Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
Have been waiting for google's pending update but didn't get any on that. From last two days I have noticed extreme changes in search results for same google domain (like .com or .de or .nl etc.) with different interface language selected (like hl=de or hl=en or hl=nl). When you change the interface language the whole bunch of results are different.
Is this the actual update this time? Enabling the geo centric data which google wanted to implement for better localization? If yes (and if someone else is also seeing this change) then may be we can all identify the parameters of this new change, like language, servers in geographical locations or extensions (.de, .nl etc.)
-- rishi
I vote for "Tried to Sort out Canonical URLs and Supplementals but caused more problems" Update.
Although Bless Matt - he does say more to come so perhaps I will hold off for now.
but you are agreeing with that site... to spam, hide text, etc.
Question: Do you have sites like that? Relevant but spamming the key words?
Back to the discussion...
How does the Algo allow that "bad" of a site to be ranked #1?
Should we all start spamming, hiding key words in order to improve are rankings (*smile* --- as long as the key words are related)
my main questions... what part of the algo allows that site to "pass" go and collect $200!
:)
thanks
PS. I thought there was a place to submit spammy sites to google? Is there a place?
[edited by: cl328 at 5:01 pm (utc) on Oct. 18, 2005]
One of our competitors has built up a huge link farm (5 sites of worthless content interlinking to give him about 646,000 links) and he was rewarded with a prime spot in the rankings for our main keyword.
Yes that site is spammy, but it is actually a site that is relevant to the term. So its not really an example of a crappy result, just an annoying one
That's very true. If you search for the term: <snip> (which is contained in the hidden text on index page) the site is still number 1, but look at the drivel G ranks in positions 2 - 10.
corrected spelling!
[edited by: subway at 5:07 pm (utc) on Oct. 18, 2005]
[edited by: engine at 5:26 pm (utc) on Oct. 18, 2005]
[edit reason] specifics [/edit]
I think we should vote on a name for this coming update, especially because Matt Cutts said that we should expect a backlink and PageRank update in the coming days.
I propose we call it "The Pujols Update".
My reason for naming it the "The Pujols Update" is because Matt Cutts wrote about this update in his blog around the same time Albert Pujols hit the big homerun (even though I'm an Astros fan.
Tell me what you guys think.
"The Pujols Update"
It seems that our kind fellow member Matt Cutts has chosen to reply on his blog to my post on this thread msg #:837 (To Update Or Not To Update) :-)
[webmasterworld.com...]
The kind Matt wrote:
"Update: Just to clarify, these days with lots of smaller and larger changes happening at different points in time, it’s a little arbitrary to decide when to call something an update. That decision has usually fallen on Brett Tabke’s shoulders over at WebmasterWorld (WebmasterWorld also chooses what name they want to call it when Brett decides enough has changed to call it an update.) Given that there should be new PageRank/backlinks visible in a few days (assuming no issues at our end), I wouldn’t be surprised if Brett slaps a name on it pre-emptively, even though there will still be some flux to come."
Thanks a bunch for reply Matt. Much appreciated.
So it is an update after all :-)
[edited by: reseller at 5:26 pm (utc) on Oct. 18, 2005]
Well I guess baseball/rounders - but that means nothing to most of the world.
[edited by: Dayo_UK at 5:14 pm (utc) on Oct. 18, 2005]
They want a search engine to provide them results. The plight of webmasters who spend as much time gaming the system as they do working on their websites is not likely to raise a lot of sympathy.
I would suggest you find other avenues to work things out than taking your case public. I assure you they are not going to care.
well 6 weeks later they are climbing in SERPS...
dude! gotta give into the dark side eventually ...... no?
That's exactly how Google wants you to think. You have no power and nobody cares. My sister related the story of what was happened during Florida to some school teachers. These teachers switched the start page on every computer in the school to Ask.com when they heard what Google was doing to people. It's like I tell em. I got a big mouth and a lot of friends.
Guess the line about teachers being underpaid is a myth. I mean if they have time to waste on such silly things.
Yes that site is spammy, but it is actually a site that is relevant to the term. So its not really an example of a crappy result, just an annoying one.
One of the other top 10 sites for that term also has a bunch of hidden text at the bottom of the page, but--like the #1 result--it's very relevant for the search term. What's more, the number of clearly on-topic results for [keyphrase] appears to be fairly limited. My guess is that the #1 site is top-ranked in spite of the hidden text, not because of it.
I know it's not what you want to hear, but the best move right now is to wait. So many times when something like this happens people over-react and start making changes only to find out later the changes actually made things worse.
Things are still in flux. Once the dust settle and the situation is more clear, be ready to go into action. But right now you are just as likely to break something else as to fix anything.
Especially with Matt saying further changes are coming.
Lets hope for a fix MC to the problem I bang on about. Hopefully you have also persauded the other engineers to take the same approach as Yahoo to the redirect situation.
Updates are named like hurricanes, in alphabetical order. The last named update was, I believe, the Bourbon update.
"Bacon Polenta" would be a great name, but since the name must begin with 'C' perhaps we could call it the "Cutts" update.
I wish Googleguy would comment these days, I know they are all billionaires but really, many of us webmasters got 'em there.
I think Google loves to see what we react on, good or bad, they love it. Responding is professional, not saying anything is.. well.. it's bad ethics I think.
Look at Delta Airlines, screw the employees (Pensions) that worked over 30 years flying around people as safe as possible... they want to keep the cash themselves.
Sad that today nothing really has any grounds for good ethics, and ethical sites are grounds for such a hit so adwords can make up the difference and the big corp. sites get most of the credit.
In the end, the public pays for irresponsible airlines yanking pensions.
In the end, the webmasters pay Google even more money to make up the difference after such drops.
In the end, Google learns from our reactions on posts and site changes and profits on everyone here - we may not.
Good ole America, all about money and all about bad ethics, if the Algo worked then authority sites would not drop off the map. Yes I can wait a month, but this should never have happened in the first place. Google is in error on this update the way I see it, nothing else would make a whole lot of sense... strange.
PS - I did not want to get deep into the airline pension thing here, but the long story short of this post on this topic is the guys that make the real "Stuff" happen in the world tend to get the bad end of the stick in the end.
PPS - I also agree with WebPixie
I say to Google - why don't you clean up your own act before you start laying the axe to everyone else?