Improvements since Panda

[jlynn30]

To give some of you a bit of hope....

I run a niche site, 10 years in the running. Lot's of original content. Over those years, we've written approximately 4,000 in-depth tutorials related to video editing software.

Our company has never paid for a single link, and we've never asked anyone to link to our site.

For whatever reason, no single Google update has affected our traffic. We've seen a steady increase over the years.

Traffic has gradually increased, without a hitch, to 4500 unique visitors a day. Granted, that may seem small compared to other businesses. but considering we run a niche software training business, we couldn't be happier.

Now......we have noticed certain 'money keywords' bounce in and out of the #1 position through Google's various updates, but it's never been devastating like many describe.

The Panda update seemed to favor us, returning all of our 'money' keywords to the number 1 position.

I hope this gives hope to those individuals who run a 'niche' business. Our experience has been, if you produce good quality content, the visitors will come.

However, It's still scary that Google generates 90% of our traffic. That definitely makes us nervous.

[Shatner]

I think we all know that Panda didn't kill everyone.

You should probably be concerned though, you could literally be next. You could be out of business tomorrow morning if Google launches Panda 2.

There's no way to know and you have no control over it. Nothing you do matters.

[jlynn30]

Yes... thank you! I feel like Google is a ticking time bomb.... I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

[chrisv1963]

For whatever reason, no single Google update has affected our traffic. We've seen a steady increase over the years.

Sounds like my website. Online since 10 years, good content, never affected by updates,...
However, we got hit badly by Panda.
Sooner or later Panda 2 will roll out to fix the collateral damage issue and then you could be a victim too.

[walkman]

jlynn30,
as they said, if Yahoo mentions your keyword somewhere in the footer, they will outrank you on Panda II and III....

[Jane_Doe]

I hope this gives hope to those individuals who run a 'niche' business. Our experience has been, if you produce good quality content, the visitors will come.

I have a web site I've hardly touched in 3 years. It has bounced form nowhere to page 2 and back for a year or so. It doesn't make much money even on page 2 so I haven't bothered with it. After Panda it has bounced from page 2 to page 1 for a fairly high traffic, though not lucrative, term.

Now again, I don't think much has changed on this site in 3 years. It doesn't collect a lot of links on its own. Most of the links are from the original owner and a lot of those are just comment links.

So I know Google says just build good content, but their definition of good content obviously changes from one day to the next.

I'm not complaining. It is what it is. I have enough sites that things tend to even out for me no matter what algorithms are in place on a certain day. But you are seriously dreaming if you think that if you produce good quality content the visitors will come. Evidently this site has good quality content on some Tuesdays but not so much on some Wednesdays.

If you produce good quality content and study the various algorithms like the back of your hand, resist the urge to follow short term profits by following the Adsense teams ad placement advice, know where it is okay and not okay to place affiliate links, etc, or maybe just luck out then the visitors will come.

[kd454]

This is the first update that has effected any of my sites. I have 1 site that got a nice increase and is making up for the 2 that got hit.

The funny thing is there is not much difference between the 3 sites so when will the hammer drop on the 1?

Thinking long term with Google is a fantasy, unless your a big brand or know the right people (white list).

Between all there penalty's and algo changes your time is limited. Google is very similar to a crazed Alcoholic very unpredictable and will turn on you eventually.

[edited by: kd454 at 10:50 pm (utc) on Apr 2, 2011]

[Shatner]

What's really different about this update, as opposed to any other, is that it doesn't just affect certain pages or keywords for your site, it kills the entire site.

Updates which move you up and down are the norm in Google, it's just part of the game. This is different, it's basically an all out attack on your site from Google.

[Planet13]

Google is very similar to a crazed Alcoholic very unpredictable and will turn on you eventually.

Yes, a very RICH crazed alcoholic - whom we mistakenly rely upon for money ;)

[dickbaker]

At least with crazed alcoholics you can offer to buy them a drink and suddenly they're your best buddy.

Maybe we should buy Google some drinks.

[indyank]

but their definition of good content obviously changes from one day to the next.

Yes their definitions keep changing for most stuff be it "good content" or "spam" or whatever.

Maybe we should buy Google some drinks.

but they never give you such opportunities.

[Dan01]

What's really different about this update, as opposed to any other, is that it doesn't just affect certain pages or keywords for your site, it kills the entire site.

That is the problem. They got rid of their Page Rank, and now have taken on site-wide ranking system the penalizes site. I think the update will benefit larger sites.