing else.
As for Brett saying there was a filter, the only way he could know that is if he had an inside source at Google. If he _does_ have an inside source at Google, I'd expect him not to blab so publicly about such. Thus, I presume he was guessing, rather than knew it for a fact.
Um, no. And this is why these nonsense "filter" posts have been so damaging and so unhelpful.
Pages were lost, but that had zero to do with a deliberate filter, and it was easily provable as nothing, *nothing*, was consistent about the lost pages, and *nothing* that anybody posted that they suspected was the culprit was consistently applied.
Some of the crazy things people posted were actually the secrets to the high rankings for many sites!
Google Guy made several posts, and solicited feedback from people because the missing pages which were part of an *error*.
Tens of thousands of sites were not affected at all in their rankings the past two months, despite having the exact same things in place as some sites that got lost or depreciated. Again, simply looking beyond one's own site showed this.
There is no voodoo going on here.
A lot of people have certainly been in denial since the begining of May, but it just makes no sense to hide from the facts. Even a 'site' so obviously "easy" to deep crawl as the Google Directory shows a large amount of errors, and they are at random... and there appears to be a nice likelihood that Google has righted itself and is back on track, after several failed attempts.
There remain two ways to do well in Google, the spammy junk that Google continually battles against, and: build a good content, high qaulity site that earns respect from other authority sites. That second way obviously is always vulnerable to errors and glitches, but it is STILL the way to go... good content, targetted anchor text, sensible/logical headings, sensible internal linking that emphasizes more important content pages over less important content pages, etc etc. *Nothing* that has occurred since May 1st has shown *any* evidence that Google is going against its own webmaster suggestions and is interested in punishing quality, well-designed sites.
LOL.
Next... Google *chooses* to use newhoo backlinks!
C'mon now, this is a serious issue and these jokes really confuse the the new users here, leading to these endless paranoia threads with no relation to reality.
I see I'm not the only one to have spotted those Newhoo backlinks. I too was surprised.
Personally I say to the newbies to relax a bit, and wait for Google to sort all this out. My working theory is the following. Googleguy himself mentioned that Google was making big changes, and even mentioned he expected only one more traditional update after Dominic. Google is switching to a new way of doing things. Unfortunately, the switch over was far less than graceful, and some things broke along the way.
As such, to quote the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Don't panic. From what I see Google is gradually getting better, and we are entering the era of the continuous update. Which isn't really truly continuous, but they add more data in chunks about every 3 days or so. I understand the Googlenoia that some of you are facing. My main site had such a bad case of Dominitis I wondered if itr was a goner. That site not only rose from the dead, but is doing better in the SERPs than I ever hoped for. I know it is difficult for many to be patient. However, that is my recommendation. If you lack suitable patience, then see your doctor about a short term supply of Valium. ;)
