Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
Over and done with?
All done all through?
but the fact is the majority of people here appear to be far worse off than they were 2 months ago.
Please publish the raw data from the poll you used to uncover this "fact" and describe how you made your sample random and unbiased. Or, perhaps you meant to say "the majority of people complaining about being far worse off" instead of "the majority of people here" -- that would indeed be a fact, tautological in fact.
Just being excited or upset doesn't make opinions facts. There is a difference between the two.
I'm not sure that is true. Not enough WebmasterWorld members have commented to really judge it. But, even if it were true, this could be because:
1. Those who are suffering participate most actively in these threads. The members who aren't being hurt tend to spend their time reading and posting in other threads.
2. The algo changes may be causing specific sites to drop like a rock, but those same algo changes may not cause any other sites to shoot up. Instead, all the other sites could be left about where they were, or moved up a notch or two. If there's nothing exciting to report, we don't report on our situation.
3. Perhaps one of Google's goals in making particular algo changes was to cancel out the "edge" that is given to those site owners who are knowledgeable about SEO. Thus, one would expect WebmasterWorld participants to suffer more than average every time the algos change. Meanwhile the bulk of the sites -- run by less-knowledgeable folks -- move in counter fashion to the WebmasterWorld sites. Stated differently, perhaps WebmasterWorld sites slowly move up between "updates" (as the members reverse engineer the latests twists and turns) and they sharply move down during each update.
Good grief ... don't y'all think your time would be better spent not living life in fear and, instead, be bold and create more content?!
Not really no .. 4/5th worth of content has been destroyed financially, so it's much better to figure out why, as the content is already there.
It's much more meaningful/sensical to -->neutrally<-- analyse what Google is up to and how to create Google safe content and then create content --> in the moment <-- .. and I am thinking in the moment.. ;)
This might not be the right forum though since it's all either Google is great or Google is cr@p instead of an analysis what has really happened. :\
The serps look as good or bad as before to me so .. I don't understand yet where my traffic is and why it's gone, within three days.
After that it might make sense writing content again.
[edited by: Ankhenaton at 5:16 pm (utc) on Nov. 10, 2005]
Take my case (why not its the only one I am familiar with ;))
I promote a hotel in a little known crap town in a
big european country.
For years now (since way before Google) I have
dominated the SERPS for combinations of countryname
hotel AND craptown hotel.
Now I since I was only offering a product in a small
craptown I probably never deserved to dominate the
countryname keywords, but of course I never complained.
Then comes Jagger. Now I dominate the countryname
serps again (phew!) but the really important stuff
including terms like "hotel craptown" are nowhere.
This wrong. Wrong for my buisness and for Google.
So from where I am looking it seems that Google
results must have lost some "precision" after Jagger.
I have seen this too many times throughout this thread, and those "smart" businessmen are really missing the point.
Where do YOU go when you're looking for something? Are you going to click on a sponsored listing or a banner ad, or do you look to organic results? We all subconsciously ignore sponsored listings and ads, as we know someone paid to have their ad placed there. We head for the organic listings because we know these listings are unbiased -- albeit imperfect.
With hundreds of thousands of daily searches for our key phrases on Google, and some 65 percent of all searchers using Google, being listed in the first few pages of these results is incredibly important. We'd have to be brain-dead if we weren't upset by loosing these listings.
Good Google serps bring huge amounts of targeted and self-directed visitors, who feel they are there because they choose to be, and not because they’ve clicked on an ad, banner or sponsored listing. Conversion rates for such visitors are far higher than other traffic sources for us, as I am sure they are for everyone else that monitors this.
Organic listings are so very important. The fact that they are free is totally immaterial.
For everyone that has suffered as a result of this update, please don't be afraid to say so. Just ignore the authoritative comments from the "smart" businessmen in here -- most of us sympathize and wish you a speedy recovery. Besides, if they really believed what they said, then what ever are they doing in this forum anyway?
Just MHO!
Then comes Jagger. Now I dominate the countryname
serps again (phew!) but the really important stuff
including terms like "hotel craptown" are nowhere.
The whole point is to filter out the crap results...
;)
by crap town I meant "small" town. ;)
[edited by: Ankhenaton at 5:32 pm (utc) on Nov. 10, 2005]
I have seen this too many times throughout this thread, and those "smart" businessmen are really missing the point.
Not at all. I've stated numerous times that free traffic from google is a wonderful bonus...an icing on the cake, if you will.
However, if you peruse these "update" threads (which, in reality, have 1% analysis, and 99% "woe is me" and minute by minute datacenter update content) you'll see many of the same names, month after month, year after year, complaining about their "feast or famine" at the hands of google.
Again, free traffic from any engine is wonderful, profitable, highly targeted, yada yada yada. I agree.
BUT...why on earth would you want to base your ENTIRE business on the whims and possible technical glitches of a marketing channel of which you have NO control? Why not instead use this time (and we're 3-4 weeks into this "update, aren't we?) to seek out new and diversified sources of traffic? Our site receives over 4000 NON-SEARCH ENGINE free visitors per day, from articles, press releases, inbound links, etc. etc. All that traffic converts as well, if not better, than search engine traffic.
That's the point the "smart businessmen" are trying to make. Perhaps if people started using the forums as an analytical tool and a place to exchange ideas, as opposed to a support group for the sharing of the "misery" google has inflicted, we would all be better off.
