58 replies to this topic

[Jill]

I was just doing some spot checks at Google on a few past client sites to see how they were faring now that Google is back on track.

One of my previous clients had been doing great on Google for a fairly competitive phrase, but had lost it in the Florida update. He came back to me a month or two ago to see if there was anything I could do to get him back up there. But when I reviewed his site, as far as I was concerned it was still optimized as well as I could do it (regarding the on-the-page stuff), and therefore I told him he really should just sit tight until G was fixed.

Well, he took my advice and didn't touch a thing (he already had a number of great backlinks from the link building campaign Debra had done), and sure enough, he's back in the top 10 (#4 actually), and more importantly, his targeted traffic and sales have started to soar again.

Anyone else have similar stories? I know I have been saying to sit tight all this time, but even I have done bits of tweaking here and there for certain sites. Mostly reducing keyword density on some of those older sites where I may have gone over board at one point.

I'm looking for more sites that didn't do anything at all. Because so many times we attribute something we did to the site with the change when in reality, it's pretty much just all Google. I've seen this happen so many times in the past with other engines too when they were temporarily "broken."

I hope that Google continues to stay unbroken now!

Jill

[nacho45]

I'm too new to the game to have any pre-Florida success stories, but I did have a questions about one of the techniques I've heard you mention here and in other threads. You say you have reduced the keyword density on some pages, how does one determine if a site is too keyword dense? Is this for those who have gone overboard in fitting in keywords, or could those who don't even try be offenders too?

[rohgan03]

Yes. I have noticed this too and wanted to post here. Since no one else here had a post on the same I dint post thinking it might be something with just my site.

I am doing far better than ever now. I had almost totally lost google traffic after florida. The only reason I survived was affiliate sites.

Also google has indexed my Dmoz link.

On another note, google seems to be promoting sites with the keyword in URL. I did do other checks based on Jill's article on keyword rich domains but I do feel that there is some weight being attached to keyword in the URL.

The overall search results for 1 specific term(my single most important keyword) contains a lot of sites that are non-english.

[rohgan03]

Forgot to add: I reduced keyword density too :-)

[seodesign]

My main client (wife), disappeared after florida, but now is back in the top 5 for keyterms.

A few of my other clients have made it back in the top 10 also.

Do you have any forums that talk about "link building campaign by Debra"?

[sglover]

Jill, I think our site might be an example of what you asked about...

We saw our Google rankings plunge a few months ago, and then come right back again recently. We haven't made many changes to our main URL lately (a few text changes here and there, but nothing designed to target the search engines).

However, we have had some articles printed in the main Canadian newspapers, and maybe the backlinks from the newspapers have had an impact?

I just did a search on Google.ca and see we're right back to #1 on a few targetted phrases and in the top 10 on some other broader searches.

And Google.com has us in the top 10 on a few of our targetted phrases. Including some #1 positions.

So I'm glad we chilled out about the Google changes, and let them work their way through. Everything seems more or less back to normal for our site. We've even stopped our AdWords campaigns for now, since we're getting all the traffic we can handle.

[Jill]

You say you have reduced the keyword density on some pages, how does one determine if a site is too keyword dense?

Personally, I just eyeball it (aka read it). If you're starting to notice the keyword phrase popping up in every sentence, you've probably gone overboard. It's funny how you can think its fine one year, but when you revisit it, you wonder what the heck you were thinking! (And of course, if it's working...)

Do you have any forums that talk about "link building campaign by Debra"?

LOL...sounds like a "designer" link building campaign doesn't it? I think she should change her company to that name! Would be cool. Debra is actually our moderator of the link building section of this forum. Her handle is "Magnolia." You can see many of her posts in that section.

However, we have had some articles printed in the main Canadian newspapers, and maybe the backlinks from the newspapers have had an impact?

Absolutely that can have an effect! In fact, I'm not sure if my old client gained a bunch of new links during the past few months, but I tend to think not. He may have gotten some, but I doubt they would have made this much difference.

