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We do that. That is one of my "real" jobs.
We were for a while also one of the top providers of ad-free free Internet access and ad-free free web page hosting.
>GranPops
>
>Got to 10,000 vistors a month.
>
>..............then bang.
>
>Since then not a single visitor.
>
>Can I make a claim for a world record.
That would not be a record in terms of raw numbers.
We usually gain or lose 5,000 - 10,000 visitors per day on some of our niche sites when Google makes a major change.
This latest "non-update" has resulted in about a 5% increase in traffic overall with some sites vanishing and some coming back.
One site which has been missing for 14 months has magically re-appeared and is averaging over six thousand visitors per day instead of the 50 to 500 per day itwas getting previously.
Things change.
Don't count on anyone, any search engine, or any vendor to continue to be around and to continue to provide whatever results, products, income or whatever that you need. Agile, flexible, versatile, and adaptable win the day, the week, the month, and the year. To quote a famous figure from the past:
"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
--U.K. Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill at Harrow School, October 29, 1941
If I want see Paris hotel directories I will do a search for Paris hotel directories. This however is not the best example because the results in Yahoo are very similar and hotel searches have always been tainted with these directories. Yes, the ones that we must plough through only to find that they are almost all pointing to the same databases. (Incidentally and IMHO, MSN results are actually by far the best for this term. Try it!)
I am not the brain of Britain but if I want to see directories for anything I am clever enough to add the word directory to my search. Why does Google assume that I am not so clever? I know how to find directories, it's a no brainer after all.
If in the light of ever increasing evidence to the contrary Google still insists that directories are important why not put a single link at the top of the results offering a new page of directory results for those who do want them?
The rest of the results could be left to the sites that provide real information or even, dare I say it, shopping opportunities.
Memories ...
Can it be that it was all so simple then
Or has time rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? Could we?
Da Da Da Da Da Da Daaaa!
That apparently would take too much time away from aimlessly whining.
If this person genuinely could point to a widespread problem then sending in a report, like s/he has been invited too, would take a few minutes. But instead we just get more crying, and the translation of that is almost certainly another single site or single tactic spammer has been dumped.
The serps have plenty of problems, and it is easy to point to the major ones without revealing your own information to the black helicopter-flying Trigooglateral Commision.
Find a search space with problems similar to yours and pass it on to GG with your comments.
I am new here, and I am unsure if GG wants to be deluged with specific complaints. I see that other people are suggesting the GG be mailed. But, he wants specific examples? (with or without risking black helicopters.) Really, GG?
Since nobody has commented about that theorising, may I assume that that I may have blundered onto some kernel of insight? Please forgive my arrogance, but when people think that someone has got it wrong in these forums, the poor devil is usually pounced upon with relish ....
So, based on the still shaky belief that the infrequent updates to the Google directory may be causing undesirable "jolts" in the SERPS, I would suggest that GoogleGuy consider advocating to his peers that there be a return to the more frequent updating of the Google directory.
No, when you blunder onto something good, you will get attacked real good. So keep trying... lol ;-)
"Find a search space with problems similar to yours and pass it on to GG with your comments."
That apparently would take too much time away from aimlessly whining.
Was that an open invitation from GoogleGuy or was it limited to a few individuals?
I have thousands of City Widgets examples of meaningless, irrelevant search results from Google where the best sites on the topics are AWOL. I am sure that many people here could come up with even more than I can.
To which email address can I (we) send them so that GoogleGuy will see them, and what should I (we) put in the Subject of the email to get his attention?
But in reality, imagine that I or anyone else sends such a list. I am not deluding myself to think that Google will change one thing in the algo as a result of my email. C'mon, really. It would take TENS or HUNDREDS of thousands of such emails to have an impact on Google. Wink wink nudge nudge. . .
We can work with Google or work against them. It sounds like they MIGHT be giving us an opportunity to work with them. I hope it's genuine.
