Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
No, that is zero sum game. The most useless posts here are from people saying the serps on some datacenter suck or are good because their own stuff ranks bad or good on that datacenter. Not only does nobody else care, there is someone thinking the exact opposite due to how their stuff is ranking.
In any case (repeating mantra from past several updates), a lot folks should consider that screw ups are not deliberate policies. Google has been a technical mess for more than a year now, just over two years really. Allegra was just a blip of an update, but was a huge technical disaster. Google also has a horrible time figuring out canonical pages, particularly when webmasters deliberately do inconsistent things.
This update seems to me to be another minor bit of shuffling, with the added "bonus" of a lot of anomalies, most caused by lazy or uniformed webmastering (meaning if you have been reading webmasterworld and haven't had a 301 on for non-www and www since at least last summer, you only have yourself to blame).
I see almost no changes in my niches, except... a HUGE increase in straight redirect domains. This tactical trash gets discovered fairly quickly but apparently a new tactic has been discovered and needs to be squashed; authority sites performing same as recently; sites still in the sandbox dumped back to pre-Allegra levels, while sites that got out of the sandbox with Allegra doing a bit better.
I dont disagree - what you say is common sense (hence your term Sucking Eggs :))
But sites that fit in with exactly what you have said have still got hit in this and the last few updates.
I am not being critical of Google as I think they are trying to fix problems some people have had - which is why I am following this dance closer than I would normally.
Dayo
>Reminds me of an old flame that flamed out pretty quickly. She had her "time of month" like clockwork and was very grouchy and unapproachable for about a week. Then there was the pre and post "time." in which her mood swings were off the charts.<
Trust me.... "time of month" is just a piece of cake compared to what would she have done when reaching "40 Midlife Crisis" where her datacenters started by a "Minor Shuffling" and kept propagating for a year to end up in a stormy "Bourbon Update" where you risk loosing all your positions on her serps :-)
Anyone know what's involved with this propagation?
Are they transferring new sites to new DC's
and then
Adding the new algo? or both?
Surely terabytes of data are on the move?
Dark fiber ,You gotta love it.
Im glad you guys are back :) Did you two lose your rankings completely? Or just a little bit?
I wasn't out of the rankings; I was just way, way down. Google referrals dropped by 75% or so on March 23 and another 15-20% last weekend. Then the clouds lifted yesterday and the sun started to shine again. Rankings still look good this morning, and I'm hoping they'll stay that way.
By the way, I'd like to publicly thank Lammert and Dazzlindona, who alerted me to my possible www-vs-non-www issue and how to implement a 301 redirect in the Supporters Forum when the bottom fell out on March 23. Without their help, and without Webmaster World and the Supporters Forum, it might have taken me a lot longer to get that 301 redirect in place.
The $149 that I spent for a tax-deductible Webmaster World Supporters Forum subscription is one of the best investments that I've ever made!
Where are you guys from? I am from New Jersey, and I see my lost rankings still.
I'm in the Midwest (USA).
I'm ranking first in allintext, allinanchor, and allintitle.
Using anchor text, text and title factor, I should come up #1, as I used to. But still around page 15.
What on Earth is this update all about? We're going to need a big survey to figure it out...
Currently, the five word title of a very key page on my site shows up #1 on Yahoo and MSN, now #74 on Google, up from 75 yesterday. Progress!
It's a puzzle, but we should be able to figure it out.
why? Why? Why is it that you're not coming up for your company name, or other very specific keyword combinations that should lead straight to your site?It's a puzzle, but we should be able to figure it out.
Yes, Why? I'm really scratching my head over this one. Good, clean site, I can find us by company name sometimes, but remain buried on page 10 for specific keywords, even my complete unique title tag.
I'm ranking first in allintext, allinanchor, and allintitle
Same here, but it makes no sense.
And what's with the fresh tags of May 24? G's certainly been busy on my site.
it's frustrating when there doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason. I'm going to do something else for a while.
