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I have several sites that had held stubbornly to first page for several keywords, and as of last Thursday, they are all suffering big time.
My urls all look like -
[keyword1-keyword2...]
Anyone else seeing this shift?
couldn't penalise hyphenated domains,
they couldn't penalise +50% keyword density,
they couldn't penalise singleword.com domains,
which are the statements I most disagreed with in this thread. Plus:
The theory that keywords in your domain will help you rank well for competative keywords is not proven, it slighty helps on far, far, far less important keywords is proven though.
Google aren't likely to change one very small part of an algorithm like 'hyphenated domains', they'll make several changes at once based on data accumulated for weeks/months.
If Google have lessened the importance of keywords in file-names (also mentioned in this thread) then that's the webmaster communities fault for abusing it not Google, same with domain names.
AND would everyone stop saying there's such a thing as over-optimization! It's such a cop-out! -
Boo-Hoo I was too good so Google banned me!
That's like saying:
I was too good so God sent me straight to hell
If you 'spammed' then you're a 'spammer', not an 'over-optimizer'.
Same here, but it seems all that's needed is for someone to wonder aloud, and 20-30% of the webmasters run off and take it to be true. Oh well...
BTW, I've noticed lately that some of our sites with images are not doing as well as other sites. Anyone else see that?
;-)
I'm pretty sure that it is the quality of the pictures that makes a difference in your ranking. They can't bee too blurry or they just won't get enough PictureRank, but if they are too professionally done, then they will trip the Professional Picture Penalty filter.
What you need to do to get your photography studion out of the doldrums is to add some snapshots from your vacation in Ensenada to deprofessionalize it and avoid the PPP.
TIA
caveman
This became very difficult when i wanted to take pictures of Niagra Falls as i had to build a makeshift photo studio in a barrel so that my picture qulity level could be up to studio standards but still show outdoor shots.
The good news is that despite nearly falling to my death over the waterfall, i have managed to maintain my page rank and SERPS for the site.
:)
Google may penalize more than three '-' for some or the other reason.
google cant penalize '-' in url or domain name,
Actually, they can penalize just about anything they want. I realy doubt they do, even if some webmasters decide that they should. But they certainly can.
AND would everyone stop saying there's such a thing as over-optimization! It's such a cop-out! -
Boo-Hoo I was too good so Google banned me!
I don't think it's anything to do with saying "I'm too good." It's saying "I tried too hard." Trying too hard is not the same as being good. (Just ask all the cute girls I wanted to date in high school if you don't believe me.)
And there most certainly is a problem with trying too hard when it comes to SEO ... you've surely seen pages with keyword-stuffed paragraphs in small text at the top or bottom of a page?
Sorry. I would've replied to this earlier but I just now finished pulling all the JPGs off our sites. Can't wait for our photography studio client to call in the morning. I know he'll be pleased to see his site at the top of the SERPs! You guys rock! ;)
You assume that although in the cache results you see words being picked out in urls like www.KW1KW2KW3.com that they are also being picked out as part of the ranking process..... different technology and probably unrelated to the ranking process. However, www.KW1-KW2-KW3.com, when used as anchor text, the seperated words will be easily identifyed and be part of the ranking process.
Plus, with respect to performance in the SERP's, let's not confuse site elements that create:
--imporvement in rankings
--zero benefit in rankings
--problems with rankings
In hyphenated domains and hyphenated filenames, how the kw's between hyphens are treated, and how the hyphens themselves are treated, are two different matters.
Google state that their aim is relevant search results. Therefore Google ....
Actually, Google's goal is to provide relevant search results. But their goal is not to provide the most relevant search results without wiping out any "innocents."
The surveys on relevance almost always look at the top 10 results for any SERP and get a % of them that is relevant. Google could afford to wipe out a lot of "innocents" in order to make sure that the top 10 are all relevant, and I believe they have incorporated this into their core philosophy.
I believe they would rather have 10/10 relevant on the first page with XX% of the good sites wiped out than have 8/10 relevant and not wipe out any "innocents." This appears to be a major philosophical shift since the Florida update.
MQ
>>I believe they would rather have 10/10 relevant on the first page with XX%
Wouldn’t that imply that (G) is an expert on every topic and subject in the entire world? In order for them to know which sites are the most relevant, they would have to have an expert for each and every topic. What a billion possible topics? And with a lot of topics an expert is considered someone who has been doing something no less than 10 years. (G) and their people may be the smartest in the world, but I doubt they are experts on every possible topic in the world.
You assume that although in the cache results you see words being picked out in urls like www.KW1KW2KW3.com that they are also being picked out as part of the ranking process..... different technology and probably unrelated to the ranking process.
Yes, I thought of that after making my post. I am wondering now if GoogleGuy has ever touched on the subject. I'm not quite ready to discount the chances that keywords in a url or file name play no role in Google's algo just because they are not hyphenated.
Don and Cherie
<quiet period>
Meanwhile, I'm pulling down anything with .png because I think that's the next big thing.
You guys worrying about .jpg stuff is so '90's!
If the issue is that you have dropped in rankings because of a (theoretical) drop in importance of keyword-hyphenated domains then I think you need to take a long hard look at your SEO priorities.
I have several hyphenated domains, if Google have lessened the importance of this then I haven't noticed. If your keyword-hyphenated domain was the only thing keeping you at the top of the results then do you really think you belong there?
It should not have an effect either positive or negative on our position. If it's having a negative effect "penalty" than that is wrong.
