Losing SERPs in Yahoo starting Dec 4

[wchan07]

So I just wanted to report that i have been losing traffic from Yahoo this week too, a significant amount. I am not sure why.

I did initiate link exchange request these last 2 weeks and am not sure if that is the reason or could be part of it.
I made more changes and added links on Wednesday. Then my traffic started dying out yesterday on DEC 7. So I guess the question is, is this the result of an algo change and just a coincidence?

Can someone give me advice on how to approach this. First I have removed the changes I made these last 2 weeks which is adding 5 links to my homepage in the Footer of my site. My homepage has many links so i didn't think placing 5 links at the bottom in the footer would matter. Many of the link partners linked back to me.

Also i compared my site traffic with my partners on ALEXA and 2 of my 5 link partners have the exact same traffic pattern as me this week. All three of us (me and 2 of my partners) are going down in a straight line with the exact same angle, that means we are proportionally losing the same traffic.

How is that possible? Does this mean anything. Could it be that we all get a lot of traffic from Yahoo and are suffer the same generic algo change or is this an indication that our interlinking is hurting us.

I am spooked now and have removed my link exchanges. If my traffic goes up i guess i have my answer. If it is the same does it mean it is just an algo change? also how long after the update should i wait for results. 1 week, 2 weeks? more? Again any advice would be greatly appreciated on how to approach this problem and get an anwer to it. I am thinking that maybe it is because i picked the wrong sites and that there is too much interlinking.

If this is it, that will suck because that is a crappy algo. Its like Yahoo is stuck in 2000. thanks

[martinibuster]

...is this the result of an algo change and just a coincidence?

Probably.
[webmasterworld.com...]

If this is it, that will suck because that is a crappy algo.

A search engine not liking attempts to game it doesn't make it crappy.

[wchan07]

"A search engine not liking attempts to game it doesn't make it crappy."

Every search engine should combat spam i agree. but there's good implementation and bad implementation. I was just saying if all they did was just look at simple link exchanges with out weight factors such as the importance of that link, or the quality and context of the site that would be bad. I don't think 5 links out in a footer should ever help anyone or hurt anyone that much.

googles worked stuff like that out i like them. anyway thanks

[stump4]

Hello. Please control your fear. My massive empire of hardcore blackhat sites are being lined up one after the other in the Yahoo serps. What you are are seeing is a loosening of the algo - as Yahoo gives me a 1 week advantage - and then uses my advantage to better identify my empire, enabling them to kill me to the corners, and not just center. This happens approximately every 14 months. Do not panic - this is a temporary situation. I kid you not - and though I doubt there are not too many of my type - I doubt that I am alone - and I'm sure there are some lessers that could use the death experience added to their resume. I repeat: I kid you not.