Update Dewey: April 2008 Google SERP Changes

[Lovejoy]

< continued from [webmasterworld.com...] >

So what's up with the Google? Something big is going on?

It would appear we are in for an old style Google shake up. From what I've seen listed on a variety of blogs a number of long standing sites listed on the first page have been delisted or dumped way back.

I've had one site online since 1997 that had a lock on the top spot for my keywords on and off for four years on Google just go "poof", all that's left of it is two obscure pages I haven't changed since about 2001 ;~)

So far I've received nothing in the way of messages on webmaster tools, and my site went missing in action after March 16TH. I'm just going to wait it out to see if the old girl gets relisted. I've gone over the whole thing and there's nothing on the site that breaks any Google guidelines unless there is something new in the algo.

Anyone else going to sit it out before going off the deep end to once agin ask " what does Google Want?"

[edited by: tedster at 8:36 pm (utc) on April 1, 2008]

[MadeWillis]

By counters do you mean things like Digg, Stumble and other "bookmarking" sites?

Sid,

By visitor counter I mean a box that people will show on the bottom of a page that shows how many visits that page has received. Basically, webmasters grab the code from a site offering these "free visitor counters", paste it on their site, and boom...a backlink to my competitor's site. There is usually very small anchor text under the counter with a keyword. This technique has been documented well here - [searchenginejournal.com...]

Seen anything like this? Search for this in Google and you will find tons of sites offering these free counters. Most are just contributing to the spam. Why would Google even allow sites that distribute these counters in their index? Does Google even look at the spam reports sent through Webmaster Tools? Maybe this just isn't evidence enough for them, but it stands out like a sore thumb to me.

[annej]

Reseller is right. At this point we aren't talking about results and the new algo. As long as things are bouncing around it doesn't mean much. Some of the results I've seen in the last few days looked like older rankings so they may have been in the mix for a while.

Saying that, this is the first morning I looked and the results are pretty much the same on all data centers. So things may be settling a bit. But it's not over tell it's over. Let's be sure then we can start a new thread analyzing the results.

[SEOPTI]

Not every hosted counter service is spam. You are talking nonsense. I run different hosted services and if people are willing to add a link to their site, it's a link, it's a vote, it's not spam.

[edited by: SEOPTI at 3:34 pm (utc) on April 4, 2008]

[MadeWillis]

The point is that most people don't know they are including that link on their site! I've asked some of the webmasters using the free counters and they had no idea. I also said "many of them" not "all of them". I could rattle off about 10 or so of these sites offering the spammy counters just off the top of my head. I've done the research myself so it's not nonsense.

Most say something like this - "If the link is removed the counter will not work". How is that a vote? A vote normally involves selecting from multiple choices, not being forced to choose just one.

I guess people should just shop around until they find a spammy link counter that points to the sites they like.

[edited by: MadeWillis at 3:48 pm (utc) on April 4, 2008]

[night707]

Has it previously been possible, that sites with as little as 30 weak sites linking in had been able to push down old established sites with tons of so called "valuable" "organic" inbounds ?

Is it now accepted by Google to have single sites linking a few hundred times towards some page other site to take it up to No.1 ?

This is what i have found out since this thread was launched.

There must be a drastic change within the link evaluation.

[Hissingsid]

night707,

Where in the World are you?

If you are out of the US is the term you are talking about specific to your local market?

Cheers

Sid

[night707]

Sid,

our almost 10 year old media is fully global and also with a US audience.

The two terms i have analyzed are popular imternational keywords with the same relevance in every country. Big in China, big in the US and everywhere.

It is against TOS to discuss search results and to mention sites here. So i can`t give you the full details here.

Of course i am checking all data centers for the rankings through well known webtools as well as inbound links.

My feel is, that the link evaluation at Google is now very different.

< discussion continues here: [webmasterworld.com...] >

[edited by: tedster at 6:36 pm (utc) on April 5, 2008]