1402 replies to this topic

[powerofeyes]

Hello,
Did anyone experience this. It seems there is an algo change in google and many sites are jumping around in the rankings. Some top ranking sites have dropped to 30s and 40s and some have sudden boost in rankings. I have 2 have of my clients sites which were up there on the rankings for the past 3 months have taken a nose dive. And couple of other sites are now on top of the SERPs. I think it happened yesterday.
Some sites which were ranking high on the SERPs for the keyword "website hosting" are nowhere found. Top 5 sites are now in 40s and 50s. I cant believe this. Did anyone else experience this or I am the one who is seeing these changes. Please share it here. This is the first time I am facing an algo change in google,
please share your experiences,
thanks,
VIJAY.

[Scottie]

There are definitely some changes going on... I haven't checked many sites yet but I am seeing lots of different results.

[yuccadude]

Yes I have noticed. I've seen sites (competitors of my clients) that were always Top 3 have disappeared. This started happening about 3-4 days ago. I kinda reminds me of the old Google Dance.

I've also seen many of my clients that are now in the Top 10, but I'm quite sure that is due to my SEO efforts!

I'm in a holding pattern to see what shakes out with Google. I'll wait a week or so before I start jumping for you!

[qwerty]

I noticed that I'd dropped off the map on one of my keywords, so I checked some different datacenters. Some have changes, some don't. There's some kind of update going on, but I'm not sure what kind.

[powerofeyes]

I think Mr Mel will be very happy about this changes. One site which he said domination the SERPs for the keyword "diamond engagement rings" is now rank 25. And many more sites which he gave examples of having mirror domains and crosslinking are now in 20s. Atleast now he will be happy about google.
thanks,
VIJAY.

[qwerty]

I realize I'm not exactly objective in making judgements about sites that have moved into positions above one of mine, but I'm seeing some real trash in this SERP, including a number of pages that don't even open.

Maybe it's just a temporary shakeup.

[Randy]

I'm with you Qwerty. Some of the searches are returning some really questionable results at the moment.

I noticed it on one of my sites this morning. (The rest seem to be unaffected from a quickie look.) Pretty funny actually, since it's not a "whole site" kind of thing, at least in my case. One single keyword phrase I happened to check this morning went from #5 yesterday to #86 this morning. But other (related) keyword phrases on that same site are pretty much right in the same range they're normally in.

Just the one phrase is affected. Strange.

Maybe they're testing something and it'll go back to the old algo in a day or two. Maybe a new algo is in effect and something on this one page for this one phrase (density perhaps?) is stepping over some new line in the sand that never existed before.

Either way is fine by me. Especially if it means G is going to start cleaning up the SERP's again. Woohoo!

[SEOCub]

I think they have reverted to an older index. Web sites with multiple domain names that appeared to have finally been resolved by Google are now showing up with the various domain name - in the SERPs for the same keywords.

[Randy]

Well, I can add a bit more information to the mix. It appears that my initial impression of one phrase being affected while others were not touched is correct.

I just got my New Results email from GoogleAlert for today where I track a few keyword phrases for new competition.

On the phrase I first noticed this on early today a rocking total of 22 sites are new to the Top 50.

The other two phrases have a total of one new site in the top 50 combined.

Don't ask me what they're doing, but they're definitely doing something!

[SEOCub]

Read the woes at webmasterworld...

[notepad]

I suspect Google is attempting to flush out much of the spam from its database. This causes quite a bit of turbulence, and temporarily affects many sites which are not firmly attached to, or held in place by permanent "anchors."

Think of the web as an ocean, and consider websites as but krill or plankton floating, drifting along, being tossed about with the ever changing currents, water levels and tides. Who then can control the seas or stop an ocean's waves?

Once the turbulence has subsided and permanent "anchor" links are established, order will again return.

...that is, until the next storm.

[Scottie]

Welcome to the forum, notepad!

[danger66]

After over a year of being in the top ten positions for keywords such as "forex trading" and other keywords relevant to our business, our rankings have gone to hell (not by a few spots, but by hundreds). One day ago (11/14) our rankings were great as we have continued to add quality content to our site. Today (11/15) - DEVASTATION! Everything has changed.

It is funny, for some of our keywords we are still on the same position. It is as if Google only affected a lot of keywords but not all. What a disappointment. Many of the results in the top ten are not the most optimized sites or the sites with the most content related to our business. That stinks!

I don't know if there was an algorithn change or something, but the results are really bad. It is horrible if Google plans to get away with this. I hope that it is just a mistake or a temporary test.

What can we do? I know that Google has sort of like a monopoly in Spider land and they can do whatever they want, so I guess all we could do is wait.

[mcanerin]

Maybe we know now that when the G bar dies there will be a shakeup. Or when Jill writes an article, or maybe even when Ian makes a smiley and needs to use it...



Actually, I've been thinking for some time that it's more efficient to let spammers do a bunch of garbage, maybe test out new algos on test boxes, then post all at once, rather than trying to react piecemeal.

In my more paranoid moments, I've been thinking that letting spammers get comfy would draw them out so you can get more with one shot. Or even that by doing it all at once instead of continuously, they are able to avoid spammers just watching the action/reaction of what they are doing in order to figure out what's going on behind the scenes.

But that's only when I've had too many beers...


Ian

Edited by mcanerin, 15 November 2003 - 10:12 PM.

[mcanerin]

It's very unfortunate when the get hurt by these, I admit. Telling someone that they were "collateral damage" isn't very reassuring...

Ian