Odd results for my site. Does WMT Sitelinks reveal the issue?

[JS_Harris]

- I own a site about widgets.
- The site ranked page one for it's main keyword.
- Internal pages ranked well for individual keywords.
- 1 year ago the site disapeared for it's main keyword but remained strong on all others.

Since the traffic is heading to internal pages where it matter I'm not worried that Google isn't sending anyone to the home page but I'd like your opinion on the following.

The site is well established and sometime this week received site link status in serp results. The thing that strikes me with the site link is that the main keyword is removed from all links and titles in Googles listings. On my site the keyword is in all links and titles, it's hard not to write the word when the site is about that word, but Google has removed it from the serps listings. For example "widgets for sale" is simply listed as "for sale" in the sitelinks.

Does this explain why the site disapeared from the serps on that keyword some time ago? Was the site penalized and that word is no longer considered as is suggested by the sitelink ommiting it completely?

More importantly, if my site isn't allowed to rank for it's main keyword how would I appeal such a penalty? Again, it ranked page one for a very long time for that word before simply being dropped.

[tedster]

Ever since the Florida update back in 2004, it's become more and more important NOT to overdo it with keywords, especially in anchor text. Google's ticklish underbelly is links, whether they are external backlinks or internal linking - and they get very defensive about it.

The new sitelinks that you are now seeing may have activated your thinking processes about this issue, but it's common for the sitelinks algo to economize on the link text. It's not a sign of a penalty, and the keyword will be added to those links if your penalty is lifted.

It would be good to re-think your navigation labels if you want a chance to rank for the short keyword again. However, you seem to be happy with the past year and getting traffic to internal pages - so I'd certainly understand if you would rather not experiment and risk losing that traffic which is apparently well targetd for you.

Have you looked through all the results for the main keyword? I'm thinking it might be on a deep page now - the kind of thing we've been calling the -950 penalty, which shows a kind of over-optimization problem.

[JS_Harris]

I've monitored the site closely over the years. The site is currently ranked 86th for the main keyword (the topic of the site). It used to rank as highly as 4th and never fell below 8th until last year and I did all of the SEO work myself during the first two months of the sites existance... long before this happened.

Changing the anchor text really isn't an option since the site is about this word. As I said "widgets for sale" is descriptive whereas "for sale" is too vague on this subject.

I've been poking around all afternoon and sure enough most pages show up in the serps without the main keyword... it's as if my entire site is no longer allowed to rank on page one for the word but somehow it ranks exceedingly well for all sub pages even without the primary keyword. ie: "baking widgets" still ranks well for "baking" etc.

I just noticed that webmaster tools has thrown out every single backlink that had the main keyword in it which is why the pr likely dropped a little. It now shows just one backlink for the term "check this site out" of all things.

How do they expect me to build a site people can find without being allowed to use my own main keyword, lol. /shrug. Traffic is still great so I'm not overly concerned right now.

[tedster]

I meant that you should rein in the overuse of the main keyword in your on-site anchor text, not in the anchor text in backlinks. That off-site anchor text is assumed, for the most part, to be out of your control.

If Google sees too much evidence that you ARE in control of a large number of your own backlinks, then that's another possible source of trouble.

I'm glad to hear that your overall traffic is still healthy. Maybe ranking well for the main keyword isn't essential for your site and your business helath. I've seen many examples of this kind of thing over the past couple years, and it just wasn't worth agonizing over. In most cases, I think Google tagged the search terms involved as "informational queries" and the site was seen as a "commercial intent" destination. Perhaps this also applies in your case?

I'd also like to add a general comment about a healthy mind-set here. It doesn't help anyone to get into a mood of complaint or protest about what Google seems to be doing. That does nothing to help a site to rank well. The only thing that does help is sound analysis, and then fixing the issues that the analysis locates - assuming that they really "need" fixing, of course.

[edited by: tedster at 7:57 am (utc) on Oct. 4, 2008]

[JS_Harris]

That comment suits my feelings on the subject perfectly Tedster, thanks. I'm sure Google did what it thought best for the public as a whole but as webmaster I'm needing to figure it out with little to go on.

So... I've removed the keyword in a few places and will wait it out to see what happens. I can always upload a backup copy if organic traffic falters. If a human editor gave me the penalty the change will likely do nothing. If it's an algo the site may bounce back for the keyword. It will be interesting to see what happens in a couple of months.