Google Smacked One of My High-Traffic Auto Blogs.

[rmoore]

I'm glad that my income isn't dependent upon auto blogs.

Fisrt of all...I'm not against auto-blogging.

• I use them to list build.
• I use them to increase links to my "real" sites.
• I use these blogs to help me index sniper sites.

I just do NOT believe they are a stable business model.

Here is a screen shot of the analytics to one of my autoblogs.

• So I was averaging 1,000 visits per day in September.
• Climbed to 3,000-4,000 per day by January.
• Now it dropped to 150-200 per day.

So 150-200 per day isn't bad for something I don't have to keep track of.

...but it does show you that Google is catching on in 2011.

To be honest, I prefer my "real" blogs and helpful articles better. I don't feel like I'm adding any value to the internet with my autoblog network. I simply see them as a way to funnel people to my good content.

Note: Here is the slightly disturbing part of this particular auto-blog.

• I had 30+ original articles posted that were slapped as well. This wasn't just a matter of the automated content getting penalized...Google hit it site wide.

Google pushed all of my #1 and #2 rankings to page 4 & 5:



This was interesting, because these particular posts are 100% original content.

It didn't get deindexed...it is like they pushed it back almost exactly 38-40 places in their results.

The point of this post?

Google is just going to get better and better at detecting this stuff.

If you aren't adding any unique value somewhere online...I'd be worried.

-Rusty

[Ric_Worthy]

I don't think depending on Google to send you traffic was ever a viable business model. I mean would you give a 3 year old a shotgun? It is just not a trustworthy source.
What might make a lot of people quake is "Personal Blocking". Its a new feature currently only available for google chrome. Google is going to let the masses 'vote' for websites and block the ones a user doesn't want to see while big G looks over the users shoulder. Soon the most blocked site will become part of the ranking algorithm.
Off course then we can get smart like the hookers on Craigslist. Craigslist anarchy allows anyone to 'flag' a post and if a post gets enough flags its deleted. The hookers got together in the Personals section and started flagging non-professionals posts. Soon there was no competition for the Pros as the only ads present were the ones the ladies of the night posted themselves.
Won't it be great when we will be able to flag Amazon and Bestbuy?

[Resale Rights Ninja]

I'll be flagging ebay lol. Thanks for this post though. I am just starting off on autoblogging and I enjoy all these great posts. I just signed up for autoblogging blueprint 3.0 - Man when I am not working I am studying. Never bored in this industry and thats why I love it. Getting paid is good too, especially when you make it while you sleep.

[Matt Helphrey]

Great point Rusty. It's best to establish some type of REAL presence on the internet if you want to sustain income online. Anything that isnt adding value to the searcher probably wont last long or rank very high in Google.

Although autoblogs and other "low hassle" business models may work short term, I'd rather spend my time on a viable long term business model.

Nothing is ever for sure though when you are relying solely on Google to bring you traffic

[Derek S]

I am playing around with auto blogs and see the charm of them but have my own theory as to why these sites are getting slapped.

Most of these sites created, have zero external backlinks pointing to their inner pages. Sure as it keeps posting new posts google may give them a temporary boost... and sure the long tail keyword phrase may have so little competition, the page naturally ranks on it's own because of relevancy

BUT...

...how can you expect these sites to keep rank without link building each inner page just as you would for any quality money site you would hope to keep it's ranking.

when your business plan revolves around "easy come" you can almost guarantee "easy go" will also apply.

Try having links built to your main and inner pages and see if the site still gets slapped in 2011. Just something I am personally testing with my auto blogs.

[yukon]

I'm betting you left a footprint so big in your source code that any search engine would throw a flag!

You follow the herd & use the same auto theme/plugins your going to be in the spotlight.

Rename every single file including the CSS & Div code, add new keywords to the Page-Titles.

All search engines are based on keywords, it isn't complicated.

[rmoore]

Originally Posted by Derek S

I am playing around with auto blogs and see the charm of them but have my own theory as to why these sites are getting slapped.

Most of these sites created, have zero external backlinks pointing to their inner pages. Sure as it keeps posting new posts google may give them a temporary boost... and sure the long tail keyword phrase may have so little competition, the page naturally ranks on it's own because of relevancy

BUT...

...how can you expect these sites to keep rank without link building each inner page just as you would for any quality money site you would hope to keep it's ranking.

when your business plan revolves around "easy come" you can almost guarantee "easy go" will also apply.

Try having links built to your main and inner pages and see if the site still gets slapped in 2011. Just something I am personally testing with my auto blogs.

I actually used a pretty extensive backlink strategy.

