87 replies to this topic

[bloghands]

Oh these rants are everywhere. The truth is if you run a respectable website then you won't have any problems. The only sites that are being "penalized" are sites that have been gaming the system in order to make a quick buck. I just read on another form where I guy had a similar rant about his 25 credit card websites and how Google's hurting his business. Well if your business is building 25 crapy credit card websites then it sounds to me that the universe is balancing out and those poor people who ended up on one of those 25 sites each day are now taken to REAL websites that provide REAL value.

Just because you know more than your neighbor about web development and the internet doesn't mean you should be a millionaire... those days are long gone.

Jill said it... if you don't agree with Google then ask to have your website removed and focus on one of the hundreds of other major platforms out there to promote your website. Maybe your efforts will inspire others and another search engine can flourish from your efforts.

At the end of the day people use Google because they enjoy the experience... if Google does anything to hurt that experience then there's always another place to go.

[1dmf]

Well I find this insteresting, I have seen a steady growth in visitors month on month for several months now. until I posted in this forum about it, now I've lost @ 80% of those visititors over the last 2 weeks!

Hmm, maybe I need to start wearing a Google T-Shirt, as I seem to have upset them and need to make amends!

[Jill]

It's been about two weeks since Penquin hit, 1dmf.

[1dmf]

Why would penguin affect me?

I don't link build, I have quality content (well music is like beauty , in the eye of the beholder)

I don't mess about with dodgy sites, or duplicate content, I've checked GWMT no messages, OK I have corrected some title tag duplication under 'HTML Suggestions'.

Why does the penguin hate me?

I do everything correctly, well AFAIK and to the best of my ability, it was paying off, slowly but surely , and now I'm back to square one!

Oh well, it's at the detriment to their users, which is meant to be against Google's ethos, has their ethos changed?

I offer genuine, free downloads, not BS claims to get people to my site, but then requires membership.

I am nothing to do with shareware, peer 2 peer, music and copyright theft type sites?

What on earth could have upset the penguin? Do I need to buy a google 'virtual fish' account and feed it? (oh right, that's called AdWords!, my mistake!)

[Jill]

1dmf, take an honest look at possible keyword stuffing. The sites I've been reviewing all seem to have that in common.

[1dmf]

hmm, can you define keyword stuffing?

What KWD = Stuffing?

I have a couple of phrases in my title, that are variations, is that stuffing?

I don't partake in keyword stuffing, so would need guidance because if this is the case , it is not deliberate?

would seem odd if that is a reason, I still see tonnes of sites using 'Tags' to keyword stuff, they don't seem to have a problem in the index?

[Jill]

Check your PMs 1dmf.

[OldWelshGuy]

I am with Jill. The sites I have looked at have all had the same things in common. keyword stuffed, and over reliance on certain anchor text. Google has wiped out all derivatives of the stuffed/anchored terms, but has allowed other phrases to remain untouched pretty much.

[1dmf]

Well Jill has pointed out some potential issues, but some are unavoidable.

i have a domain a name, company name, corporate strapline, copyright notice, demographic statement and acceptable usage notice on one page that all contain a few similar words.

Of course they do, it is impossible to not use the same few words when talking about them and the subject matter, it seems Google's penguin no longer speaks English?

Of course I have hyperlinked a few of those word, which I can remove, but straight forward english sentences talking about the company and the demographic the site is targeting is going to have a few mentions of specific words, this is unavoidable,so is it just because i have hyperlinked some of them?

I'm not renaming my company, nor changing my stapline, nor changing my domain name, nor my demographic, nor my copyright notice or acceptable usage terms.

This doesn't leave much room for change and still speak in normal english regarding the subject matter?

Does that mean no one can target the word 'The' because it's keyword stuffed in every english sentence?

I wonder how 'The AA' are going to get on? or is G! 'brand' friendly like people are now suggesting?

It's interesting also that it now means that KWD (Key Word Density) is back once again as a genuine metric, though its role is now reversed!

Edited by 1dmf, 09 May 2012 - 04:43 AM.

[clandestino]

Oh these rants are everywhere.

Just a different perspective @bloghands, looking through a different prism. That there are so many rants should tell you something -- in all samples there is a normal distribution .......

I wonder how 'The AA' are going to get on? or is G! 'brand' friendly like people are now suggesting?

Hi @1dmf, there is no doubt that G is "Brand Friendly" -- that was the whole point of the Vince Update back in 2009 -- http://searchenginel...rand-push-16803

A good question in regard to all these penalties is -- "How do I send Brand signals to Google?"

If you're a Brand, you're pretty much immune to these penalties unless your methods are clearly Black Hat and Google can prove it because it's been vetted by the New York Times (or other paper) and G knows that because the NYT printed it. If the New York Times prints it, there is a high probabity that it has been researched and it's the truth (a paper can say anything they want about a politician, but they have to make sure they're printing only what can be verified as the truth in regard to a person or corporation or they will be liable for damages).

Also, of course, if the NYT prints it, millions of people will see it and that will affect G's Brand Image so they won't let that happen -- they will take action with a temporary penalty and have done so in several cases.

Edited by Jill, 10 May 2012 - 03:56 PM.
Merged 2 posts in a row together (again)

[chrishirst]

A year ago I posted this

[clandestino]

A year ago I posted this

Good post, that is helpful information.

One can easily trip such a metric with no intention of being spammy. It's foolish to trust Google. Control your own destiny and check metrics like this.

Keep your nose to the ground to verfiy validity and make changes to the metric as needed. One thing you can be sure of -- whatever rules Google attempts to enforce with their algo today, very possibly won't be the same tomorrow.

[chrishirst]

Obviously, please do NOT take it as "fact", it is simply my interpretation and observations over many moons and looking at the pages from sites that have supposedly been hit with a -nn "penalty" and how they "bounce back" after the "bad things" have been removed or negated in some way.

I have for a long time said that SEO "scoring" is a bit like a bowling score and if you keep getting things "right", you will make that 300 game.