The fact is, he was about about #4 pre-Florida, nearly disappeared for months, and is now back at #4.

It's really all Google in this instance, imo.

Jill

[flipper]

I have noticed my sites coming back too. I thought it was due to the extensive changes I made after florida - utilising all the knowlege you guys and gals have been passing on. My positioning on my main .com site is actually better now for more key words and phrases than before. So I am now a very happy bunny. :jumpingjack: - Hopefully it will last until Easter at least - then I'll be a very happy easter bunny!.
One of my sites which has been running for about 2 years without any changes has taken a nose dive in the rankings. I put it down to too many key words and I will be changing the pages to get in line with my other two well ranking web sites.
One thing that I think definately has helped is utilizing the H1 tag. Google seems to be showing parts of it in the search results - I never used the H! tag until I read about it here. Thanks!

[Jill]

Sounds good, Flipper!

Doubt that the H1 tag made any difference though. I actually took my H1 tags out and did better, but I don't think that was the cause, it was just a coincidence.

[flipper]

Well Jill, if you took your H1 tags out, I'll do it on one of my sites and see what happens. I did take all the keywords out of my .co.uk site's keywords metatag to see what happens and I found just a few days ago that it started showing on page 2 in google for my main search term - this is from not showing in about 60 pages. But just a couple of days later, the .co.uk site went down in the pages showing about page 6 for the search term but then to my delight my main .com site showed on page 1 rank 6 for the most competetive term. This site still has all the keywords in the metatag. But I did add a few new quality related links and submitted to a few directories.
But I do think that the H1 tags made a difference - it took me ages getting the H! tags just right and formatted to suit the style of my site< I had to do it all by hand as the website design software I use won't allow much tweking with H! H" and so on. Therefore I don't want to think I wasted my time, I could have been out with my friends in the Pub instead! - That's an alcohol drinking estblishment to all non UK readers!

[drunk]

Our site is a perfect example of this...We were ranked #7 for a highly competitive word in our industry before Gladys. After Gladys we were dropped to below 1000.

I haven't done anything to our sited since pre-florida except add a few pages of content and work on building links (which Google fails to recognize) and as of yesterday we're #4. This is just plain awesome.

I felt like a dunce (and started boozing) for a couple of months, but now I'm thinking that I'm a genius.

[Jill]

Flipper, I can almost guarantee you that anything you put in or not put into your Meta keyword tag had no effect on your site.

ALL sites have been moving around for the past few months, often on a daily basis. If you were making any changes during this time, you really have no way of knowing if they were the cause or just Google was the cause.

That's my whole point with this thread!

And DRUNK...you should really get yourself some help now with that drinking thing now that things are going better for you...

Jill

[DaveBeck]

couple of sites back as good as ever! Still way too scared to hold my breath

[raj_freind]

I also notice the my clients site ranking on google and comment are belows :-

Client's A. site come back at same position doing very well in indexing.

Client's B. site who just started to appear in google before florida update has also come back but it lost last position in indexing and showing on #8 or # 10 instead of #1. :halo:

Client's C. site who also starting apeared b4 florida update and maintain their same possition during the florida update, lost their ranking during the austin update by certain keywords bt rest indexing was same has also came back but lost their position and appearing in top 20 instead of top 10 and also lost their ranking by some keywords.

The all clients not touch(optimize) their site during the google updation.

Should Client's A permote their site more to get up in indexing?
Should Client's B reoptimze their site to get up in ranking or back in indexing?

[bkernst]

I have had some slight ranking drop from page one to page two, but then I was updating content of the home page, and added a few more needed sub pages.
Since then I haven't done a detailed check if there was a recovery, or if the site is on the same spot. I am anyway trying to aim a bit more for the local market with some sites, to get a geographical advantage over the the competition, but that all depends on which one of the many sites I am working on.

Some of my personal sites are ranking well, some client sites are still jumping around, and other client sites have gone into hiding. Most of the sites are dynamic, that might be a factor since my personal sites are small and static.

Bernhard