Over Optimization Penalty Launched Today

[dynamicvb]

They must be tweaking or rolling it back all together. I did not get near as hard as some here and several of my rankings have came back to where they where. I'm still down on some and I noticed the blank make money online blog got axed. I did do one test on the site I was looking at and all its rankings came back to where they where after a couple of hours. I'm gonna do the same tweak on another site that still has a couple of long tail phrases off its mark and see if it was the tweak I made or something else.

Has anyone else came back any? It may be that they are rolling something back or the whole thing was a serious dance.

 

[agent-x]

Anyone actually trying to see what Google is looking for? I think it may be a combination of on-page and off-page.

I have some small sites that seem to have gone up - it's difficult to tell because I don't track their keyword, just go by the small amount of SE traffic they get. They don't have their keywords in the domain names, meaning I'm less likely to have optimised on them when I linked back to them, wrote page titles, etc.

I have a couple other sites, again low traffic but haven't dropped, these do have the keywords in the domain but I recently updated the script they run on and rebuilt the pages and didn't do some of the things I'd done with previous sites. I think these are a clue, but time and experimentation will tell.

 

[zebrahat]

YES, we need a full spectrum battleplan to create and promote an alternative and stable marketing funnel that replaces Google and the search engines for providing natural and targeted traffic. The elements should include:

1) Abandoning all Google platforms as a main part of an IM business---the search engine, Chrome, Adwords, Adsense, Gmail etc. The KW tool is still useful as a starting point to build an SEO funnel, but SEO and ranking should increasingly not be treated as the 'main event' for driving traffic. If G is acting in bad faith about the so-called 'organic' search results, why should we be held hostage to their gaming of their own system?

2) Developing more precise metrics for a social media marketing approach. SMM should replace SEO (and thus Google) but the funnel methodology should be tweaked as thoroughly as SEO has been to devise more exact ways to develop converting traffic from online social communities. Or, the pay-per-sale model of monetization favored by IMers may need to give way to a more CPC and CPA based pay-per-performance model, which does not require buying conversions or as targeted a response.

3) Re-visiting human-follow non-ranking links to replace do-follow/SEO linking. Instead of backlinking primarily for SEO, to compensate for the unstable ranking, penalizing and monopoly control by Google, IMers need to aim for quality links that humans will follow regardless of what the scripts do, and 3-4 times as many targeted links to match the performance of 'ranking' links. If you have the only site devoted to purple wabba widgets, but every other wabba widget site linked to you, and the Wikipedia page on the subject had a no-follow link to your site, would it even matter how the site ranked? Regardless of the search engine position, your site would get targeted traffic.

 

[aldis]

I cant believe how short sighted some people are. Harrison has it spot on!

I dont know about you but I find it fairly easy to rank in Google, IF I put the effort in. I rank way better in G than the others. As is mentioned here, the point is NOT to bring down Google but give them a wake up call to quit screwing around with their algo!

They have a Manual review process to see if a site is worthy or not this bullshit they just rolled out cost people money.
Do you know if Google disappeared for 1 day it would cost them $9 million? That is based on last years figures. But guess what?You drop and they could give a shit about your white hat site with good content that has white hat links that was paying your bills.

If I Owned a grocery store and someone closed the roads for a day or week or month, I would have the right to get pissed. Same applies here.

The point of the whole thing is if we can get even a small shift towards Bing/Yahoo then Google WILL feel it. They are manipulating SERPS right now and have been doing so for a month. It is time they felt a little pain.

Talking about short sighted people, you're looking at the problem solely as a Website owner. Now try for at least 1 minute to look at the problem as a regular person, looking for something on Google and finding out lots of crappy links on the result pages...

 

[assphuck]

Just search for Viagra and you will see the dancing is not done yet. Looks like a couple more .edu domains popped up on the first page for that term. The one .edu listing I checked did not even have the word Viagra anywhere onpage. It's a sub domain of Northern Kentucky University - apparently for admissions.

 

[Chicilikit]

I see some scary bad results for many of my sites... hope its not permanent

 

[OOIOO]

This is crazy.

So far my EMD that is less then 14 days old has jumped up to in SERPs for the keywords I'm targeting. It only has web 2.0 backlinks and social bookmarks that haven't gone in to effect yet. I think I'm screwed once google finds those backlinks.

 

[piskonet]

On other forum, there is a gossip which about "google has hardware problem, all changed results same as 3 months ago" People giving examples like xxxx site's position was 178th 3 months ago, yesterday it was 8th and now 178th again.

Than i checked Google's shares are decreasing, intersting...

 

[R0meo]

http://www.facebook.com/pages/GoogleHatesUs/118568971610786 - welcome to join, really cant make much with it now, lots of limitations as no fans so far.

 

[HarrisonHill]

On other forum, there is a gossip which about "google has hardware problem, all changed results same as 3 months ago" People giving examples like xxxx site's position was 178th 3 months ago, yesterday it was 8th and now 178th again.

