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then my page appears on the second page of results (#19).
then my page is nowhere to be seen, though one would expect it to be at #19 or higher. The actual results shown by google are not obviously optimized for this phrase, so it strikes me that my site is filtered out on the basis of the keyword "news".
You may remember the 'Florida Update' about a year ago? That was a time when many Web sites were hard to find for their main phrase.
It's insane to penalise a site about blue widgets for declaring itself as a site about blue widgets.
Our site is not excessively SEO'd has quality inbound links, is in the DMOZ, yet still comes below pages such as golf weekly win a holiday in region... competition news...
It's not even like it's a competitive KW combination
That was a time when many Web sites were hard to find for their main phrase.
It's not even like it's a competitive KW combination
This "penalty", or whatever it is, was indeed particularly obvious after the Florida update, but I think it is still very much in place. See the great example for the query 'breast cancer foundation of arizona' given by Powdork in the current thread about the sanboxed sites:
[webmasterworld.com...]
For this particular query, I am not sure that it really is a sandbox effect. If a site is about red oval widgets, and this keyword combination comes up in the title, keywords, and H1 heading of the site, which is the natural thing to do, Google immediately decides that this site is over-optimized (i.e., spamming) for those keywords. That is, in my opinion, the greatest flaw in Google's current algorithm. If it looks like a rose and smells like a rose, well, guess what? It is probably a bona fide rose...
The new MSN search does not make this assumption that every right-on-topic site must obviously be spamming, and I think that's why their results have this "clean and fresh" feeling that Google's results have lost.
The site I mentioned above is now listed around 120. Considering it is over 5 months old and is one of only around 4 sites that actually fit the KW criteria on the net.
I have a theory that it is related to the fact that one of the keywords is a region
It doesn't help that my region is one of the main tourist destinations in the UK.
If this is the case what is it about the other sites that are where they should be that allows them to avoid this filter? They are all old sites - I don't think this alone is a good enough reason.
It's not a link thing as our site has a large number of very relavant inbound links - many of which are completely natural.
On every other search engine I've tried we come up in the top 5 - not number one beacause there are bigger sites that cover our region and I wouldn't expect to.
I don't think I'm being subjective when I say these listings are correct and Google's are wrong.
* unless, he bumps you off google for a good six months.
do you any of you guys rank with &filter=0 added at the end of the search urL
I definitely think this is a regional filter though.
What is really annoying me though is for my KWs I really only have 2 competitiors yet I am ranking 100 and something.
I wouldn't be coplaining if this were one of my aff sites or it was a competitive KW combo, but this is a genuine, non-profit, content rich site.
The SERPs are just wrong.
What is wierd though is I was no. 3 in the SERPs for a few days a week or 2 back?!
Within G, better proxies for where a page *might* have shown up in the SERP's are the 'allin' commands, but they are not very reliable either. Best proxies (outside G) are the SE's that have not filtered the page. :-)
Spica correctly points out that this issue has not gone away since FLorida. It has only evolved, in some cases becoming more forgiving, in other cases more harsh. The important thing to focus on is that these kw ***FlLTERS*** can be overcome. Do not think of them as penalties...
;-)
What is Google doing?!
Making a lot of money through adwords by making poor results.
