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Google Update Bourbon Part 3

         

Sweet Cognac

8:35 pm on May 27, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Continued From:

[webmasterworld.com...]



My whole site has a new cache date of May 25th. Maybe once these other sites around me get recached, I won't hold such an honorable top position. But at least Google has found my pages worthy to sit in the Search again.:) It seems strange to look at the stats and see Google in there, after 6 months of just seeing Yahoo and MSN referrals.

My website has plenty of outbound links, but they are on relevant pages. The problem my site has always had, was a lack of "inbound links." I got tired of searching for people to link to me (with all the spammy sites around) and gave up. So my pages have acquired some links naturally I guess(and I'll bet I still don't have more than 30 inbound links for the whole site) Still have a PR4, which I've had since it disappeared in Nov.

[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 8:54 pm (utc) on May 27, 2005]

oldpro

1:23 am on May 31, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



For the past 4 or 5 days the serps in my sector represented the actual manufacturers or suppliers of a certain widget...within the last 8 hours the top 15 results represent referrers with adsense ads and the actual companies controlling the product are buried deep.

The notable exceptions are those suppliers that participate in adwords.

If they are going to go with the no free lunch algo, google won't last long. No offense to adsense publishers, but personally I would rather use a SE that gives me the source (authority) sites without having to click thru 4 or 5 pages of serps or clicking thru a referrer.

I am not an engineer or code geek, but am a MBA from the top business school in the nation. From a business standpoint a search engine is more a "loss leader" for a company that has other revenue streams such as MSN. Manipulating information (search results) for capitalization is self defeating. Google has now found itself between a rock and a hard place. The rock being MSN and the hard place Yahoo.

True...in theory, commercial sites should pay something for serp position, but in reality most companies like mine have brand recognition (customers go directly to the website instead of search) and off the web distribution and marketing. If google thinks it can force companies to pay for position...they are overestimating the value of their product. A number one position on google might increase my overall sales and traffic to my website by a fraction of 1%. That hardly seems worth the effort to participate in their adwords program.

I am sure most "real" companies feel the same way. Evidenced by the fact that I rarely see companies with strong brand identification advertising with adwords. Sure...you see Amazon, Ebay and the such, but still they are resellers or glorified traffic cops.

Google has a very thin market...too thin to justify their current market capitalization (stock price).

steveb

1:34 am on May 31, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



'From a business standpoint it's called "maximizing revenue."'

No it would be called corporate suicide. Could we keep this to rants about the update and not this Ruin a Business 101 stuff please.

annej

1:56 am on May 31, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



No offense to adsense publishers, but personally I would rather use a SE that gives me the source (authority) sites without having to click thru 4 or 5 pages of serps or clicking thru a referrer.

What makes you think all adsense publishers are like that? Many of us are content sites that were established long before adsense came along. Mine is one of the top informational sites on my topic. It's a lot of work to maintain and the adsense revenue is welcome.

What I'd really like to see now is a serious thread looking at the changes this update has brought about and how to deal with it.

[edited by: annej at 1:59 am (utc) on May 31, 2005]

oldpro

1:56 am on May 31, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



sorry that I got on my soapbox steve. I guess that the point I should have made was that while PR was taken out of the equation, google's serps where much more relevant. With bourbon, they seem to be turning filters off and on (PR being one of the filters).

As a person that uses google for search more than depending on it for income...they need to make up their mind and settle on something. As for maximizing revenue...they reached their point of diminishing returns along time ago. They need to get back to what made them #1 and stick with it.

We cannot even make the slightest analysis of the specifics of what google may be penalizing or rewarding as far as SEO because as each day passes there are wild swings in the results. However, IMHO the answer to what bourbon is all about lies in getting into google's mind as to their motive beyond relevant serps.

I do believe I am on topic if bourbon is less an IT issue than it is a business decision.

enough said...no more business 101

steveb

2:10 am on May 31, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I was replying to a few messages up, but still, while these update threads have a astronomical noise to signal ratio, there still can be some value in noticing things. Disecting Google's business model is more than a little off topic.

oldpro

2:13 am on May 31, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



anne...

I did not qualify my statement...sorry. Did not mean to make a blank generalization. There are many information rich websites with adsense...as there are many that are mere pseudo directories with adsense.

I should have given more detail to that statement...please accept my sincere apology. But, I am sure that you would agree with me that because of PR and other off site factors many websites are sometimes at the top of the serps that are redundant. For instance, if I am searching with google for information on a medical condition (which I did today)...8 of the top 10 results where merely directory type sites with adsense ads for medications for the condition. None of these 8 had hardly any information regarding the medical condition.

On the other hand. If those 8 were websites with detailed information about the medical condition and just happened to have adsense ads available directing me to treatment options...that is the way it should be.

I am sure most adsense publishers that provide the searcher with in-depth, well researched information would rather these other aforementioned types of adsense publishers would just go away too.

oldpro

2:44 am on May 31, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



ok...on topic now steve.

checked all the datacenters with several different url's with as many keywords today...everything is all over the board...lots of disparity between the datacenters since PR is back in the equation. The same URL's and kw's were stable for a few days prior.

This inconsistancy has been the constant with bourbon. I see alot of post where people who have been hurt venting or trying to get advice on what they can do to get back in the game.

My posts have been to try to calm them down...don't start messing with on or off page factors, because what might help today will hurt tommorrow.

Are you saying that we are only to report what we see and not try to analyize what we are seeing? Where does that get us? It just seems to me that bourbon has little to do with SEO issues thus far. I have been following the posts of several people who have taken a hit with this update...so far nobody has come up with answers as to....why?

It is the members here who have been playing by the rules and have still been penalized for some reason. They hold the answers to SEO issues relating to bourbon, but we have yet to make any solid assumptions as to what might have been the cause of their demise. Isn't that the purpose of this thread? To identify the changes google is making with bourbon so we adjust and benefit?

rise2it

3:09 am on May 31, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member




Okay, everyone (including me) has been complaining about the lack of quality for 1500 threads now, and many people have predicted 'doom and gloom' for Google's future now that they've been unkind to us mighty webmasters.

However, we live in the real world, so here's a question:

Assuming your site tanked (and stays down), will YOU: _______?

(A) Increase your Adwords spending to make up the difference in lost traffic/sales?

(B) Leave your Adwords spending exactly where it is and simply 'take it on the chin'?

(C) Decrease your Adwords spending or cancel your account completely to 'show them who the boss is'?

ltedesco

3:24 am on May 31, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Since Google writes the checks, I think he is the boss! ;o)
I will wait to make any change, it is to soon to do anything.

DaveAtIFG

3:28 am on May 31, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



checked all the datacenters with several different url's with as many keywords today...everything is all over the board...
It is the members here who have been playing by the rules and have still been penalized for some reason.
No one has been penalized until the update is completed. It takes Google a good deal longer to complete an update then it did pre-Florida. Seasoned folks take these fluctuations in stride and wait for the update to complete before any serious update analysis, site changes, or lamenting.

As steveb said, it's sometimes informative to watch the process. But the DCs rarely give an accurate indication of what the final SERPs will look like. Relax! It's an algo and it's gonna produce a set of results.

Worrying 'bout it won't produce more favorable resuts, at least it hasn't for me yet. All it's done is give me more gray hair! :)

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