#4 --> #19 overnight?

[jason4656]

Ok so my site was number 4 for the last 3-4 weeks since it entered yahoo, all of a sudden its #19 with lots of sites above it that have no keyword relevancy in the url or title??, also another site that entered same time as me and was #5 is now #20 so I know its not just my site they have dropped for some reason anyone got any ideas or experience of this???

Thanks
JAson

[2_much]

Looks to me like Yahoo updated its search engine results pages. I've noticed some weird results, but I haven't quite been able to figure out what Yahoo's doing.
The results look similar to Google last month for some of my keywords.

[skibum]

There have been some really massive swings lately especially in the search engine positioning keyword realm. Going from 20 to 80 is not uncommon. Could what's driving up the price of related terms on GoTo.

[ggrot]

Jason, I had one site go from page 38 to page 1 last night too on the primary keyword phrase(never thought that would happen - this was an extremely competitive phrase, I was in it for the secondary phrases). Something definitely happened, but I have no clue what.

[agerhart]

We have been trying to figure this out as well.....we had a #1 listing that got smacked down to #80. A week later the listing went back to #16, and then back down to #45.

[toolman]

Sounds like the "rotisserie of relevance".

[Hunter]

I would not be surprised if it were somehow related to the new aliance with goverture...in what way? I have no idea...

[skibum]

Is anyone who has experienced massive swings using any kind of "click pop spoofer" that YAHOO! might be picking up?

We haven't used anything like that and haven't seen any wild swings except for when the interface first changed.

[Brett_Tabke]

I think it is a randomize routine. They keep 4-5 near the top based on click pop, then reshuffle the rest randomly.

[agerhart]

That doesn't make sense though in our situation. We had a #2 spot, which was then bumped to #1 (I am assuming from click-pop), but then got thrown down pretty far.

[Liane]

I seem to recall that I read here (quite some time ago) that new sites in Yahoo are often given a leg up for the first little while and then get bumped to where they should be based on the algo. Same thing in Google. Has that changed now?

[2_much]

For the categories I monitor, what I've seen is:
Once a month Yahoo shuffles the rankings based on their new algo.
New sites get a boost temporarily and then, after a week or two, are dropped in the rankings and are thrown deep into the SERP's. Then they may resurface after the next update, according to title, description, domain name, etc.
The "reshuffling" may be as a result of new sites getting added temporarily to the SERP's.
Finally, I think Yahoo may be giving keywords different treatment according to how competitive they are.

[jason4656]

ok now im baffled 3 sites in a row all within the top 6 for the keywords they were designed for alll dropped in sequence same order they were entered in and about 6 weeks post entry. I beleive they all should be well above the sites that are showing up above them IE keyword domain, keyword title and company name, unique content, everything I have ever studied about this subject is in there. I just dont get what they are dropping out for?? I mean the sites above have less relevance in some of the searches so it just doesnt addup could be penalised for some reason?? if anyone is good enough to look to offer some ideas I would appreciate it let me know

Many thanks
Jason

[Liane]

Hi Jason,

Just a thought ... try doing a keyword analysis to see if the sites above you have you beat in keyword density. If so, do a rewrite.

[skibum]

YAHOO! doesn't spider the site so that could work with the title/description listed in YAHOO! if you could get it changed and have some idea of what it is that is making sites rank higher.

[jason4656]

thanks but I really dont think it has anything to do with keyword density also the sites above have relevance however less then my sites for sure for example there is sites ranking above me with very little relevance for this specific keyword search, I have studied everything about this for a long time and it really doesnt make sense how about same company address for more than 1 site? in totally different categories?? could they be searching and penalising us for that?? even though each site has a totally different company name??

Thanks
JAson

[needsomehelp]

I know this is an old topic. yesterday I experienced a shift from #2 to #77 for a very competetive term, and #4 to #25 for another. I was generating a huge amount of traffic for quite some time. The site actually started with low rankings and slowly crept up.

I do not understand the major drop.

The weird thing is that some for some terms, my position remained.

I hope it is temporary. Any insight?

[rayjam]

Lets face it everything Yahoo does is based on increasing revenue. What a great way to get everyone reaching for the sponsored listings, featured sites even bidding on Overture when they see huge drops in traffic and revenue. New sites automatically get listed high so they can experience the same drop in a few weeks and so it goes. Meanwhile, older sites get tossed up and down the rankings on a regular basis just so you don't lose faith in yahoo entirely, after all the reasoning goes, if I am in position 35 and getting x visitors just imagine what it would be if I were in the top three!
Methinks Yahoo haven't finished finding new ways for us to spend even more on the diminishing returns which come from the once great Yahoo.
Lesson One of the accountants guide to running a directory - You can fool some of the people some of the time ...... and squeeze them for every penny. This short sighted businees practice will be the end of Yahoo.

[webdiversity]

rayjam is so right there.

There seems to be a lot of activity out there with all of the search engines looking for ways to generate revenue, google are introducing new beta tools (the toolbar) which makes a lot of people worried now that the public may get a chance to rank sites.

Yahoo are probably trying out new techniques to see how much pain people can tolerate and if you've never owned a Rolls Royce you don't miss it but if you have it and then someone takes it away then it hurts (chance would be a fine thing that I owned a RR!)

I'm sure by the time we get to March things will settle down again, it's probably activity being driven by shareholders to get revenues up.

[bigjohnt]

<Nods at rayjam>

<speculation>Tweaking new or newly paying sites will give them the confidence that Yahoo "works" for them. They may be going on the assumption that once the site owners "know" this, the cycle begins again with the next newcomer. </speculation>

I have seen them boost anyone with a "new" tag, many months ago. This may be the case. Looksmart did this for a while, I don't know about now. I spend very little time monitoring, unless the client insists. Like running a marathon, the less we look back, the better we move forward.

[4crests]

Was #1... got booteed to #8 a few weeks ago. Accidentally let my Overture account expire. Back at #1. Deposited money back into my overture account. Back to #8. It is either pure coincidence, or it's connected to overture.

[gerardio]

I noticed for one of my keyword phrases it dropped from 12 to 54. I checked the logs and the click thrus are consistent for the past 6 months. It could be due to people clicking on the site and clicking back to yahoo but it seems that it could be something else and we are not using paid advertising on overture. it'll be interesting to see what happens with rankings over all in the next two months.

[angiolo]

We are using paid advertising on overture.

Paid advertising on Overture doesn't influence ranking.

Our listings are switching a bit in an alternative way, but finally they are increasing (from 16 to 9 and then to 15 and then to 8..).

Our logs show similar click- through, so that, I don't think our position depends on it: may be other websites increased their click-throughs...

[needsomehelp]

Dropped even further....
Went from 76 to 256 overnight for one term and dropped atleast 10 spots for other terms...

WHY?!?

Has anyone else that's been dropped dropped even further?

I don't think it is the low click thru scenario, b/c I was still receivng much traffic. As suggested earlier, I think they have some sort of penalty/overture rollsroyce/datsun thing going on.
This seems ridiculous since they have implemented such high prices to be listed now.

[przero]

This is ridiculous. The search results for Yahoo! are completely irrelevant now. I'm not just upset as a Web master whose site has dropped out; I'm offended as a believer in technology and the intellectual capacity of humankind. It's sad, really.

Does anyone know of a contact e-mail for Yahoo!? They need help, quickly.