Than i checked Google's shares are decreasing, intersting...

I remember where my sites were 3 months ago. They were on page one and #1 for years. Now they are on page 2, page 3. So it's not true that they returned old serps. Some sites in this serps are pretty new, or ones I never saw before even in top 100. With garbage content.

And where do you check Google's market share which is decreasing?

 

[jr_sci]

Now we know how to get our competitors down. Buy SEO services for them.. !!

 

[Getwhatchuwant]

ummmmm You might want to actually READ the post I made just before that one, you know the one that said I was telling my facebook friends that if they cannot find what they are looking for on Google to try Bing....

In fact that is the backbone of my prior post. In other words some people wont act because its "not fair" but they will act if it affects their search results....

Talking about short sighted people, you're looking at the problem solely as a Website owner. Now try for at least 1 minute to look at the problem as a regular person, looking for something on Google and finding out lots of crappy links on the result pages...

To refresh your memory here is the post, ENJOY!

For those saying we should boycott and campaign against google, while it sounds far fetched I have actually started informing my FB friends of the screwy results.

While most people are lazy and self serving even if they cannot by inspired by corruption, greed, monopoly etc... they can be inspired by not getting what they want quickly and easily so I have gone that route pointing out some of the odd results so far and advising people to use Yahoo/Bing if they cannot find what they want.

Every voice counts and eventually if enough voices are heard Google will either conform or disappear.

 

[Chicilikit]

With all these new updates, our work is getting real fun as google changes the rules of the game all the time. Its like you build a site, put in magic box of google and.. maybe you will end up at 1st spot and maybe you will not be in first 100, you never know Because of stupid google, I had to go from white hat to black hat, well unfortunately it looks you cannot go from black hat to white since sites are already destroyed with links that are now "bad".

 

[Minister]

....The point of the whole thing is if we can get even a small shift towards Bing/Yahoo then Google WILL feel it....

The big problem is people like to stick to their ways and what they know. Think about it. Open Office is FREE but Microsoft still makes millions from selling Microsoft office... Linux is FREE,,, but most folk will pay more for a machine with Windows on it.... IBM OS2 was on its way to being great,,, but Microsoft made themselves more attractive and won the marketing war back then... What you have now are the words 'Google it' That's the problem. They can dish out as much shit as they like. They can invade peoples privacy and stick cameras on cars to look up your wife's skirt but aint nobody gonna do shit about it until some fucker comes up with something more glitzy and fashionable! Doesn't even have to be better! Look at iPhone vs Samsung... Its Glitze and packaging and fashion that sells these days... Thats all it is.

I thought maybe if Facebook launched a search engine with Bings help it would make a dent, but I reckon they've left it too late and are losing a bit of their shine... But someone will come along eventually. lets face it. Google are tarnished now. They have mis-managed their success and upset alot of people with alot of money... They are unlikely to ever become a long standing heritage corporation that shrugs off centuries or even decades. They are not a Barclays, or a Wallmart or even a General Motors... they're a flash in the pan, they won't never be a hundred-year-sensation.

 

[gr33n]

I'd say don't panic yet. give it a day or two. On the official google webmaster blog, Matt Cunts said sites that have "spun beyond recognition" contextual backlinks will be affected, but if you follow the link the site ranks #2 for "pay day loan" lol.

Good catch ...the site has a 301 redirect and is ranking #3 for pay day loan !!!!:censored: Maybe google is trying to send us a message ?

 

[assphuck]

A good number of years back I had an office located in an industrial park and the company next to mine was sold and transformed into a small foundry. Outside they had a silo filled with casting sand for their forgings. The pressurized return line repeatedly failed. The recycled foundry sand would blow through the line and onto my car. My car was new (less than a month old and solid black) and some the hot foundry sand that came into contact with the clearcoat on my car actually embedded into it. The metal particles in the sand began to rust, and my new car had tiny spots all over it. The city was worthless in helping me to correct the problem. Finally I called my congressman. Within one week the same company responsible for damaging my car came over and wrote me a check in excess of the cost of repairs. Three business days later, that same congressman's office called me back to confirm the business had made good on resolving the problem.

Although times have changed, I still have a vote. I am only one voice and vote, but there are many here at this and other online communities. Collectively, we can at least be heard. I realize Google is an 800lb Gorilla. But Google has already been through a number of Congressional hearings, and I think Congress will eventually start getting tired of holding hearings over Google's actions. It's a Presidential election year. If enough *noise* is made, politicians will indeed listen. If nothing else, politicians will hold a hearing to pacify those with concerns.

Call me stubborn, but I still believe in airing out my grievances with those that represent me on all levels of government. Even though nothing may happen from my actions, I have done my part to speak my mind. And while Google has big $ and plenty of lobbying clout, its sheer size should not be permitted to silence the opinions of the citizenry and businesses owners that operate smaller enterprises then Google.

