5-9 year old domains lost traffic as of May 7

[Life Is Good]

My season begins in January, a rally goes strong until June/July and then business decreases by as much as 40/50%. This year, things are a bit different. For starters, all of my web sites are on the same server and they are all sunglass web sites. I heard a lot of things about the Panda Update but that came and went and I was unaffected, if anything, I got a tiny boost as well. However, as of May 7th, I noticed a large drop (about 35%) in sales. Looking into GA, I noticed that my traffic is down and that my bounce rates have also increased. Typically bounce rates increase when traffic is down so I can see why this has happened. I also looked at my G results and I am noticing that my keywords have lost many good positions and are now way below or on the second page.

The good thing is, I have been planning for a long time to upgrade 2 of my 5 sites and also update meta / on page SEO, etc. However, what bothers me is that ALL of my sites are down in traffic simultaneously. Why are all my sites down in traffic? Is it because I am I am using one server and they are all the same product? I have had all of my sites on the same server for over 4 years now and throughout all Google updates, my sites have never suffered or have been penalized, this is the only time I can think that my sites have gone down in traffic so much.

I have thought about hiring a professional to analyze my site and decode what is happening through GA and also WT plus any other factors he/she might feel worthy of looking into but its hard finding someone reputable.

Can anyone help? Thank you in advance!

[learnseo81]

Hi, welcome to the forums.

All your sites have some content or completely different? I'm in the same boat and my site went way down in SERPs on May 13. Not recovered yet!

[agent_x]

I definitely think Google is going after people running multiple sites with similar themes or at least competing for similar keywords.

[Life Is Good]

learnseo81: Thank you. 3 of my sites sell the same products but the other two sell entirely different products. I can see how there can be an issue about this. Are your sites on the same server and similarly themed like mine?

Agent_x: My sites are competing for the same keywords but I also have many of my competitors doing the exact same thing. The only difference there is that they are all on different servers i think and mine are not.

What to do?

[Tallon]

Do you link back and forth between the sites?

Do you use Google Analytics and if so, is one account used to monitor all your sites or are there separate accounts for each?

Do you have private or public whois?

[Life Is Good]

Hello Tallon,

Yes, I do link between the sites.

Yes, one account is used to monitor ll sites.

I have a public whois.

[Life Is Good]

Oh and I should also point out that I also have one webmaster tools account as well.

[Tallon]

I have no idea if your network of sites is toast or not but the first thing I would do is remove the links between the sites. Hopefully someone with experience with this sort of thing will shed more light for you but my guess is that google isn't liking two things:

--your sites link back and forth to each other
--your sites are too similar in content and appears that you're trying to overrun the serps with a handful of sites owned by you

[HuskyPup]

Panda 2.1 rolled out on 5/6th May, your experience seems very similar to others who've been hit for "whatever" reason.

I haven't seen an issue with interlinking my 9 main B & M sites other than a collapse with AdSense earnings!

[peego]

Interesting thing about having your network of sites on the same server. What if each site was assigned a different IP, but still hosted on the same server?

[Life Is Good]

Peego, all of my sites are on the same server and they each have their own unique IP address.

[learnseo81]

@Life Is Good

I'm almost certain that It doesn't matter If they are on same server as long as IPs are different.

Can you try to monitor the SERPs for your targetted terms and try to see If front page results are fluctuating? I also saw a thread of sunglasses website on Google Forums. You are that guy?

[incrediBILL]

Sounds like Panda baseball to me.

Yes, I do link between the sites.

strike 1

I don't mind competitors with multiple sites but when you cross link them up you give your competitors more reason to not only report them as spam, but you show them the whole network to report!

Bad idea.

Yes, one account is used to monitor ll sites.

strike 2

Just because Google gives you tools doesn't mean you need to help them expose your operation using those tools.

I have a public whois.

Strike 3, you're out.

Actually this doesn't matter probably as Google is a registrar so they know all your sites anyway.

[learnseo81]

@incrediBILL

Do you think that Google has been sleeping all those 9 years? The OP seems to be doing this for atleast a few years and google just slapped him for all of his domains now?

If the competitors will report the spam just like you said, there will be huge massacre. I'm sorry but none of your explanations make sense, atleast to me.

