Difficulty ranking new content - are there time-dependent filters?

[freejung]

I've seen a number of reports lately from people who have good rankings for their old, established content, but can't seem to get good rankings for new content on the same site. I seem to have this difficulty as well lately. It's hard to pin down exactly, it just feels like new content isn't ranking nearly as well as it used to.

A number of possible explanations for this have been suggested, for example that there are time-dependent factors involved in the way links pass juice.

I have another possible explanation and I'd like to see what you think of it.

What if my site is set up in such a way that it triggers a filter (or several filters), but my old well-established pages got "grandfathered in" with their old rankings?

My older main category pages have ranked very well for their primary keywords for several years. These rankings have been very steady throughout the numerous updates and shake-downs that have happened during that time. It used to be that when I added new subcategories, they would fairly quickly rank reasonably well for their main terms. Now they seem to get stuck around page 3-4 for any term that has decent traffic, though they'll still rank well for low-traffic long-tail queries.

I've been going through and cleaning up the site, looking for potential problems that might draw filters, and I have to admit, there are a few possibilities. For example, I did an outlink audit and discovered a number of links to expired domains, 404s, and sites that I could swear were good when I linked to them but have since become pretty spammy (or maybe my standards have just changed). I had some affiliate links that were not nofollowed. My nav links repeat my main "widgets" keyword way too much (that worked great back in 2004, now it's known to be a bad idea). There is a vast network of parasite-hosted spam that links to me (and every other major site in my niche, it scrapes the SERPS and links to everyone who ranks). That sort of thing.

I never really worried about this sort of stuff before, because things seemed to be going well. My rankings were good, and I figured, if it ain't broke...

Now I'm not so sure it ain't broke. I'm going to undertake a thorough clean-up to the best of my ability and knowledge, and see what happens.

Do you think this might be what's going on? For those who have similar difficulties, do you think you might be in the same position?

Also, after the cleanup, should I file a reconsideration request? Seems odd to do so, when my rankings and traffic have been steady for years, but it might actually make sense if this is indeed what's happening.

[indyank]

Are you talking about the difficulty in ranking the new pages for existing keyword or phrases or for a new ones?

[freejung]

For new keywords.

What I'm thinking is that some filters might apply to new pages, but not to old pages that have ranked well for a long time and pre-date the existence of the filter.

[indyank]

I haven't noticed this so far...but things have definitely changed a lot...links are treated differently, titles are treated differently and it is almost a new system in place now...

[scottsonline]

There seems to be two things going on. One, suddenly google is slow to pick up new content. Two new content that does get indexed seems to have a penalty applied to it or filter.

I've watched two competitor sites for changes in specific categories. Even when new items appear they are down around position 5-6. Spam sites appear higher.

Can you message me the other stories about this or post them here? I am seeing this as well on many sites.

[indyank]

Even when new items appear they are down around position 5-6.

oops...do you mean that they rank lower after new content is added to those categories?

[freejung]

new content that does get indexed seems to have a penalty applied to it or filter.

Yep, that's how it feels to me too. The question is, does this apply to everyone all the time, or is it just sites that trip a filter for some reason? If the latter, then maybe there's something that can be done about it, kind of like you could get out of the "sandbox" by building trust.

I'll see if I can dig up some of the posts I've seen, mostly they've been here and one of the stories I was referring to was actually yours, scottsonline.

[mhansen]

Doesn't affect Wikipedia... Just checked a few pages created within the last hour on Wiki, they already rank in the top 5 for words in the title.

Of course, I know that's a golden child...

suddenly google is slow to pick up new content

I have seen that quite a bit for the past 20-30 days, on both well established sites, and new ones. I have also seen just the opposite though and watched new content indexed within 5 minutes of being published. Even across the SAME sites that are delayed on other days!

Nothing I could easily replicate thats for sure...'

[scottsonline]

A lot of new stuff from all sites seems to come in at the fifth position. Wiki ranking 5th is actually pretty low for them. This is also the same spot news stories appear if relevant. Probably not a coincidence

[tedster]

You're right about position #5 - that was one of the first "specific positions" that Google began controlling for various dedicated purposes. It seems to be a position for QDF content more than a "real" ranking achievement. But it does give new content a chance to attract attention and then rank more stably somewhere else if it catches on.

[scottsonline]

@Tedster wow just did some reading on qdf. Good catch. This is likely why amazon buy dot c om etc always shoot to the top when merchants launch their products. In a case today 2 of the top 4 spots are amazon and sears with the same affiliate product fr the same reseller. Is that qdf?
Do you see real traffic below 3rd? I know we don't, its probably less than 3-5% if we are below 2nd. I can't see spot 5 being a real test in ecommerce.

My traffic is garbage right now, BUT this happens at this time each year with google updating. It's just frustrating to see link 1 a mega link buyer, 2-3 buy sears amazon etc. I hate the fact that google gives them so much play.

[tedster]

Do you see real traffic below 3rd

It varies, to the extreme, on the query phrase and on how the SERP is laid out. I work a lot in B2B, and there can be a lot of good traffic from anywhere on page 1.

[strongwordia]

Hi freejung, scottsonline et al.

I was wondering about slow ranking of new content myself. Thanks for the post and the secondary info.

In previous years I would add new optimized content to a bigger site I work on and within a couple months it would start showing up on page 1 for the targeted term, even where that was a competitive first order search term. Now I see a big lag time. (So I can vouch, freejung, that you're not alone. I, too, was taking it personally as in, "They're onto me.")

Thanks for the discussion of QDF - never heard this before and it's just par for the course for how Google has become so much wiser.

I've got nothing to add except to say that you might take some comfort in the fact that your optimized content should eventually filter its way up the rankings. The whole issue seems very similar to the old age filter for new sites.