• I sent deep links to quite a few of the posts.
• Also had WebtrafficGenius and WPSyndicator helping out.
• All of the original content was linked to with an EZinearticle as well as 1Waylinks supported.

I'm actually pretty darn good at this stuff...can get any autoblog up to 1,000 visits per day within 4-6 months.

...but got snagged on this one

Anyway, in this case I wouldn't say it wasn't lack of backlinks.

-Rusty

[Derek S]

Originally Posted by rmoore

Anyway, in this case I wouldn't say it wasn't lack of backlinks.

Interesting stuff. Could just be a Google Fart(TM) and after a few weeks once the air has cleared the rankings could come back

PM me if you see it bounce back in a month like I think it might.

[Scott Million]

Rusty, you don't have them all on the same GA account do you? Careful with that, my friend had 50 sites all nailed at once (thin affiliate sites) and the only footprint was GA.

Sounds like you get it when it comes to what autoblogs should be used for (to build traffic you own i.e. a list) - just look at it like a PPC campaign that got slapped, right? ... except you still get some love out of it.

[Jonas B]

so what happend to your other auto blogs or don't you have others?

[rmoore]

Originally Posted by Scott Million

Rusty, you don't have them all on the same GA account do you? Careful with that, my friend had 50 sites all nailed at once (thin affiliate sites) and the only footprint was GA.

Sounds like you get it when it comes to what autoblogs should be used for (to build traffic you own i.e. a list) - just look at it like a PPC campaign that got slapped, right? ... except you still get some love out of it.

Scott,

Yeah...they used to all have the same GA account...then I just kept GA on a few of them.

Good tip...I will need to be more careful with that!

-Rusty

[rmoore]

Originally Posted by zebix

so what happend to your other auto blogs or don't you have others?

They are fine.

Still going strong.

-Rusty

[RizenKJ]

Does someone have an example of an 'autoblogging' site?

[rmoore]

Originally Posted by RizenKJ

Does someone have an example of an 'autoblogging' site?

Most people probably don't want to list them in a public forum.

I believe the guy who released Autoblogging 3.0 has case studies he is showing.

-Rusty

[KristofferIM]

This is why I've been advising people to stop with spammy methods and start providing REAL VALUE to the internet and to your customers.

Even if someone comes to your site and just clicks an ad or affiliate offer, they are still a customer. Be in the business of providing great information and you will do well.

This goes for the stuff that's on and off your site.

[Rsberg]

Originally Posted by KristofferIM

This is why I've been advising people to stop with spammy methods and start providing REAL VALUE to the internet and to your customers.

I could be wrong here but I doubt this particular site was "spammy" as many auto haters would like to suggest all autoblogs are. If the OP had 30+ unique articles on the site then that shows he actually cares about them (unlike some other autobloggers out there). I have also read many other posts from the OP regarding autoblogging and I dont get the impression he was spamming the internet.

Auto haters always say the same things but this is the first post from from an autoblogger who seems to "get it" that shows any mention of a site getting "slapped". It very well could be a particular piece of content that got posted to the site that caused the drop. There are so many rumors floating around about autoblogging, the lates algo change...etc etc that NO ONE really knows what is going on or how ANY site will be affected. This happened to this site...no doubt about it...but it could be an isolated case and the site could rebound too.

I don't think I would go waving the "autoblogs are dead" flag just yet.

[TZ]

Rmoore.

How much was that autoblog rewriting words and word phrases? Were you using a good rewriting plugin. The rewriting plugin has to support phrasing and it has to be global. (database global)

None of our autoblogs have been hurt at all. Some have increased.

[Magy]

I have something to share with you, i have a small french niche website with only unique content (8 pages of content). I was #2 for 1 year on my main keyword and i am ~#40 now for something like 2 weeks, so, "autoblogging" is really the problem here?

[Furyx2]

ouch. Sorry to hear that, bud. Seems like you're still doing well though!

[Resale Rights Ninja]

I love the autoblogging course I just started. It expains how to do it right with value added sites, and how to not get slapped. The blueprint is solid. If your really interested in autoblogging here is the post Auto Blog Blueprint 3.0? Yay or Nay?

[Joseph Then]

Originally Posted by KristofferIM

This is why I've been advising people to stop with spammy methods and start providing REAL VALUE to the internet and to your customers.

Even if someone comes to your site and just clicks an ad or affiliate offer, they are still a customer. Be in the business of providing great information and you will do well.

This goes for the stuff that's on and off your site.

And how do Google know that your website is providing real value to the Internet? When webmasters (or authority sites) starts linking to your website.

Real value is subjective. When people are linking to your website, that's objective.