[tangor]

Panda is Google getting tough. Thought "networks" have not yet been completely identified as under target, we do know that Google is ramping out new changes to Panda and I would not be surprised it one man (whois) ops running multiple sites (regardless of IP) are going to get hit. I suggested elsewhere that Google is looking to index the UNIQUE web...whatever that might be in their eyes.

[incrediBILL]

Do you think that Google has been sleeping all those 9 years? The OP seems to be doing this for atleast a few years and google just slapped him for all of his domains now?

Panda is a new algo, my entire niche got shuffled.

Whether is makes sense or not based on the past doesn't mean it isn't today's reality.

If the competitors will report the spam just like you said, there will be huge massacre.

You would think that, but I reported a notoriously cross-linked competitor once that was dominating some results in a nasty way and the result was that a handful of domains seemed to get penalized but not the primary, it's a crap shoot what happens.

[learnseo81]

@IncrediBILL

May I ask when your domains got affected by Panda? The exact date? Do you've duplicate content on your site or blank pages?

I'm looking to conclude something and I believe when the Panda algo was rolled out the damage was DONE on the same say to all SERPs. The OPs domains just got this so I don't believe It is Panda.


I gained about 30% more traffic in Panda because I'm posting only unique on-topic LSI content, more than 1000 words on each post. Yet My rankings are down to hell since May 13 and I don't even know what is happening. I'm not cross linking anyone and just have one way links.

I've read on other forums people reporting that all their rankings vanished and came back like in two weeks. Its just strange.

Google has already said that there is nothing competitors can do to harm your site. If you report Spam (like you did regarding cross linking) and If google also sees that as a clear case of spam, they might do take some again.

But, what about the guys who are not linking to anyone? How competitors can sabotage them?

[indyank]

I gained about 30% more traffic in Panda because I'm posting only unique on-topic LSI content, more than 1000 words on each post

You should remember that panda is run in several phases.Not all sites were evaluated in the first run on Feb 24.Google might be catching up with more sites in subsequent runs.

You might be wrong in your perception that your site fell within google's definition of "Quality". Rather, you might have gained the traffic because a few others were pandalized leaving some vacuum for your site to move up.

[learnseo81]

@indyank

yeah, Google might be catching up on more sites now but know knows. Hard to grasp Panda when I don't have any duplicate content or thin pages.

Not sure what's up. I'll keep all you guys updated.

[mhansen]

@ Life is Good -

When you said your sites sell similar products... Do you actually handle the customers yourself? Meaning... you process the credit cards or paypal charges, you retain all customer info, etc, in a traditional ecommerce fashion? Secure SSL, etc.

Or is it a referral-fee based drop-ship or affiliate style commerce site, where you produce the website and the informational content, then hand-off the actual processing of the sale to someone else?

Finally... are the sunglesses you deal in high-end glasses? I bought a pair of Oakleys' 2-3 years ago for $240... love them to pieces man, but I would think twice of spending that same money on a pair of shades right now, simply due to the economy. (Want versus need)

Just trying to dig a few more possibilities.

[HuskyPup]

@learnseo81 There is:

Panda 1 - No recovery so far for anyone or just a very few I've read but how true, I dont know.

Panda 2 - Some have recovered

Panda 2.1 - This thing's all over the place for some of us, seemingly a totally unbeknown hybrid!

[learnseo81]

@HuskyPup

I hope things settle down soon so that I can atleast plan things accordingly. I've not done any sin and I don't know why google is playing games with me.

[Simplesoft]

I'm having the same issue as well. Saw a big drop in revenue - over 50% after creating a new site with the same template, but different content and linking to it... damn.

[anallawalla]

LIG,

I don't think the same server is the problem. I don't think interlinking is a problem, as I know a few interlinked sites owned by one entity and on different servers and they haven't suffered. I also know a big magazine site that was hit by Panda and whose only fault is to have lots of copied press releases. It links to a few other compay-owned sites.

My assessment is that you have catalog sites with little bulk on each page (just my guess, as I am trying to imagine sunglass sites). So do your competitors, who are still ranking. In that case, look for big-hitting factors, such as backlinks. What is the quality and quantity of your sites' backlinks, versus those of the competitors? Do they have links from the manufacturer and you don't?

Also critically compare their sites with yours - do they have the word "sunglasses" (and synonyms) on their descriptions? It is common for catalogs of a single family of products to omit the actual noun they represent. Any other missing elements?