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AND...
I just told my 9yr old, "PICK UP YOUR GOOGLE!"
Somebody help me! Tell me I'm not the only one! :)
or is this like the matrix, the order is destroyed after each cycle and a new one takes its place?
oh wait.. that was no dream..
I have been following Florida very closely, including mixed results from my various sites.
The ONLY conclusion that makes sense is some sort of commercial site filter. I am almost certain of it. It just makes too much sense...
Also, did you ever think, "hey, froogle can tell if a site sells a product, so maybe they use that same code to filter sites from results!"
Of course, this is a test, only a test. I repeat, this is only a test of the Google broadcasting system. If this was a real emergency, Google would start serving reliable results again!
Mug: Yeah, Google's irrelevance is nigh on the altar of MS Longhorn in '06 ehh? ;) (*not*) *LOL*
WL2: :o You're joking?
ahhh
There is very definitely a commercial filter in place. Where a week ago I had clients with commercial sites ranked very well on Google, their sites are now nowhere and I see only directories, shopping sites, .org's, .ac's, .gov's and the big company sites.
How do the big companies avoid being filtered out?
Why does Google think this is good practice?
Anyone got any ideas on mounting a legal challenge?
Or, is publicity the answer?
It is no exaggeration to say that thousands of companies could be put out of business by this.
Google made its name by providing the perfect results in response to a search phrase. This policy seems to me to have been abandoned. Is this because of the forthcoming flotation? Are they trying to force every small commercial site owner to buy Adwords?
If it hasn't hit you yet, get ready as it's coming your way. One of my clients is already talking about laying off staff this week. How do you feel about warning your clients that they may have to soon be doing the same?
I've written three times to Google without reply. If they said "pay up and we'll list you" at least we'd know what their real motives are. As it is, the sites have been zapped and they won't tell us what to do about it.
How long before people realise that Google is no longer the "proper" search engine that it used to be, and they start to use some other engines?
Several of my clients are independent insurance brokers. They find the best products for their clients. Now, the public won't be able to find independent advice via Google and will end up going to a single insurance company. They will only be offered that company's products whether the package is right for them or not. Hardly a satisfactory outcome for Google users.
Does Google care about how well their site users are served?
Do they care whether listed sites and businesses survive or not?
Or, are they out to cash in at the expense of people's businesses and livelihoods?
Cynics need not answer the last question.
You have nothing to worry about. Google will be irrelevant soon.
I heard this phrase before. It wasn't about Google though, but the UN.
What do we learn from this?
1. Prophecies are very hard to get right, especially if they concern the future.
2. Don't ever try and make forecasts. If you do it anyway, do it very often.
In my marketspace, anything with a shopping cart has been blasted into oblivion. All my whitehat-style competitors are similarly consigned to the abyss.
...Though there remains the anomoly: The only competitor that survived this update (and prospered) is the only competitor that uses SEO/Spam techniques.
I still plan to wait this out...
How do the big companies avoid being filtered out?
Why does Google think this is good practice?
Anyone got any ideas on mounting a legal challenge?
Or, is publicity the answer?
In this case, I personally think publicity is the answer.
I too have been dreaming of evil mutated google spiders attacking my websites!
I've actually enjoyed tearing apart this new google system of ranking. I've figured out many parts of the new filtering process over the last few days, but not by any means all of them.
Want to make an impact? If you have a website that you can do so with, post an article about specific search results. Show visitors the before and after results by linking directly to the google search results ( post-Florida AND pre-Florida ).
Most of my work was not hit very hard by the Florida Hurricane. However, I was wiped out in my local market, which is more of a matter of pride than anything else. I was replaced by a major celebrity entertainer, a major computer chip manufacturer, a guestbook entry, a chat network, two directories, and two spammers.
Only one real competitor survived ( who wasn't in the serps previously ), which is why I was able to figure out what, exactly, was going on in this particular case.
Believe me, I refuse to do what they've done to achieve their rankings-- to survive the filtered word combinations!
I think that--rather than sue or scream or yell-- the truth suffices nicely. It is something that has never failed me personally.
Best,
-Jason
Personally my sites are still very strong in G. Have I been spared because I stuck to the metrics or perhaps my own naviety was the crytonite?
As with everything, I have learnt to diversify ... there is just too much riding on web exposure to be tied to one SE.
Just my random thoughts.
Even my Adword clickthru conversion to sales is way off this month. I've always made money with AdWords and now for the first time I am breaking even. I'm considering shifting my entire Adword budget away from Google until they straighten this out. The money I spend with Google is the only recourse I have.
There have been many complaints about people referring to their own site's performance, but as Barry Hines famously wrote: 'we can only write about our own backyard'
The only pages on my sites that have held up in this Florida Massacre are the pages I never really got around to optimising - that is, pages where I have made little attempt to ensure that an SE robot can understand what the page is really concerned with.
So my incompetence is now my saviour? But how can irrelevance become the key to relevance! I'm not even sure how to go about discussing something that is so illogical.
I had a dream I was lying on a beach enjoying being baked by the sun and swimming and diving for warm water lobsters…..
And then I woke up… with thousands of random characters that my forehead had typed into the document I was optimizing for g=oogle.
------- Years later:
I was feverishly working on 300 pages optimizing for the shockwave of g=oogle and typing thousands of random characters….
And then I woke up……..
I was lying on a beach enjoying being baked by the sun and swimming and diving for warm water lobsters…..
Ahhhhh…. Pepe’ is removing the satellite dish shortly.. And well we’re giving the laptop a Viking funeral.
edited for addtional info:
And we have a keg of DogFish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA.
signed... the orginal #48
Chalupee
: )
A shake up in the old guard is one thing. I tried to find a font for a design project using Goolge - distastrous results - even using the keywords "font-name fonts"
The new guard should at least be relevant...
A lot of people here take the attitude that google is there to put money in their pocket and food on their table.
Google doesnt exist to facilitate your profit.
Google is making an honest effort to improve their search engine, sometimes that results in changes that are worse then before but they have to try. Many are suggesting google never change it's algorithm so they can figure it out and remain in the #1 spot.
My opinion is google will never get better than it is. The same way that Altavista will never get better than it was. Google's whole PageRank strategy will be their downfall in the end. When a company develops a way to spider the web from a human perspective. Realize that their are mouse overs, popups. Interactive flash features.
Google spiders the web like the Lynx browser. How many people actively use Lynx.
My personal opinion is to respect google for it's search engine accomplishments. Many of you would feel the same if you didn't depend so heavily on your ranking.
Something to think about.
Let's try to keep on topic with the original spirit of the thread, please.
No Google update noise is on topic in Foo. Thanks.
