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Update is on :)
This is just an example of my experience.
I don't really know what to think about what GG says.
In one post, he say's the links will be phased in, in another he says don't be suprised to see links go down.
I added a lot of new content that had been added at the last update that is now gone. It was not duplicate and was unique.
Dropping from number 1 after holding if for two updates to #48 just down right stinks.
All we can do is try to figure out why some priveledged sites were able to gain links while many others did nothing but lose links.
As I said, in general the spam seems to of been diminished in the area I'm searching, but it sure looks like it wiped out a lot of honest SEO people in the process.
Maybe Google has taken action on the 3 million or so spam reports you have fired off in the 30 days, and that's why so many sites have dissappeared from the index! :)
*Waves goodbye to dropping sites*
Curious as to why two of my sites, that once held the first page position, have dropped so much and are not even showing the index page (Eg: widgetsblue.com/index.php) when you find them on page 3-4 but some obscure one like widgetsblue.com/subdirectory/anotherone/blah.php for instance!
teeceo.
Use the time (if you're intent on watching the data centers) to see the progressive changes. (e.g. which backlinks come in later, and how they affect the current results).
This is a rare opportunity > to see the index "pulled" together.
Piece the puzzle together > don't make conclusions on a preponderence of the results > almost always this will be wrong.
This is good advice!
But, it still helps to vent a little here and there.
Takes the edge of a little bit:)
Many times the pieces fall together based on different members moans and groans, and reading between their lines, and added this to your own observations.
So what your saying is that your sites have been out of google for more that a month now? Anyone else been out a month or longer? My sites have been out about a week, how about yours(anyone)?
teeceo.
The better way to measure it is how your rankings/traffic change.
Hmmm...So instead of looking at the fact I went from 126 backlinks to 9...
I should measure it from the facts that my site went from #8 to #39 for my most competitive keyphrase, or from spot #5 to spot #15 for another?
Either way, the spam is back on top, and I am where I was a year ago before starting any SEO.
I know that the spam filters still have to be applied or whatever, but it does seem a little soon to be releasing something to the public if not everything is finished. Why not finish tabulating all backlinks and apply spam filters before releasing the results?
If I were to ship a customer a part that was half finished would they be dissatisfied? Of course. Even if it is new and improved it is still half finished.
looking on what people look for on my site (even though it has not the slightest hint in that direction) there is one 3 letter word that IS the number one.
That is no news.
What I mind is, that the non-sj results from google are clean and nice. I almost would assume they are manually edited. -sj however shows you sites on SERP 8 and 9 that do break that pattern. And they sure have no lack in backlinks either.
If -sj would be apearing on www.google.com already then few people would be very happy, but google.com would have lost quality.
Hey! I only fired off 2 million! All right, who fired off the other million!:)
I guess I'm just scratching my head and wondering why google has choosen to publicize an index that it knows has a number of steps to until it is complete. Backlinks will be added later...spam filters have yet to kick in, etc. I know GG said that the index has passed the test. Reminds me of way back in the high school days when you heard kids happy that they passed the test....with a "D".
So the next logical question is, "When are the filters and backlinks going to kick in?" Are they the final part of the update, which means possibly days? Or is all of this going to be a slow monthly roll-out?
I would hope it isn't the slow roll-out cause I've seen some pretty bad results. Not just spam, but total irrelevant stuff....like for example a search for pet care (only an example) and coming up with a computer site at #1. Makes no sense.
:(
I have wrote a spam report top you ...
For our main keyword wingets .
#1 and #2 are guestbook spammers ... I think this is not acceptable at all.
Plus #1 is just 1 page web site, which leads to PPC search engine, nothing else at all :(
I don't think it is good to have #1 and #2 spam sites results.
I'm sure google knows whats going on.
Either way -nothing we can do about it..
Powdork,
Backlinks for one of my sites fell from 582 to 84, and from 480 to 96 for another. Everyone is talking about this sort of decrease (greater than half). I see GG's point about the contribution of backlinks to PR (if everyone lost the same fraction, etc then it all comes out in the wash). But my concern is the fraction of backlinks not counted that contained important anchor text.
I agree whole heartedly. I have a number of actual missing backlinks. It's not usually that the backlink is missing. In most cases it is that the page the link is coming from that is missing. While the update at this point appears very favorable:) none of my many new links are showing and one page lost (misplaced) one key link dropping it from #9 to #35, exactly as you described. But in general there are many posts about folks losing 50% of their backlinks. THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ALL 3 BILLION PLUS PAGES WITHOUT ONE LOSING A SINGLE LINK. Of course there is the missing link problem to deal with after that.
Thing to worry is that mydomain.com & Xkeyword.myaffliate.com is the same page :( its just that Xkeyword.myaffliate.com redirects to mydomain.com using a affiliate link which refreshes using meta refresh tag..
1) Should I report this to google?
2) Is my homepage on mydomain.com ignored besause its same as Xkeyword.myaffliate.com?
3) Is it because of the sub domain and use of meta refresh tag...now how to control so many affiliates and the way they link to us?
Note - myaffliate.com is a PR 8 site one of the major portals in india
GoogleGuy help! or i have to search another job for sure :(
...am where I was a year ago before starting any SEO
and quite logical -- if you really think about it.
If you go back and read each of Googleguy's individual comments and appreciate the fact the he "does" aid board's members to understand what they are seeing... without getting into intellectual property... you can start to appreciate a broader picture.
Some early observations:
Brett's spaghetti effect - is really prominent in this update.
As others - the notable drop in "prime" single words and 2 word phrases is hard to fathom (it early though).
However - dramatic increases in 3, 4, and 5 word keyphrases is a darn good offset.
These are the money-maker phrases and as a specific web page has much more than "two words" on it these are sizable > and pull in much more qualified traffic.
When someone here saids "I dropped from #1 to #158 on my most competitive keyword"... you're looking at the wrong phrases to guage how good or how bad your potential is in the update.
<added> An assumption > much of this current update's top ranks where previously buried listings in the previous archive. As such - and another asumption and previously indicated by GG:
The other thing to bear in mind is that it's easy to re-sync something like backlinks or spam snapshots once you're convinced that an algorithm or method is an improvement.
This seems to indicate that say the top 10% of [/b]"good ranking practices"[/b] and the bottom 10% of [/b]"bad ranking practices"[/b]must still be added in./<added>
[edited by: fathom at 7:08 am (utc) on May 6, 2003]
And to think I thought this was the longest thread back at around 350 posts.
What is the longest thread on Webmaster World?
I am a complete amateur, but have got us to where we are by reading WW and applying the methods suggested here for improving your rankings. If our site drops, I sit and wonder why and try to get it back up again. I feel that all the information is here to improve your rankings without resorting to dirty tricks.
Lets hope this "phased" update will help matters and all these cries of paid will become whoops of joy in a few days from now. If not, well it's back to the spam reports and back to the grindstone... more content, more links, better titles, more, more, more, more coffee, more beer....
[edit] oops... i mean -sj [/edit]
[edited by: NeverHome at 7:10 am (utc) on May 6, 2003]
Brett's spaghetti effect - is really prominent in this update.
I've never seen that before. Couldn't find it in a search. Could someone tell me what that is?
Thanks.
