Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
We have noticed some moderate ranking changes in the past 24 hours, which have reverted to previous ranking positions dating back to the middle of December.
Our rankings are secure, so I am not writing this as a complaint, but as the sharing of an obersvation: there is a new shift occuring right now.
In addition, we have also observed a reduction in the number of double listing "authority rankings" for various sites over the past 2 weeks or so. Many of these previous double rankings were indeed redundant, so this removal of some double listings is a perceived good thing in our opinion, at least in the sectors we watch.
Is anyone else having these same sorts of observatiosn these past 24 hours?
[edited by: tedster at 7:25 pm (utc) on Jan. 5, 2007]
Yes, I'm also seeing some minor shuffling today.
I too have been seeing this, approximately 5 or so days now but only on the more heavily searched terms.
Also seeing more and more pages being released from supplemental land.
None of the changes have been drastic, just one or two positions up or down across 8 key search phrases.
I am working through all supp pages to see how they can be tweaked. Does having the same title and meta desc trip penalties?
seems this way a kinda everfresh
I like that concept :)
Although this time I lost marginally, it looks like since they update more often (beginning of Dec.) I'm steadily climbing up the G-ladder.
In addition, we have also observed a reduction in the number of double listing "authority rankings" for various sites over the past 2 weeks or so.
I wish the reduction was greater though. 2 main keywords that I monitor still has 1 authority(not spam) site in the top 2 spots.
Oh, and the #1 listing for this site has those indented links to other parts of it's site(can't remember the name for that) and one of those links is the same link this site has for the #2 google result.
[edited by: Jordo_needs_a_drink at 3:22 pm (utc) on Jan. 5, 2007]
I agree that it will not be fruitful to discuss each week's changes in a separate thread - especially if there seems to be nothing new observed, but just "yes there were more changes". So I've renamed this thread to cover the whole month of January, and we'll lock up December when the specifics in there seem to be running down.
If anything really new comes up, I can break it out of this thread into a separate discussion.
1. Sites affected used to rank well for many keywords, and often for a long period.
2. Now those rankings have not just dropped a little bit, but effectively were sent to oblivion
3. The rest of the SERP where the site was removed usually shows only minor changes
4. The site: operator returns a bunch of Supplemental urls first, not the Home Page.
5. For those with a GWT account, there is no message that clarifies what happened
6. Toolbar Page Rank is still reported at the same level, and GWT Page Rank seems unchanged as well
Yes, 4 years steady rankings.
2. Now those rankings have not just dropped a little bit, but effectively were sent to oblivion
More complicated....Observations with my site: When the supplementals show top in site:search, then the ranking of the pages is dependent on the anchor text of out bound links. If the search term is a near match to the anchor text used and the page linked to is also in the serps, then the linking page is ignored and drops to 950+. The site/page linked to gets a small ranking boost. This may be peculiar to our site as we have many links out to only a few other sites. However, as changes are being cached (removed or changed anchor text), our rankings are returning despite our supplemental problem.
3. The rest of the SERP where the site was removed usually shows only minor changes
Yes, the anchor text needs to fit the pattern above... making it a very selective process.
4. The site: operator returns a bunch of Supplemental urls first, not the Home Page.
Yes. I think there may be two things going on here. When the supplementals show top, the above 'anchor text' algo kicks in. However, some members report loss of traffic without the supplemental issue. The two issues are linked, but the supplemental may be an additional effect when the switch is turned on. I suspect it could be connected with site structure and folders without index pages. The spider seems to strip urls in order to find index pages that don't exist. If they don't find them or get a 404, maybe the whole folder contents with regards theme and pr flow is effected someway.... just a guess.
Anyone else seeing this?
Cygnus
[edited by: JoeSinkwitz at 8:11 pm (utc) on Jan. 5, 2007]
If I search just, www.widget.com in Google, these affected sites do not come up in the results. What does is every other site that is either linking to the site, or has the site mentioned somewhere. Clearly some sort of major demotion/penalty/filter.
Anyone else experiencing this with an effected site?
If I run a site command, site:www.widget.com the sites that have been zapped show supplemental pages at the top of the results. Even if the site just has one supplemental page.
If I search just, www.widget.com in Google, these affected sites do not come up in the results. What does is every other site that is either linking to the site, or has the site mentioned somewhere. Clearly some sort of major demotion/penalty/filter.
Yes, but for www.widget.com search it come up on 11 spot.For widget.com search is ok.
I have a very funny way of measuring those ongoing "changes".
A page I watch related to online marketing (including affiliate programs) and a specific search phrase. Sometimes those changes send the said page to 433+. Sometimes it return by a miracle to 23, 38 and today I see it placed as no. 43 and 46 on most of the DCs. As you might imagine, the next time a "change" happen I expect it to return to 433+ . Very exciting indeed!
And thats how GOOG keeping me young :-)
I suspect it could be connected with site structure and folders without index pages. The spider seems to strip urls in order to find index pages that don't exist. If they don't find them or get a 404, maybe the whole folder contents with regards theme and pr flow is effected someway....
Beside the reduction from 35.000 to 6.500 pages in the last few days, Now I have listed as supplenmental - before the site home page - 40 never seen before urls of directories missing the index page
like this:
[site.com...]
can i live them as supplemental or is better to redirect them to the existing main page?
[site.com...]
I rank very well with the home page -only a couple of 2/3 word searches though-
But never existed with the other pages since I changed site name 18 months ago.
"The observation about fewer double entries rings a bell with me -- even going back a few weeks. In fact I begin to wonder if there is some extra barrier in place to go from #11 to #10."
Just jumped from 11 to 8 with not much bother on a competitive keyword term, so I dont think so...
Managed it with a "simple but observed" (!) tweak to the meta description, which Google now shows in the snippet.
(Edited to include a bit more info)
It's a real crisis as we have a lot of traffic and paying clients. it's gonna be back to the old $1000 a month adwords, which is never as good as the free Organic listings....only 15% seems to come from sponsored links when I use them...
This fluctuation stopped for a few days... but now it seems that it started again.
Unclear.
In a case like that, the new #10 is instantly promoted to as high as #2. It's nice when you get it.
I've spent an hour or two reading all these threads and am probably more confused than before I started.
I run a PR6 travel location themed site. I've been in the top ten of Google for the one word destination name for the last 3 years, a term which delivers 23.5 million results. Highest I've been was #4 and up until recently I was #9. I also hold the #1 spot for the two word phrase "mydestination vacation" and its plural.
As of a few days ago I plummeted to around #60 for my single search term but continue to hold #1 spot for my two word term.
A site: query delivers 59,000 results but all are supplemental bar one - which is a random thread from my message board. Many of my pages don't even show a Google cache.
At the busiest time of year for my business, and one that puts the food on the table and pays the bills, I'm seeing a traffic drop off of around 50-60%. I am really quite worried if we'll get through this.
Do you guys have any advice for me? As I mentioned I've read through pages of this and preceding threads and really don't know where to start to attempt to rectify this.
1. ranked first page for all major keywords for 4 years...
2. most content either gone or above 50+ pages deep
3. yes
4. 2 pages of supplemetals, before homepage
5. yes
6. still showing fluctuating pr depending on dc...
-phish
