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I have a semi-automated linking directory, ( the webmaster just need to approve the links, others such as adding to the directory, click tracking are all done by the CGI software ), somebody pointed out that sometime ago that Google may punish my site as link farming as the entrance page of the linking directory have PR 0, and now it does seem that my site was semi-punished.
Does anybody have similiar experience?
Alot of the pages being indexed by freshbot seem to be doing fairly well (for me anyway), i.e. if you do site:www.mysite.com -asdf it only returns the main page. Check some of the sites in front of you to see if they are fresh pages like this one, in which case they "might" go away. At least temporarily.
The links in the directory are all relevant to the category they are listed under, as I have specially put a lot of attention on this point when I approve a link.
I have also realised the other points, each directory should have links to legitimate authority pages, and I have started to make the changes. Hope Google will see this and remove the semi-penalty.
One thing I am not sure is that the entrance page of the link directory contains only the categories and a few new links and a few most favourite links, these links are certainly not related to each other, will this cause the problem?
The highest bet on the possibility of your drop at that pace could be due to the fact that your site does not get quality link leverage that it once got before or you are simply beaten by your competitors. If I were you, I would give more weight on the 1st option.
Have to wait to see if this helps
But I have seen no evidence, and GoogleGuy has indeed posted to the contrary, to say that links pages get penalised.
They may not do as well as other pages on site as they generally have less "wordy" content, but they won't harm you. They are a fundamental part of the internet.
Just make them good for your users, don't link to rubbish, and you can do no wrong for the search engines.
TJ
Anyways ....me too.
I have a semi automated directory web site with hundreds of links. Probably the same system as you.
I have seen no decrease in rank for the keywords I monitor.
what exactly is the definition of a "semi automated directory"?
semi in a sense that it requires a software to actually build the pages and track the click throughs but optionally requires a human intervention in approving submitted sites.
I run a specialized directory, home page have never budge from PR6(even during Google major changes), traffic from Google 'was' really good before the April fools day. Currently threre's a slight drop-off but honestly it's really hard to tell if it has something to do with my overall ranking or its just because it's summer traffic.
No, I don't see any kind of penalty, PRs are fairly distributed down to my sub-categories.
Hope that helps.
Cheers
i have a completely hand-edited directory on my site that i renamed 2 updates ago. still shows no PR but ranks highly on serps for targeted phrases. very weird...
The main problem is this semi automated link directory. and it is different from the those popular link direcotry, and no content was copied elsewhere.
As I don't like them, I never exchange links with them. Because I feel like exchanging links with ROBOTS insead of human. And I also feel like the webmaster doesn't Appreciate the link exchange at all.
I always prefer human edited link exchange.
IMHO, but quite sure - you get dropped not because of your link directory nor the software.
>>> Yes, I realised this might be a problem, so I started to included some links to high quality website although they will not link back.
Have to wait to see if this helps
Yes, you may have to wait and see, but there is no hard evidence that this will work.
You may want to try the following 3 steps to restore your ranks:
1) Stop taking new links for a while unless the links you got are of good quality. If they are new sites, try to delay the inclusion for 3-4 weeks, give them good reasons for whatever you can think of for that delay.
2) Hunt for New link partners who can accommodate your link on PR4 or PR5 pages...Since you just get drop at one shot to 10-30 positions, may be one or two dozens of the quality link partners could be adequate in restoring your ranks within a couple of weeks.
3) Hunt for the aging and old link partners who provide you a rotten link. Consult them first or remove them wherever you find appropriate.
"Almost all LinksMxxxxxx and Zexx directory get PR0. This is a good move from Google and I so support it as I dislike this kind of auto or semi-auto link exchange script that make link exchange crappy."
Take a two second look to check your facts before you post them.
LinksMxxxxxx's own links pages have a PR5, and they used the be a PR6.
Zexx's own links pages have a PR4, and they used to be a PR3 and PR5 in the past.
Check out sites that use these services and you will find a range of GPRs from 0 to 7. A website's GPR is based on many factors, not just what recip linking management tools they use.
You mentioned:
"As I don't like them, I never exchange links with them. Because I feel like exchanging links with ROBOTS insead of human. I always prefer human edited link exchange."
I use one of the two services above. I approve all of my links manually, one-by-one with care and consideration placed on each. The only automation in place, is the fact that I don't have to code HTML every time I update a link on my links pages. The software is designed to be a human tool, not an automated robot that you send off and check back every few months.
