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The results look really good.. hopefully this will reflect across all the datacenters soon. Seems like the spammier sites I compete against have moved down while the good honest pages have moved up.
It comes as no big surprise that Google would adjust the way in which they factor backlinks. I have a strong suspicion, however, that this new filter has knocked out many, many quality pages from the visible SERPS (first 2 pages).
Whenever webmaster ask, "why can't Google just filter out X type of spam?", this is the reason. It is very difficult to not penalize "innocent" pages in any braod filter.
Overall, the algo tweak seems to be a move in the proper direction, BUT the knob has been turned too far.
Lastly, the issue of missing pages/sites. All sites that were created after Dominic have been absolutely crushed, while older sites seem to have done fine. There is no difference, in many cases, as to the way these sites are set up/linked to, yet the newer ones are now gone.
Nope.
but there is a time frame involved....
Doesn't figure!
penfold25 "I really think people are exaggerating"
You should try losing 75% upwards of traffic overnight.
No Traffic = No Capital = No Business
Does that sound like exaggererating to you?
which is?
It has been mentioned that the update will probably take 3 to 4 days to complete. I won't be concerned that this is final for a few days, which has the upside that I can sleep at night.:-)
Having been in the internet business since around 91' I believe I know whats going on in general, Yidaki.
I think all will be O.K.
Apparently even Google are having index page troubles (they are fourth on the old SERPS).
Deja-vu. This is the same thing that happened last time index pages turned up missing, and Google wasn't right until G was #1 for search engine again, which was several weeks. Unfortnately, it also seems to be more far-reaching this time, affecting sites young & old.
Hopefully that find will lower the stress level of the other webmasters on this board.
It has raised mine. I'm afraid this will not be worked out in a few days & WYSIWYG.
A bit consiparcy-theorisitc, but makes some sense re: adwords.
There seems to be, in my opinion, quite some instability in adwords right now due to the new Broadmatch feature, with conversion ratios tanking for many sites due to the new competition, so some may have dropped out of the Adwords program.
Large mega-corporate sites will never complain, as, even if they don't convert their Adwords traffic as well, they get branding out of it, and are willing to pay for that.
While many smaller niche sites will leave adwords if they go beyond their breakeven point, and will try to rely on thier free google traffic, and other sources
Well, seems like there nothing better to boost adwords than to take away the most relevant keyphrases from many of those smaller sites (under the guise of spambusting), including from a whole bunch that have never used Adwords before to get them to think about the idea.
But that's just motive.
So perhaps we can just get GoogleGuy to directly deny that this is the case.
[edited by: ianama at 1:15 pm (utc) on Nov. 16, 2003]
Doorway pages still win the battle!
[edited by: wanna_learn at 1:11 pm (utc) on Nov. 16, 2003]
You should try losing 75% upwards of traffic overnight.No Traffic = No Capital = No Business
Does that sound like exaggererating to you?
I know that no matter how I express the question it's probably going to come out wrong, but I'll have a go, because I suspect others want to ask the same thing...
If 75% percent of your traffic comes from Google, a maximum of 25% of your traffic is repeat business. Isn't that something to concentrate on while the SERPS are in a mess?
DerekH
I am happy to see "florida" results cause my site was #5 and 2 sites in top 4 with cloaking and they are not listed anymore after florida.... and my site is #2...
hope every whitehats can be on top 10..
i do love "florida" :o)
samuel_ado
We always concentrate on all the business areas, but as we work mainly in the financial market it stings to lose so much traffic.
Repeat business is something we only get on a 2-3 year basis because of the nature of our business.
Interesting thought, care to elaborate a little wanna_learn?
FWIW I think its far too early to make any final judgement calls.
[edited by: wanna_learn at 1:29 pm (utc) on Nov. 16, 2003]
95% my optimized sites are vanished
but there are still a few up quite normal although all sites are optimized the exact same way
so i still hope i will get my rankings back :(
most of my anchor text probably is nearly the same - mainly because my domain name is the same as the keyword phrase - so most people probably use it when linking. i somehow doubt that would get penalized.
Contacted Google Guy - Was helpfull and was surprised by the quick reply. Also to state he replied on the weekend. How many of us would sit and be concerned about other peoples lives on a forum on our day off. I can only imagine his e-mail box. And I don't think its happy happy thoughts from alot of people.
Day 2 "Florida Massacre
Woke up said 3 quick Hail Mary's at the computer screen and punched in my keywords on Google. Saw the results haven't changed, got up downed 3 Prozacs.
Now I think I will redo my site; As waiting was never a virtue for me. I need some help from some of you out there if you have a minute. I need some one to look at my site and tell me what I need to change. I so don't know what caused me to lose my rankings.
I started making websites little over a year ago by buying frontpage and just sitting down 10 hours a day and going thru the trial and error phase. ( And few damaged keyboards along the way).
Its a USA directory and I have done very well with it for over a year now as far as rankings. All the states and my keywords have been number 1. It has been a great success and I have had my clients on my site on Jenny Jones, Maury Povich, Fox and other noted shows. Just recently I finally got my main keyword #4. That was a very good day for me.
I work hard to get where I was at. My competitors spare one .. Spam message boards all day long and spam there pages. I have been hacked by them threatened and get over a 100 e-mails a day with assorted viruses. Now my listings are gone and they are replaced with all the junk.
AAAAAAAARRGG .. So I am motivated now to build a better new and imporved site. I just need someone in the field to take a few minutes and tell me what I did wrong to get thrown out. I would appreciate it more then you know. I don't have alot of money so please no SEO companies looking to make a buck. Thanks for all your time,
Dan
Re People who are happy with the results - if it hasn't finished googling then why are you happpy?
A Clara personal page is first for keywords
Holiday + destinationkeyword
This page has only 10 lines and tells hows they enjoyed
their holiday a few years ago.
Yes well done Google its relative bloody useless for those looking for a holiday :)
I was worried when i first saw this update now I can't stop laughing because their is so much crap ranking well.
It seems that personal pages with /~myname/page.htm are doing very well, better then the tourist sites from the tourist boards
oh dear...
But as Googlguy always says this time we have it right and those who complain are Black Hats :)
Well hats off to you on this one Google :)
-ex - 664,000
-va - 790,000
-dc - 796,000
-ab - 802,000
-in - 702,000
-zu - 802,000
-cw - 807,000
-fi - 791,000
-gv - 541,000
is this normal, or only since this update? anyone know?
Previously reported index.html page had vanished. First it reappeared in a site: search. Next it reappeared in a normal search.
Also, a search for my company name that was showing only 1 result is now roughly normal (seven).
There is absolutely no point worrying about this stuff until the dust settles. Chill out, listen to music, whatever. Check your results again in 24 hours but don't start to panic for 72 hours.
Me, I'm going to listen to a new album while I do the final checks on a major site upgrade before uploading.
Relax, do something constructive, or do both, but there is nothing to be gained by panicking.
This will be my last post in this thread.
Kaled.
