Anyone else's sites dropping in rank lately?

[mooble]

So i'm getting a little scared here. I've had a site or two move around here and there but never seen this before. Almost all of my sites have dropped several ranks on google over the past couple of days. One of my main sites which was in first on google completely dropped off the radar. It's still indexed but nowhere to be found. These are sites that have been ranked in their spots for months most of which have slowly moved up in rank over the months. I've NEVER seen so many of my sites actually drop in rank before. I've seen one or two do a google dance before, disappearing and reappearing, but not this.

One thing i have noticed is that it isn't only my sites that have moved, but other people sites also. So i'm wondering has anyone else been experiencing this? What's going on? Is this a bad sign?

[Leslie B]

Not that I can see, actually, most of my sites are going up in the rankings.

Leslie

[RenTak Rengøring]

Mine have actually also gone a tiny bit up

[mooble]

sigh.. mine of all gone up over the past 6 months until now, never seen this before. The worst part is the site i had ranked first not even showing anymore. My earnings have been cut by over 60% because of all of this. I thought it might go away after a day or so but now it seems like it's official. What a joke.

[RenTak Rengøring]

Which SEO strategies have you been using?

[mooble]

Strictly article marketing for backlinks with some social bookmarking mixed in. That's about it. It's been working so i stick what to works.

[RenTak Rengøring]

A lot of article sites and directories have in my opppinion been loosing linkjuice strength the last two months. Could it be because of this? You should have a wider strategy so that you don't get hit when Google makes changes.

[thebitbotdotcom]

Actually, the best results I have gotten have been from link exchange. These have literally blown article marketing out of the water.

[mooble]

Anything is possible i suppose. I'll try other methods and hope for the best. This is very depressing and demotivating after having my best month ever last month. I was just about to get down to business and really crank this stuff out and then all of the sudden all my sites drop at once.

[pjman]

Originally Posted by thebitbotdotcom

Actually, the best results I have gotten have been from link exchange. These have literally blown article marketing out of the water.

Straight up reciprocal exchanges or three/four way links? I never had much luck with either.


Hey mooble, sorry to here that. Article marketing is definitely headed in a downward spiral. I saw an interview with Matt Cutts saying that the web spam team of G are trying to tweak the way links are evaluated to disregard spun article links. I'm sure those that depend solely on article marketing are going to be hurting over the next year. Add some more mix to your links.

[mooble]

what do you guys suggest to do instead of article backlinks?

[Bryan V]

Originally Posted by mooble

what do you guys suggest to do instead of article backlinks?

I've also had my best month ever last month. And now the sites are taking a dive too... all of them.

[Eager2SEO]

Originally Posted by pack12

I've also had my best month ever last month. And now the sites are taking a dive too... all of them.

Two near emd affiliate sites of mine are down, they had lots of original content too. They were on the first and second page. I have a very varied backlink profile(some articles, forums, blogs, etc). The scary part is that another site that was on page 2 and somewhat similar to mine is now around me close to last place. I now rank near an article written in 1983 .

I know two other confirmed cases of this happening too. They seem to end in in the same general position. This seems more than the google slap/dance. It is either a change in the algorithm or good old fashioned manual review on some of their keywords.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by Leslie B

Not that I can see, actually, most of my sites are going up in the rankings.

Leslie

It's the laws of physics. For each site that drops, there is a corresponding one that rises.
But those people must post on the other forum.

Paul

[mkpoway]

My amazon affiliate site with 15 pages of original content was on page 8 for my keywords. Then on Dec 9th and 10th it appeared on page 1 for multiple keywords. This tripled my traffic. Then on Dec 11th, it dropped out entirely for the same keywords, so it's not ranking AT ALL. It's still in the index though.

[jigney]

How many sites have been dropped in ranking? Are all sites on same server? Ranking drop can not affect all your sites simultaneously. I suggest you to log into your Google Webmaster account and check all parameters ,also resubmit Google sitemap.