I can understand your desire to focus your efforts on making money to pay bills and to feed your family. This is the whole reason why I was in the military - so that you, me and everyone else had the option to choose freely. I choose not to fight Google, but to be heard. Should a large number of people do the same, our voice will be heard quite loudly.

http://www.opencongress.org/ is a great place to initiate contact with ones elected representatives. I invite anyone that is upset to join me in spending just a few minutes of time letting Congress and the Senate know how we feel about Google having so much control over e-commerce and our ability to make a living. Those that don't want to spend the time to send an E-mail to their representatives certainly have that right. However, these people should not complain when they won't even stand up for themselves to be heard.

An old saying goes.... "The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease."

Ok on a serious note....

I ADMIRE your fortitude and desire to speak out against a large dog like Google. I am by NO MEANS an "uninformed" and ignorant person who does not participate in any of our civil duties (including voting) here in the U.S. I pay attention to business and politics, and yes, I vote in every election. Period.

I do, however, believe that under the current system, you can only get something done if there is a MASS uprising, or you have DEEP DEEP pockets. I'm not talking physical revolution or anything. I mean a big percentage of the masses speaking out.

Look I agree with you, Google are aholes and yes, they do have a monopoly.

I just don't see how the general public (or a specific subset like the senior citizens, gun owners, etc.) is going to make a big enough stink about it to get anything done. The reason is simple:

IT DOESN'T AFFECT THEM.

The average joe or jane types "XYZ" into google and he gets what he gets. Some tend to always click ads above or to the right of results. Others tend to just click on the first one or two results and that's that. If somebody wants to buy something, they do searches for that product/service, or visit sites they've already bought from (which is why amazon kills it because they have a LOYAL customer base), and that's that.

Unless a LARGE MAJORITY of google's search results remain TOTALLY unrelated to what people are searching for, they are not going to go search elsewhere, and they are not going to stomp up and down and demand something be done about it.

PEOPLE ARE SELFISH. The average American wants what they want for themselves (and they often want it NOW!) and they don't care as much about monopolies and whatnot. Once upon a time they did. But not now. Not even close. As long as it doesn't impact them or become a big issue of their "rights", people just don't care. And they won't start caring anytime soon.

Take a look at Walmart for an example. They have LITERALLY destroyed 1000's of American businesses and produced a NET JOB LOSS over their rise to fame and fortune. It's not even close. They are, by far, one of the greediest corps in history and have done a lot more harm than good to middle class in America. Yet that is simply looked at as capitalism, period. It is what it is.

I like your attitude, bro. And I honestly agree with you. But I've been on this planet long enough to understand that this issue is not going to go anywhere with our do nothing, greedy, bought and freaking paid for Congress that serves at the feet of the plutocrats.

You're gonna need a LOT more people or a lot more money to have any impact. At this point in time and in this economy, I think it's in my best interest to focus ALL my energy and time on earning an honest living for me and my family. That means I will continue to focus on "using" Google or whatever company, in any way that I can (legally of course) to make money. They are using me and plenty of others. I'm just returning the favor.

If you get a serious petition/campaign together (or join one), by all means let me know and I'll be happy to email/write/call whomever with you. Until then, I gotta get back to work. bro.

I wish you well. Take care.
Con

 

[Gorush]

3 months rumor is fake -- i had no ranking 3 months ago ....now i have ranking - still the same as last week even a bit better

 

[iamman]

Or instead, let's focus on something that might put money in your pocket, unless you know a way to do this and put money in your pocket. Otherwise, why bother. They already fked us, now we're gonna let them waste our time too? For a battle we can't win........Wait it out and hope it's temporary and if not, move on to the next thing. That's all there is.

I don't think we can bring down the market share of google by 80% but even a change of 1 percentage point is a great achievement.. Around 1 billion searches are made everyday through google.. and you need to cut down 800 million searches every day to bring it down by 80%, which is definitely not possible by a group of IMers. However, we should do something that makes google to stop and notice what is happening. even 1 percent drop is a big thing and with an united effort we can achieve it.

 

[Longover]

As a community we should setup a campaign to boycott Google for a day...

Call it the: "Webmasters Boycott Google's Monopoly Over Online Business"

Imagine if we could knock Google's ad revenue down for even one day. Do you think they'd pay attention to webmasters complaints about Google's disregard for legit webmasters that get kicked to the curb when they do these updates? Do you think they might change the way they respond to the complaints?

A)
We'd have to have a webmaster education page and a average user explanation page with a set date that everyone could stick to.
People would have to be motivated by...
-fear: information gathering, control/monopoly, safety/bad results, etc...

B)
All people would have to do is take their search to Yahoo, Bing, or elsewhere for one day to show support.

C)
People would have to spread the word to their friends... think about how news on SOPA spread

 

[partymarty4870]

Does anyone realise that googles market share of search has actually spiked today because of this - with all of us running every rank tracking piece of software 24/7 on every site and every keyword we have.