LisaB
Please. Pretty please.
- this "update" killed many good, old, well optimized, non-cheating sites
- current results show non-pertinent as first serps
I more and more do believe that this is not an update but a problem!
why? Why? Why is it that you're not coming up for your company name, or other very specific keyword combinations that should lead straight to your site?
Peculiar things like that have been going on for quite a while.
I have a friend who owns the trademark on his company name. On Yahoo and MSN he was always first for that three word phrase.
On Google he was around 40th for his company name.
He complained to Google and sent a copy of his registered trademark and within a few days, he appeared first for his company name on Google ...
and was then permanently excluded from the SERPS for all other search terms.
Be careful what you ask for.
The Google company motto is not necessarily the motto of all of the people who work there.
Anyone else experiencing this?
With Pagerank updated on some DCs not others?
and - Backlinks updated on some DCs not others?
But then again - when was Allerga ever complete.
He complained to Google and sent a copy of his registered trademark and within a few days, he appeared first for his company name on Google ...and was then permanently excluded from the SERPS for all other search terms.
ROFL. At least Google still has a sense of humour :-)
"Oh NO!" "oooooH NO!" "Oh NOOO!"
...with an expression of total, impending doom?
LOL - that would be me.
But I continue to see two distinct sets of results that ignore the "allin" data.
By the morning those results had gone. Those results would have been similar to the two data centre results we have been discussing but uk only.
I would agree by now that the update is likely to be over, even though it looks unfinished. It is odd that at least three data centres show SERPS nothing like ones we currently see.
I would love to know exactly what filter they applied to the UK results. Age factor is almost certain, as some real poor quality sites (but of age) are currently showing in the index.
Google can certainly provide better results than we currently see. I notice black hat techniques with re-directs are still featuring well for keywords on older sites.
Good luck all anyway, im hoping that the update is not finished because if it is the results are poor/ worse than before and i see no logic in doing that.
Age factor is almost certain, as some real poor quality sites (but of age)
Now that you mention it - I have to concur about age making up for poor quality and lack of new links.
This can't possibly be "IT" -
In fact four of those now show the same results with 216.239.39.104 being the odd one.
It looks like the results from 216.239.39.104 are the ones that we are currently seeing in the UK. They are Real dire imo. The other four Data Centre results look ok, in fact improved. I just hope a further adjustment is due and they dont leave the UK Serps in the state they are currently.
I must admit i do wonder why the UK hasnt moved over yet? and certainly am worried that the results i currently see in the UK are the finished article - they are just the worst ever i have to say - surely this cant be finished?
The incredible divergence of results for search terms via Yahoo and MSN as compared to Google puts them in a distant thrid place for search relevance, AFAIC.
Trying to figure out the why and wherefores of Google is a waste of time. They will do as they please, like it or lump it, seems to be what they're telling the world.
Too bad, they coulda been a contender...
Could be wrong, but it's pretty much looking to me like the fat lady has sung.
Getting that feeling here too. Well, we survived it, but had two nice sites, a PR5 and a PR6 go out for a pack of smokes and they never came back; That hurts a bit. No idea why those two got spat out; unfortunately they don't consult us on algorithm changes.
In our sector though the results actually look pretty good, seeing more true corporate web sites rising up.
All ingredients may not have finished but it looks like we may be getting some more alignments.
Fat Lady clearing her throat?
Saw something very interesting on [66.102.9.104...] for two seconds. Now gone.
Perhaps it was nothing :: Sigh ::
Just noticed on google.co.uk that some site listing now have "- 24 May 2005 - " against the URL - others don't. Earliest date I can find is 23.05.05.
However they may have been there before and not noticed...
Everywhere we look, it's down to two main sets of SERP's with perhaps some minor evolution still taking place.
I vaguely recall that after some of the more recent big updates, a few days after they seemed to settle as they are now, there were some aftershocks. That of course could still happen.
But not holding my breath anymore. We're six days into it now. Into the war room we go. ;-)