[erazer]

Originally Posted by pjman

.... Article marketing is definitely headed in a downward spiral. I saw an interview with Matt Cutts saying that the web spam team of G are trying to tweak the way links are evaluated to disregard spun article links....

I've looked all over for this video and can't find it. Considering how important it is for a lot of us, could you link it to here if you know where it is? Thanks.

[mooble]

well the reason i know it more than likely doesn't have anything to do with the way i'm back linking is because other sites which used to be near mine on the pages are also dropping in rank. So google is up to something.

[jigney]

In that case there is only one one option i.e wait and watch

[_sleeper_]

My sites have all dropped as well. It was sometime on Thursday night. I have 40+ niche sites and every one dropped in Google SERP's. My backlinking strategy is basically non-existent, so I realize that's where I need to start. They're all less than 1 year old, so I'm hoping that just putting some effort into backlinking will get them moving in the right direction.

[mooble]

Originally Posted by _sleeper_

My sites have all dropped as well. It was sometime on Thursday night. I have 40+ niche sites and every one dropped in Google SERP's. My backlinking strategy is basically non-existent, so I realize that's where I need to start. They're all less than 1 year old, so I'm hoping that just putting some effort into backlinking will get them moving in the right direction.

This really isn't looking good at all. I think google has done something to knock on niche sites. I run niche sites also. I hope more backlinks will solve the problem but it doesn't explain why one of my best sites completely dropped off the radar. At least they're all still indexed.

[Eager2SEO]

Originally Posted by mooble

well the reason i know it more than likely doesn't have anything to do with the way i'm back linking is because other sites which used to be near mine on the pages are also dropping in rank. So google is up to something.

Yup...same story here. This does not look good. I went from 2K impressions a day to 10!

[affiliatelabel]

ya google has changed something in the formula. There google analytics is broke , doesnt show the keywords anymore just daily impressions. I fell off same time a bit my traffic is down like 35% , and my top top competitiors skyrocketed . So its a mix of something i think they changed. Maybe they are requiring a little bit higher PR to rank in certain spots. Or they have now taken away a % of credit for articles since that market is filled with nothing but massive spinning and junk , not all articles but you know what i mean. If you just article market maybe we have lost some credit points for having articles.

[Eager2SEO]

Originally Posted by webhostingmasters.com

ya google has changed something in the formula. There google analytics is broke , doesnt show the keywords anymore just daily impressions. I fell off same time a bit my traffic is down like 35% , and my top top competitiors skyrocketed . So its a mix of something i think they changed. Maybe they are requiring a little bit higher PR to rank in certain spots. Or they have now taken away a % of credit for articles since that market is filled with nothing but massive spinning and junk , not all articles but you know what i mean. If you just article market maybe we have lost some credit points for having articles.

Maybe they are listening to their masters(the adwords consumers) who are paying their bills. My niche is now FULL of the big boys(who all use adwords BTW). Spot 10 has an ezine article. Nothing is really stopping them from manipulating profitable commerical niches. Don't like it? Start the next Google!

[kimberly Aita]

Really? I had at least a dozen or so... lost track out of 90 sites on page 1 or 2 and they all dropped overnight and now just bounce around in cyberspace... I check rank tracker once in a while and I'll see some finally coming back, as in I might get to page 5-6 and suddenly boom back to 100 something.

So either I am the only one or "yes" it can affect all of your sites.... and it ##!@!s

Originally Posted by jigney

How many sites have been dropped in ranking? Are all sites on same server? Ranking drop can not affect all your sites simultaneously. I suggest you to log into your Google Webmaster account and check all parameters ,also resubmit Google sitemap.

[_sleeper_]

One of my sites was #1 for it's exact match 3 word keyword phrase. It dropped to #10 and now at #6 is an nonsensical hubpages article written in 2001 with only 3 backlinks. The article does look keyword optimized, has an embedded youtube video, and certainly looks the part, other than it's complete jibberish to actually read. It's discouraging to think Google likes it more than my site.