Best Wishes
Brew
I appreciate the politeness, Auteuil. Point taken.
elgrande, I wouldn't mind getting some specific feedback about good or bad searches. It's been about a month or so since I took a temperature reading. Please use the keyword "idesofmarch" when you fill out a spam report at www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html or when you email webmaster [at] google.com. I'll ask someone to collect the feedback and several Googlers will look it over.
I did find one weird situation that I've emailed to google with the idesofmarch googleguy tag that I would be very interested in your feedback.
In general though - good job done
Cheers
Richard
Early last year this board was nothing but a big love affiar for Google. "Google rules" ... "G is the best" ... "I love Google"
Nowadays the mood here is drasticly different than a year ago. "What happened to Google?" ... "These SERPS suck!" ... "G loves SPAM" etc etc...
The shame of it all is that it must be true. Nobody studies Google more than we do. The quality of Google search is far less superior than it used to be. Nowhere is this more noticable and talked about than among the webmaster community, here.
However, the love affair for Google is still soaring high among the main stream press and the average internet surfer.
Did any of you see the cover of NEWSWEEK Magazine today? "The New Age of GOOGLE" "The Search Giant Has Changed Our Lives. Can Anybody Catch These Guys?"
The article goes on to put Google on the throne of search domination.
The fact is: The news media still LOVES Google. Google is a household name in internet search. People love Google so much that they never question the quality of the SERPS given to them.
Their mindset is: "If these are the sites Google is showing me then there must be a good reason for it."
People trust Google to the point where it can do no wrong, and it is never questioned.
My point is, we can bicker and complain amongst ourselves about the obvious suckage factor of Google until we are blue in the face. But that wont change anything. Nobody else is listening. And even if they did listen, they wouldn't beleive it. It would take a disaster of unprecidented proportions for Google to be de-throned. (Such as serving up porn for any and every search term, if only for a few minutes).
We, the webmasters, are only a tiny tiny fraction of the searching public.
The best we can do is just keep plugging away on our poor little sites and hope that someday people will start to figure out that our beloved Google is not what it used to be.
The gravy train is over my friends. Be we can still keep doing what we do best ... making great web sites!
I'll ask someone to collect the feedback and several Googlers will look it over.
Thanks, GoogleGuy. I sent it via email with "Idesofmarch" in the subject and body. Pardon my grammar - it was a stream of consciousness. I spent two hours writing it, so if someone at Google spends two minutes reading it, I will feel that it was worth the effort ;¬)
Is anyone else going to send some feedback to Google using "Idesofmarch"? This seems like a good time to do it.
Hope you get a chance to look at them and they don't get lost in the flood that you've probably already been sent! hehe
Simon.
I can see little logic in the results, I can't seem to determine what direction to go in to improve my lot in Google, I can't see any value in e-mailing the great google webmaster with explainations of poor results and specifics on why, .....just nothing but a waste of time. It appears to me that G is spending so much time playing with it's algo that it is whacking good quality sites in it's attempt to weed out the spam and throw the seor's of the tracks, funny thing is, the results are not getting rid of the spam, in short, it's not the spam that is getting whacked.
While I am frustrated and lacking direction, I am confident that I'm not alone. I am confident that the general user at large is noticing, they are however a little slower to react, but when the momentum builds, the effects will be devistating.
If I where G, I would be very afraid, because when you get in BG's sights, any little weakness you have will be a major one that he and his will pounce on. The time is now for G. Don't think for a minute that MS isn't looking at what is being said by webmasters about Googles quality and not figuring out how to take advantage of it. MS did it with Netscape and Netscape was arogant and thought they knew better what a surfer wanted.......look who won that one.
*two cents*
I too have sent an email to webmaster AT google.com with a problem I'm having with a site.
The email is in my username's name and has the keyword "idesofmarch" in the subject.
Thanks for your time :)
A lot of very useless, large and annoying auto-generated sites (some were even listing pages of Inktomi results) have disappeared from the index and now only come when a supplemental result is required.
Trust me...you're not alone.
o.k. then, that's two of you ;)
