AV UK's gone loopy!

UK results bring up France, Australia, India and New Zealand

[makemetop]

Tell me I'm not suffering from ingestion of Magic Mushrooms (I do live in the country) but have a look at what comes up for web site promotion [uk.altavista.com] and search engine optimisation [uk.altavista.com]. On the latter, also look at related directory topics - Lodgings in Munich - huh?

Sorry, I couldn't get the url code to work despite copious referrals to the help files - not my day!

[makemetop]

That was clever! Who corrected it - thank you!

[tigger]

don't think it's a case of you being on the mushrooms more like AV. any chance in sending 1/2lb by this weekend as I got some friends coming round

Edited by: tigger

[nicebloke]

Yup I'm getting Munich lodgings and results from many various countries!!

[engine]

It doesn't seem to be on every search topic. I tried a few and got acceptable results.
Clearly, there are changes going on all the time, and some, like this, are extremely visible.

I'd guess they've not yet realised the result of their endeavours.

[makemetop]

Yes, I noticed the notorious video filming crowd don't seem to be affected - just the terms I got decent traffic for :(

Not a good day today, Inktomi's ranking method seems to have changed slightly and I'm trying to get a handle on it. A lot of paid sites have moved from in top 10 to in top 30 - but I think (hope) it is just some shuffling after the last DB screw up.

[FreeBee]

Some of the results on one of our routine topics has gone haywire, others appear unchanged, some have come clearly in our favour. Very pleased by a 2 day turnaround on an important new submission. Perhaps this is the middle of a db shuffle? Perhaps I could place an order for some of those mushrooms either way...

[makemetop]

Due to popular demand - I'll go picking tomorrow - well anything to get away from the screen, it's been a tough week. Traffic from AV way down :( - but traffic from Excite way, way up :)

[nicebloke]

It's a bit early in the year isn't it? I always found Sept/Oct to be the best.

Or do you know a special spot?

[engine]

Back on topic before the mushrooms take effect, I used to get only uk results showing, now, i'm seeing .com too.

[vis]

Well, the Aussies, Kiwis and Indians have gone now.

I think .com has always been in there but only when they are UK relevant companies.

Seems to have been another reshuffle today. Last week the results were in the same order with loads of international results in. Today they are in a new order but just UK thankfully.

[makemetop]

Well the mushrooms are buried in snow and AV UK results at least appear to come from the UK - so all is right with the world (for now).

[FreeBee]

From earlier posting <pleased by a 2 day turnaround on an important new submission>

This relates to a .com address submitted and indexed same day(?) on 21 February. Have waited a few days to see whether or not there're any changes in the SERP - it looks settled.

Firstly very surprised by the quick turnaround but equally surprised by the fact that the page has a relatively insignificant reference to the UK in the text.

Perhaps this is off-topic here, but does anybody have an idea on the criteria for getting into the UK regional db?

[engine]

Hi FreeBee,

Most importantly, a make sure you've got .co.uk or uk derivative. If you've got a .com, as long as it can be tracked back easily as hosted in the UK, or, clearly a UK-based business, it should get in - eventually.

[FreeBee]

Thanks Engine. The page is an "interim design" whilst the rest of the site content is prepared. At this stage it has no physical contact details etc., is hosted in the US and other than the single reference to "UK" in body text can't clearly be identified as a UK site (although it is).

I suspect that the acceptance criteria for .com sites into the AVUK db may be quite low - certainly a lot lower than I've believed until now. (This was too easy for my liking.)

[engine]

About a year ago, when AV was building its uk db it seemed to have strict criterion for the uk side of things. It could be that they decided there were too many .com's of a uk that were NOT getting in. Perhaps the rules are relaxed at the moment.

Get it while you can!

[FreeBee]

<pleased by a 2 day turnaround on an important new submission> <(This was too easy for my liking.)>

As it turns out, the SERP for this particular keyphrase search seems to have setteled back to slightly older results and the page is buried deep.

It should never rightfully have got where it did so quickly, but I'm still trying to figure out criteria for .com acceptance into the UK db because it's still there with others from the same site.

[FreeBee]

A quick note following on from earlier postings
<the SERP for this particular keyphrase search seems to have settled back to slightly older results and the page is buried deep>

Results appear to have updated yesterday on AV UK.

This .com site has re-appeared in top 10. More importantly, it looks as though the results are generally more relevant than they were a week or so back.

Other findings?

[engine]

Freebee, thanks for the update.
I'd support your findings about relevancy. There are some excellent results coming through for a few key phrases.

Seems like this is a GOOD algo.

New sites are listed too.

[FreeBee]

<New sites are listed too>

Yes, looks like new site submissions on 2 March are in.

This is much better - RELEVANCE on the up ....

[engine]

It's easy to take the view of "...my sites are down and out of the index..." however, when a search engine provides highly relevant results, it deserves praise.

Come on now, let's give AV a pat on the back.

[makemetop]

Yes, some nice results. Latest submission I can see in is from the 6th March. I would agree with improved relevency - and a noticeable increase in traffic from yesterday.

[vis]

Impressive.

Seeing results from the 13th March (yesterday) in there.

If only there wasn't red ink all over my Topdog reports this morning I'd be thanking AV UK.