6 replies to this topic

[Jill]

Thought I'd post a link here to my latest HRA Newsletter article, as many from this forum probably feel the same was as I do.

Dear Google,

I'm tired of you making me look like a fool.

I've spent a good portion of the last 10 years patiently explaining to business owners and budding SEO enthusiasts that the key to being found in Google is to have one, great, Photo Credit: Eschipulall-encompassing website. That throwing up multiple keyword-rich domain doorway sites is a fool's errand. That writing crappy articles and submitting them to networks full of other crappy articles is a waste of time and bandwidth. That keyword-stuffed gibberish on your website just makes it look stupid. That link farms are spammy.

And I really thought that by 2010 all of the above would be 100% true. And yet they're not. I'm not sure if they're even 50% true.

You can read the entire article here:

Jill's Open Letter to Google

[Mooro]

Quality.

[PatrickGer]

I just opened it and am about to read it - but have to get something out of my head really quickly about this:

Any idea how much this...still existing flaw...in google's algorithm actually impacts the bottom line?

I simply cannot get the thought out of my head that many people who ignore the algo might lose out on much more traffic than they deserve, simply because a small margin of error in the algorith..if google has thousands of results for a given search query..can easily make the difference between ranking on page one and ranking on page two - where for most SERPs apparently nobody ever clicks.

I just cant stop wondering about how important this tiny "detail" might be. If you rank at the top of page 1 you get a big share of the traffic for a given search query...if you rank at the top of page 2, you dont get much of it...and as long as google's algorithm isn't completely perfect (and based on what I've read so far it might still take some time for them to get there :-)) this is gonna happen frequently...sites that deserve to be seen in the top 5, not being seen at all, because of ranking on page 2 (or beyond).

Then again, I guess this is good news, because until google's (or anyone else's algorithm) is gonna be very close to perfect, SEO might be around..

[Jill]

Then again, I guess this is good news, because until google's (or anyone else's algorithm) is gonna be very close to perfect, SEO might be around..

No, not SEO, but search engine spamming.

[Force7]

Jill I thought your letter was excellent!

I was cheering in the background as you read off the rants! You could not have said it better.

Thanks for such a great letter / post!

[TheGreatHefin]

This letter was in 2010...Jill Do you think anything has still changed???

And in FEB 2011 google came up with Google Panda...

I think your letter went to their ears....but do you think that Google Panda has solved issues...

As i still see a lot of crappy results coming up in search results even though they are not related to the topic..and are just sites filled with Outbound Links....

Heights are i have even seen the Sponsored Listing of google having same kind of sites...shocking...i taught they are always trusted...

[Jill]

TheGreatHefin, I did an update in May of 2011:

Does Google Spam Still Work Post-Panda?

They're not perfect, but getting better. And now Google is saying what I've been saying for awhile, that SEO in All the Right Places Doesn't Cut it Anymore.