[ann1986]

Its an old saying but its effective "dont put all your eggs in one basket" (this is for those who are just starting I'm)

Google algorithm is changing always thats why a good SEO company must cope to the changes.

[rmoore]

Originally Posted by Rsberg

I could be wrong here but I doubt this particular site was "spammy" as many auto haters would like to suggest all autoblogs are. If the OP had 30+ unique articles on the site then that shows he actually cares about them (unlike some other autobloggers out there). I have also read many other posts from the OP regarding autoblogging and I dont get the impression he was spamming the internet.

Auto haters always say the same things but this is the first post from from an autoblogger who seems to "get it" that shows any mention of a site getting "slapped". It very well could be a particular piece of content that got posted to the site that caused the drop. There are so many rumors floating around about autoblogging, the lates algo change...etc etc that NO ONE really knows what is going on or how ANY site will be affected. This happened to this site...no doubt about it...but it could be an isolated case and the site could rebound too.

I don't think I would go waving the "autoblogs are dead" flag just yet.

Rsberg,

Yeah...I know for sure it isn't dead...I have several autoblogs still doing well. I will probably learn over time what caused it. Maybe it will bounce back. It doesn't make a big difference to my income...I just have never had a site slapped by Google. Weird stuff!

-Rusty

[rmoore]

Originally Posted by TZ

Rmoore.

How much was that autoblog rewriting words and word phrases? Were you using a good rewriting plugin. The rewriting plugin has to support phrasing and it has to be global. (database global)

None of our autoblogs have been hurt at all. Some have increased.

Terry,

I will have to look at your product. I'm good at getting traffic, but my guess is that you have a better understanding of some of the technical aspects of autoblogging. Perhaps I did make a mistake of some sort.

-Rusty

[Sylonious]

It sounds to me like they did a manual check of your website and found the automated pages.

Were you using UAW, SEOLinkvine or anything like that. The consistent links out might have been a dead giveaway.

It's amazing to me that 150-200 vistors a day for an autoblog is a failure to you.

How many articles did you submit to 1waylinks (for backlinks) per unique article?

[bay37]

Originally Posted by rmoore

I'm actually pretty darn good at this stuff...can get any autoblog up to 1,000 visits per day within 4-6 months.

Easy come, easy go. Build another 5 or 10, get traffic, turn some of it into subscribers or buyers and start over again. Good times.

[marlon]

............AND......

It HAPPENS to be the one...

He PUBLICLY posted....

On his seo training blog....

Now, how easy do you it might would be....

For an envious competitor....

To report you to Google....

And have a 3rd world employee....

Zap you....

It's easy to test this theory out. Just
publicly post the OTHER url's and see how
long it is before they get whacked.

I'm just sayin'.

For all I know google has a spider that
finds the url's and zaps them.

Just put all your competitor's URL's
in a "how to autoblog" article and spam
the crap out of the Internet with it!

Now there IS the profitable use of
autoblogging that's Evergreen!

Marlon

[TKB]

woah.. google can do that? but why..?

[TZ]

Originally Posted by rmoore

I'm glad that my income isn't dependent upon auto blogs.

Fisrt of all...I'm not against auto-blogging.

• I use them to list build.
• I use them to increase links to my "real" sites.
• I use these blogs to help me index sniper sites.

I just do NOT believe they are a stable business model.

Here is a screen shot of the analytics to one of my autoblogs.

• So I was averaging 1,000 visits per day in September.
• Climbed to 3,000-4,000 per day by January.
• Now it dropped to 150-200 per day.

So 150-200 per day isn't bad for something I don't have to keep track of.

...but it does show you that Google is catching on in 2011.

To be honest, I prefer my "real" blogs and helpful articles better. I don't feel like I'm adding any value to the internet with my autoblog network. I simply see them as a way to funnel people to my good content.

Note: Here is the slightly disturbing part of this particular auto-blog.

• I had 30+ original articles posted that were slapped as well. This wasn't just a matter of the automated content getting penalized...Google hit it site wide.

Google pushed all of my #1 and #2 rankings to page 4 & 5:



This was interesting, because these particular posts are 100% original content.

It didn't get deindexed...it is like they pushed it back almost exactly 38-40 places in their results.

The point of this post?

Google is just going to get better and better at detecting this stuff.

If you aren't adding any unique value somewhere online...I'd be worried.

-Rusty

Google will smack the whole domain.

Were you using a good re-writer?

[rcritchett]

Very interesting metrics. I totally believe that this is happening, I've seen this all around the net.

I agree completely with what you're saying Rusty. Google caught some serious heat from some bloggers and webmasters for autoblogged and scraped content outranking original published content.

