Google Update Bourbon Part 3

[Sweet Cognac]

Continued From:

[webmasterworld.com...]

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My whole site has a new cache date of May 25th. Maybe once these other sites around me get recached, I won't hold such an honorable top position. But at least Google has found my pages worthy to sit in the Search again.:) It seems strange to look at the stats and see Google in there, after 6 months of just seeing Yahoo and MSN referrals.

My website has plenty of outbound links, but they are on relevant pages. The problem my site has always had, was a lack of "inbound links." I got tired of searching for people to link to me (with all the spammy sites around) and gave up. So my pages have acquired some links naturally I guess(and I'll bet I still don't have more than 30 inbound links for the whole site) Still have a PR4, which I've had since it disappeared in Nov.

[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 8:54 pm (utc) on May 27, 2005]

[Clint]

Follow-up to my post #350 above: when I do the site:mydomain.com bit I show more results at G for the NON www version (site:mydomain.com) than that of site:www.mydomain.com, but, the hits in the results of the non www search show the www version and NON www versions of the URL's! Does this signify anything specific?
Thanks.

[etraffic104]

From etraffic104:
Clint, I would suggest you check who is linking to you. It might be the reason. Googlebot is fine on my site, doing it's normal activity. It's reason enough for you to get concerned...
---------
Could you please elab on that? ;) What am I to look for exactly? There are a LOT of sites linking to me. Some with my knowledge in link exchanges, but most (I'm recently finding out) WITHOUT my knowledge.
Thanks.

Hi Clint.

All I meant was that sometimes G hates it when spammy sites link to your site. Try and avoid all links whether outgoing or incomming that comes from sites that G considers spam or bad content. If a site does not have good content, then avoid them linking to you. Sometimes it can't be helped when they do link to you, but where you can, you need to try and avoid it at all costs. It's just a theory, but I seem to have it working for me.

[Clint]

Since the PR is working again, I checked and my site is the same as it was Friday the 20th (before this BS started). I also checked the PR of the sites appearing on the first THREE pages at G for a search query of where I was 1st on the 1st page (up until Saturday the 21st that is), and NONE OF THEM have a PR higher than mine, most are ZERO or 1!

[mickeymart]

that just seems wrong that you get penalized by people linking to you... I mean morally wrong :)

I wonder about this much mentioned TrustRank thing... let me guess it opens the system up to gaming by humans? great.

[Clint]

Hi Clint.

All I meant was that sometimes G hates it when spammy sites link to your site. Try and avoid all links whether outgoing or incomming that comes from sites that G considers spam or bad content. If a site does not have good content, then avoid them linking to you. Sometimes it can't be helped when they do link to you, but where you can, you need to try and avoid it at all costs. It's just a theory, but I seem to have it working for me.

Thanks. Obviously it's impossible at this juncture to determine what Google considers "spammy sites" or more so, "bad content" since I've been replaced in Google BY THESE "bad sites" and sites with no relevant content! Are you saying that I should contact all those sites that link to me (or some of them) and get them to remove my link(s)? As of right now, this is the only way my biz or products can be found at Google! And that's by these other sites linked to me!

Should I remove my "links" pages? Why would these pages hurt me, when they have catapulted others into top spots?

This is a bad, most confusing and frustrating dilemma in which to find myself.

[etraffic104]

Hi Clint.

Listen Up. Some practical rules. I'm logging off for today, but before I do, here they are:

1. Email those sites and TRY to very politely ask them to remove your links.
2. First check them in G to see if they are actually bad sites. Have a look at their content, their PR and so on. Also have a look at their source code for any hidden stuff. Basically, "spy" out those sites.
3. Don't remove your links pages, but it might be worth while checking which sites you are linking to as well, just in case. I know this can be a pain.
4. Also have a look at how those sites you are linking to from your website is doing on G.

Cheers for now!

[europeforvisitors]

I see some of you referencing the www prefix issue. Can anyone please explain why this is significant or is it significant?

Clint, this has been discussed at length in several different threads, including--if I recall correctly--part 1 and/or part 2 of the Bourbon update thread. A Google search will help you find the appropriate threads.

In a nutshell, you need server code that redirects example.com requests to www.example.com or vice versa. Otherwise, if (for example) your site is www.example.com and somebody just links to example.com, Google may index pages within your site twice: once at www.example.com, and again at example.com. This may lead to "duplicate content" problems, and it may also dilute incoming PageRank.

The way to implement this on an Apache server (the most common type of Web server) is with a 301 redirect in your .htaccess file. Examples of such code have been given in other threads; in my own .htacess file, which redirects www requests to non-www URL equivalents, the code is:

Options +FollowSymLinks -Indexes
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{http_HOST} ^www.example\.com
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://example.com/$1 [L,R=301]

WARNING: Back up your .htaccess file and keep a copy in a safe place before trying this. If you need more detailed advice, try the Apache forum here at Webmaster World.

[Dayo_UK]

Clint - to add to EFV - dont forget your domains with duplicate content - make sure they are redirected properly.

As I have mentioned previously - If I was you I would explain my circumstances in the Apache Forum - That is where the experts on this type of thing hang out.

[Dayo_UK]

To add to my post about disappearing pages.

It is definetely the case that some DCs dont seem to be able to hold pages eg:

I have had a page crawled on the 27th that started appearing on some dcs on the 29th - by the end of the 29th it was on all dcs.

On the 30th it disappeared from some dcs - but then re-appeared later in the day.

Today (31st) it has disappeared from some dcs again. (I expect it will be back later)

By disappeared - I mean Gone (nothing - not even a url listing)

Anyone else seeing this (or am i going crazy (which is possible))

[broker_boy]

Dayo-uk

I see the same and pages losing cashe applied to them after only 7 days or so and going supp

cheers,

BB