Google's site: query returns bad results - now being fixed

hyphenated domains and trailing slash get incorrect results

[Adam_Lasnik]

Hey everyone,

My colleague Vanessa just posted a note which should hopefully make your weekend a less stressful one :).

Specifically, she's noted that we've had some issues with our "site:" operator [sitemaps.blogspot.com] not returning appropriate results when used with hyphenated domains... so it's quite likely that much of the falloff you've seen is thankfully illusory.

We've noted similar discrepancies with site: searches using domains with a trailing slash as well.

And yes, Googlers are working to correct this stuff as quickly as possible!

[Swanson]

Totally agree, thats why i am not sat waiting for a fix - I am fixing my attitude to search engine marketing.

Hats - black/White/Grey - who cares, visitors to websites are what is important. You can just get "banned" now for not having enough "quality" links!

I say sod off then - the game is on.

[Vadim]

So it seems better to stick to just one data center.

The question is which of them is best for this purpose.

Recently I browsed through Alexa top 100 most visited site and found the site listed as
72.14.203.104
(It was 27 position in the Alexa rating)
Turns out it is a Google data center.
Seems most of those who directly use IP prefer it.
Is it the best?

g1smd mentioned to other with similar ip
72.14.207.99 and 72.14.207.104

We also have Big Daddy
66.249.93.104

Which is the best to monitor?
What is your opinion?

Vadim.

[textex]

Do effected pages have PR? Or do they have PR and are just not showing in site command.

[Vadim]

They have PR, at least for me and at least in Google toolbar.

However the PR prediction tool reports that PR for the dropped pages cannot be determined (as oposite to the pages in the index)

Vadim.

[tedster]

We also have Big Daddy 66.249.93.104

At this time, all of Google is Big Daddy.

[Dayo_UK]

Have people given up on a fix for this?

I have, 2 weeks ago Google said a few days - hmmmmz.

OK some DCs are showing pages again for a site:a-domain.com search - but site:a-domain.com/ still seems broken on all DCs.

[tiori]

The only thing they've done on several of my hyphenated domains is to put the supplementals back........They are well over one year old. ... Some go back as far as 2004. So I would say they haven't fixed anything.

[colin_h]

A.K.A. DNS MAIL - hmmm ... makes you wonder whos side they're on.

All the Best

Col :-)

[daveVk]

I have been getting the same results for site:example.com and site:example.com/ for a about the last week. Interested if others see it differently.

[kamran mohammed]

Hi all ...

This post of mine might make some people over here go angry on me or may be share my views but I though to write it up.

I had stopped posting in this thread coz I was not able to figure out what's going on with Google site:operator though everyone here & Venessa from Sitemaps team has been saying that it's just that site:operator isn't working.

But now I have this strong feeling that this is not the main reason and everything is well on the Google side Like there is no bug nor anything. It's just that Google has done their update and now they have their all time favorite filters coz of which it has wiped off the pages from Index and SO Google has proudly said that it's just that they have a bug.

Does a company like Google be so unprofessional, NO. This site:operator is known to only web masters or SEO people around the world and a normal visitor on Google doesn't know that. So Google is more focussed on relevancy and so they are more focussed on their visitors. This sort of a bug is only know to people like us and is being discussed in all web master forums so the normal people who search on google is unaware of this.

I don't know why but my heart doesn't believe what Venessa has written in her blog and still I feel that this update has really hit those sites...so no more panic, no complains and no posting after this post in this thread.

I don't understand one thing why Google is not openly saying that it had really hit those sites which didn't match their criteria of Indexing and so it has wiped off everything in one night in one shot Over and Out and left the webmasters & site owners around world in distress. Though I don't have any bad feelings about Google but what i hate is why did they give the name of a bug when it was really a major update and it had mean to hit the sites and so it did. Why don't they say it openly on to our face.

So it looks all this is a strategic planning which worked. Like say to all that it has a bug which will be fixed in sometime and let the people be in anticipation and slowly everyone will LIVE with it and there will be less bugging to the Google Engineers.

Below is what I have noticed on this update before and after.

But I have noticed one more thing in the past. I have seen that this update was rolled out on 17th May and Matt has posted just one day before the update on his blog about the timeline of Big Daddy Data Center and just after 2 days Venessa posted on her blog about the site operator malfunction.

I was wondering why did Matt mentioned about it one day before and why is Matt on vacation when everyone needs his feedback and Adam is all lost.

Has anyone else notice all these things. Now I am quite skeptical to how things are taking shape at Google.

Now this has become a quite long post and I would Love to see if anyone else feels what I feel.

Thanks,

[BillyS]

I'm really not sure what's happening here. I've now got roughly 920 pages in the index but it's been that way for about three weeks now.

Despite the fact we keep adding pages, the number seems frozen.

[quixote]

Not to get anybody worked up, but I'm noticing on these DCs:

64.233.161.107
64.233.161.147
64.233.161.99
64.233.161.104
216.239.37.99
216.239.39.99

that a search for site:www.domain.com/ (with trailing slash) is bringing up different (better) results than without (at least for my domain, maybe yours?). It hasn't done that since the purported "fix" of the site: bug. Apparently they are still working on it.