[rinor81]

I experience the Google dance or whatever it is as well.
Have some niche sites that were on page 1, then disappeared entirely and now back on page 1.
Other site that is not new at all, the keyword for it is dancing between pages 2-3 (and I try to get it to page 1...no success yet).

Will Google continue with this none sense for long?

[mooble]

Well what is going on right now doesn't seem like a google dance. It looks like they've made a major change to the way they rank sites. I wish it would return to normal but i'm not going to count on it.

[affiliatelabel]

ya i guess we need to find the new mix google likes, shouldnt take to long,then we can all get some rankings back i hope

[truewarrior]

Same thing happened to me Oct 31st...Poof the magic dragon.
I'm making 1/3 of what I was making.

How were you doing article marketing? UAW, AMA, SEOLV, ezine articles, etc?

[tdd1984]

Originally Posted by mooble

So i'm getting a little scared here. I've had a site or two move around here and there but never seen this before. Almost all of my sites have dropped several ranks on google over the past couple of days. One of my main sites which was in first on google completely dropped off the radar. It's still indexed but nowhere to be found. These are sites that have been ranked in their spots for months most of which have slowly moved up in rank over the months. I've NEVER seen so many of my sites actually drop in rank before. I've seen one or two do a google dance before, disappearing and reappearing, but not this.

One thing i have noticed is that it isn't only my sites that have moved, but other people sites also. So i'm wondering has anyone else been experiencing this? What's going on? Is this a bad sign?

It happens, I wouldn't worry about it. Sites drop and go.

[mooble]

I've been checking through tons of other people's niche sites as i remember where they used to be ranked and it seems like almost every micro niche site is dropping in rank. This really sucks. I was just about to start to get down to business with this niche stuff and now i don't even know if it's going to be worth it. Depends on how much more back linking will be required. Perhaps they've changed how terms rank for exact match domains or something. Either way it's bad.

[rinor81]

Google really started to be a real mother f%$%^$#er!
First they just kick affiliates off adwords, now SEO? When it's free and according to their terms and algorithms? This is frustrating and to tell you the truth everytime I read some one is suing Google or it loses money I am a bit happier....sad we have come to this...

[ThomasTe]

The same happened for me for a bunch of my niche sites around a month ago. Strange.

BR,
Thomas

[Eager2SEO]

Why do these Amazon niche sites have to be 95% dependent on the Google tit? That is a MAJOR flaw in this business model. These sites may be going the way of the adsense templates. People were really abusing them and just cutting and pasting from Amazon. Honestly, a niche site should be created by someone with a passion for the item, who can add something of value that you can't find elsewhere. What if you worked for LG and designed TVs? Then you are in a position of authority and can write some articles and make suggestions. You get the idea. BTW, these sites are nothing new, people I know people were doing them with books since the late 90s. They would discuss the book and of course put an affiliate link. I also picked up some bad vibes on these sites from the Google webmaster forums.

Google mentions in their guidelines that some affiliate sites are ok if you add substantial value. What does that mean? Think pricegrabber. The collect prices from many merchants and they host their own product reviews. That is site I would return to over and over to check prices on items. Even sites like that don't rank in the top for products now.

Honestly, where else can you promote these niche sites? We have to think on those lines. No one on a social bookmarking site like Digg is going to care about your juicer review. Possibly Youtube, maybe if you make a demonstration with the actual item.

Google may be on to these sites. Like other posters mentioned, I also monitor many sites. There is too much data here to be a coincidence. Especially where some of these sites were placed. Google needs to take one quick look at the backlinks....and know if you are real or not.

The only light I see are some OLDER (1yr+) affiliate sites kept their rank. I've also noticed they have a backlink profile with other retail blogs/sites. There also may be a long cultivation period now before sites see any money. Even this is uncertain.

These sites are not good for Google. Not only do they take away a possible adwords click, but the big players who pay for adwords lose top 10 positions.

[mkpoway]

Have anyone's sites come back since the supposed algorithm change on Dec 9th-10th? My site is down around position 180 for the main keyword.

[evazk]

My sites are as it was before there is no change in ranking.....