Google.com SERP Changes - March 2009

[jcmiras]

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

Guys, have you noticed or already discussed this way of how google do the search?

Assuming you searched for "word1+word2+word3" (without quotes), usually, we thought that all of the pages that appear in the SERP should contain all of the keywords. However, there are pages in the result which contain only "word1" and "word2" but "word3" is not there, instead, it is on one of the pages that that particular page in the SERP is linking to.

[edited by: tedster at 5:50 pm (utc) on Mar. 2, 2009]

[seoArt]

I'm seeing a lot of grey PageRank bars on sites that shouldn't be today. Including webmasterworld.

[gouri]

Thanks for mentioning. That's a good observation.

Can I ask you if you are also seeing the white bar?

[tedster]

If a page used to have some green showing (PR greater than 1), but some of their powerful backlinks went gray, then they could fall below PR1 but still more than PR0 - and that's a "white bar."

These new graybar's may well be a temporary hiccup of some kind. I hate it when they do that ;)

[innocbystr]

All of my white bar pages are now gray. I even have a PR2 page now gray. Be interesting to see how this sorts out.

[trinorthlighting]

I am seeing a back link fluctuations today.

[ichthyous]

Don't despair yet...it appears that this was temporary after all, at least where my site was concerned. I have seen traffic start to bounce back since Monday and all of my pages that were grey-barred have now returned back to their previous page rank of 3.

[snickles121]

I recently got penalyzed as I recently posted and fixed, but it makes you think. I made up my website, not to make money, but to get a point across and for it to be free usefull information. I like webmasterworld.com because they seem to have the same principles. Unfortunately it took a penalty by google, because of greed over advertising revenue by myself and neglect because of assumption.

My point is, make up good valuable content to the end user and you will be rewarded. Don't over advertise and remember why you made the site up in the first place.

I'm finally having fun with my site again as I can write content in my own opinion and not just to gain revenue. I get over 500 uniques a day, thats a major influence in my opinion and it could make changes if I just spoke what I thought and not for keywords! Maybe Obama will answer my question if enough people vote on it. Website traffic can be a major support if your trying to get supporters to help a cause. Hey just a thought!

[tedster]

It seems like this past month has seen shifts in the way Google evaluates backlinks:

1. Links from blogrolls (maybe all run-of-site links?) have been adjusted - see discussion [webmasterworld.com].

2. Some reports that links from aritcle sites no longer have power - see discussion [webmasterworld.com]

3. Plus, let's not forget what ever that algo change was in late February, the one Matt Cutts called the Vince Update - see discussion [webmasterworld.com]

That last one may be more than a change in evaluating backlinks, but I'd still guess that backlinks play a part - and that some backlinks got a boost.

This all seems like an extension of Google's preference for "freely given editorial links". From what I see, sites whose rankings fell may not have actually been penalized at all. It's just that their backlinks have less power -- and maybe it also goes back an extra step: the sites that link to their backlink sites lost some juice.

What I don't see is lower rankings for sites with a diverse and healthy backlink profile. But sites that were ranking mostly by links that their own effort created - some of those seem to have wobbled. Again, Google likes to see mostly editorial links, and not self-created links.

Google knows that some blogroll links are for sale. They know that an article site may have low editorial standards - and a reprint of that article might mean more than the original just sitting there in inventory. And they seem to have found some quality signals that are not easily faked - signs that an online business is a solid and ongoing concern, and not just some bits and bytes cobbled together.

Do others see what I think I see here?

[trakkerguy]

Big change in one of my money sites agrees with your theory Tedster, especially #1 and 2.

Am seeing a jump from #6-8 to solid #2 for my site today for the biggest kw in the niche. I have no blogroll or other run of site links, and very little article links.

Those we passed by did have many blogroll or run of site links.

< continued here: [webmasterworld.com...] >

[edited by: tedster at 4:16 pm (utc) on April 1, 2009]