I think what really triggered this permeation (in part) was Bekko's decision to allow users to select whether or not a listing in the serps was spam.

With something effecting as much as 12% of searches (only U.S. searches at the time), this is definitely a big move by Google.

Everyone just has to adapt it seems. Sorry to hear about this stuff man. I did know that they do torch the whole domain in a case like yours

Keep us updated Rusty.

[rmoore]

Originally Posted by marlon

............AND......

It HAPPENS to be the one...

He PUBLICLY posted....

On his seo training blog....

Now, how easy do you it might would be....

For an envious competitor....

To report you to Google....

And have a 3rd world employee....

Zap you....

It's easy to test this theory out. Just
publicly post the OTHER url's and see how
long it is before they get whacked.

I'm just sayin'.

For all I know google has a spider that
finds the url's and zaps them.

Just put all your competitor's URL's
in a "how to autoblog" article and spam
the crap out of the Internet with it!

Now there IS the profitable use of
autoblogging that's Evergreen!

Marlon

Yeah Marlon....Just Like We Discussed on Skype.

Marlon,

You were right about being little more careful when I do case studies. You warned me...and I should have listened! I'm convinced that it was due to someome manually reporting it.

All my other autoblogs are fine

-Rusty

[rmoore]

Originally Posted by TZ

Google will smack the whole domain.

Were you using a good re-writer?

Terry...I am told that your autoblog course is awesome.

Terry,

I'm sure I made some mistakes on this one.

...bummer, because it was working so well

(I will most likely check out your course once I get caught up with my projects)

I hear from good sources that it is outstanding.

-Rusty

[yukon]

Originally Posted by marlon

............AND......

It HAPPENS to be the one...

He PUBLICLY posted....

On his seo training blog....

Now, how easy do you it might would be....

For an envious competitor....

To report you to Google....

And have a 3rd world employee....

Zap you....

It's easy to test this theory out. Just
publicly post the OTHER url's and see how
long it is before they get whacked.

I'm just sayin'.

For all I know google has a spider that
finds the url's and zaps them.

Just put all your competitor's URL's
in a "how to autoblog" article and spam
the crap out of the Internet with it!

Now there IS the profitable use of
autoblogging that's Evergreen!

Marlon

That's what I've been saying all along, it's not some BIG algo change, it's simply people narking on other sites (WSJ, search engine land, etc...), then getting a human review. Just like the new Google Chrome nark plugin.

People want to believe so bad that Google is so advanced.

It's software reading text, big deal!

[rmoore]

Originally Posted by yukon

That's what I've been saying all along, it's not some BIG algo change, it's simply people narking on other sites (WSJ, search engine land, etc...), then getting a human review. Just like the new Google Chrome nark plugin.

People want to believe so bad that Google is so advanced.

It's software reading text, big deal!

Yeah...you are probably right to a certain extent. I guess we will see over the next few months.

-Rusty

[Sylonious]

You mentioned earlier that you use WP Syndicator to syndicate your posts. Do you think that was the cause of your site getting penalized?

[hackmypad]

very interesting discussion...After reding this thread i now worry about my autoblog...

[Sylonious]

Hey, did you have these sites hosted on Godaddy?

[Naanajud567]

Not unless it could improvised and get ahead of Google's watching eyes, auto-blogging will soon be obsolete.

[Black Hat Cat]

Originally Posted by KristofferIM

This is why I've been advising people to stop with spammy methods and start providing REAL VALUE to the internet and to your customers.

Even if someone comes to your site and just clicks an ad or affiliate offer, they are still a customer. Be in the business of providing great information and you will do well.

This goes for the stuff that's on and off your site.

Why does being an autoblog have to mean you aren't providing "REAL VALUE"(whatever that means). It's just a bogus implication. The info is either worthwhile or it isn't. Great information doesn't stop being great if it's posted on an autoblog.

So 150-200 per day isn't bad for something I don't have to keep track of.

...but it does show you that Google is catching on in 2011.

No it doesn't, it shows you've had one autoblog lose it's rankings, while all your other autoblogs are doing just fine. Doesn't sound to me like Google has caught on to anything. Sites go up and down in the rankings all the time.

[guitarjosh]

I had several of my autoblogs hit 250 - 300 results (from average 15,000) within a day... and I'm talking about pages indexed.. not visits. For almost every one, they come right back up in a few weeks. It's been a couple months on some for me.. and there's still a couple that haven't made it back yet.. but I'm willing to bet they will. What many scraper haters don't get is when you have a hundred auto blogs, it makes little difference. There's always a new one "taking off" when one is taking a dive. I've determined that Google could give a crap less about my auto blogs. Quite conversely, they love to give me money.