July Update?

[Heywood_J]

Is it me or does it look like a significant update is going on at google. I am noticing a number of SERP changes for a few of my sites and they've been fluctuating for the past few days.

Anyone else noticing any major changes?

[IITian]

I was doing research on a e-commerce sector to link to from my info site. I could only find them through ODP listing. They were not to be seen in the serps. They love their work, and provide parts and service that are unique but their sites are just not SEOed. After I linked to them, i thought I would ask them for reciprocal link. Only problem was that they don't have a links page or any other place. Perhaps, they haven't heard of "reciprocal links."

However, I saw lots of "informational" sites with Adsense and affiliate links coming on top of serps.

[outland88]

>Fortunately, it should be easier for Google to control "AdSense spam" than e-commerce and affiliate spam, because all Google has to do is tighten up its rules and close down the offenders' accounts.

Let me see should I shut down thousands of spamming cookie cutter sites that are producing me millions in revenue through Adsense or should I shut down sites spamming that produce me no revenue. That's a toughy.

Lookee here, if we push content and penalize commerce then people will only find many sites by clicking on our Adsense ads. After all we're in business to make money aren't we.

Are you telling me search engines don't manipulate results as much as the webmasters they accuse of doing it?

[steveb]

"The link command as always been flawed ..it never showed links from sites pr3 and below"

A "criteria" is not a "flaw".

There is nothing flawed about setting a standard that is consistent, or even 95%+ consistent.

[randle]

Has anyone been using this command lately?

allinurl:www.widgets.com

I have not been checking lately so maybe I missed the bus, but it seems to display all links to the site.

[europeforvisitors]

Let me see should I shut down thousands of spamming cookie cutter sites that are producing me millions in revenue through Adsense or should I shut down sites spamming that produce me no revenue. That's a toughy.

Google's core product is search. If it delivers lousy search results, it loses traffic, ad impressions, and revenue. IMHO, it's naive to think that Google is going to risk a proven business model by looking the other way when the fast-buck crowd spam its search results (whether with affiliate pages, e-commerce pages, or "cookie-cutter" AdSense sites).

Lookee here, if we push content and penalize commerce then people will only find many sites by clicking on our Adsense ads. After all we're in business to make money aren't we.

There's certainly a precedent for that point of view: In offline media, businesses are expected to advertise when they want to promote their goods and services. Instead of bashing Google, owners of commerce sites should thank Google for the free ride. :-)

Are you telling me search engines don't manipulate results as much as the webmasters they accuse of doing it?

Yes.

[outland88]

>Instead of bashing Google, owners of commerce sites should thank Google for the free ride. :-)

I think if you're an information site married to Adsense you should be thanking Adword commerce sites not Google.

The only way to check the abuse with Adsense is to decentralize the policing. I don’t know of many affiliate networks that don’t allow the advertisers to pick and choose their affiliates.

All media including search engines manipulate the final product.

[JMeeks]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum but have been lurking for a few weeks.

After seeing almost a 50% drop in backlinks this weekend I've just noticed google reverting back to the old list of links from before the weekend update.

Anyone else seeing this reverse.

---Nevermind just check after 5 minutes and it moved back again to the updated (50% less links)list. Oh well so much for getting my hopes up.

[edited by: JMeeks at 12:03 am (utc) on July 20, 2004]

[bbott]

THis is really disappointing. My site is about 3 months old. backlinks went from 11 to 42 and PR remained the same (dont' think anyones PR changed though). Anyways, still no where to be seen in the SERPS. BUT in google i'm ranking top 20 for my keyword temrs when i do ALLINANCHOR, ALLINTEXT, and ALLINTITLE. Maybne i'm sandboxed.. who knows :*(

snipped

[edited by: DaveAtIFG at 12:19 am (utc) on July 20, 2004]
[edit reason] URL removed [/edit]

[1milehgh80210]

Are you telling me search engines don't manipulate results as much as the webmasters they accuse of doing it?"

All a SE DOES is manipulate results.
If the -right- kinds of pages dont show (instead..spam or someones definition of) the algo must be adjusted.
Or apply a manual penalty -site- not page. )

[europeforvisitors]

You're comparing apples and oranges.

Search engines create algorithms. The algorithms determine the order in which results are displayed.

Webmasters and SEOs, on the other hand, often attempt to defeat the algorithms by artificial means. That's how I'd define "manipulation." If you prefer to use a different definition, that's your privilege, but it's disingenous to pretend that the design and refinement of an algorithm is in any way comparable to black-hat or even grey-hat SEO. The search engine tries to deliver the best possible results for the user; the SEO tries to deliver the results that are best for himself or his client.