I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help!

baconman · 10-13-2011, 10:15 AM

I have 10 different sites on one hosting plan and I think I might have got them penalized. I would appreciate any help I can get on this.

I am doing local search and lets say I have domain cityword.com that ranks for "city keyword". I do not live in that city, but when I check my rank tracker and even when I google it, I see the result as #1. When I go to change the geo location of the search and see what the people in the actual city see, my keyword drops to about 4-5. Has anybody experienced this? My sites took a hit and its making me sick on the inside. I really would need somebody helps. I cleared the cache and cookies, checked my friends computers, and even checked on scroogle. I need to know what is going on. Please please please help if you can! Thank you!

kindsvater · 10-13-2011, 10:22 AM

I've never heard of a 3 position "penalty" by Google. If you were penalized you would be off the first page.

As far as "help" - the best thing you can do is to keep getting backlinks so your position is maximized no matter where someone is searching from.

.

yukon · 10-13-2011, 10:27 AM

If a 3-position drop in the SERPs makes you sick, I would advise you to stop trying to get traffic from the SERPs ASAP.

SERPs are not static.

baconman · 10-13-2011, 10:32 AM

Yes, I know 3 spots isn't really a penalty. But when it happens to all of my sites in one day, then something is up. Especially when its local and its only happening in the city that I am targetting.

MikeFriedman · 10-13-2011, 10:44 AM

Are you sure you were actually ranked #1 and are not just seeing personalized results?

baconman · 10-13-2011, 10:46 AM

yup, still seeing #1 in scroogle, and when i am not geo targetting the city.

MikeFriedman · 10-13-2011, 10:51 AM

Ok, let me make sure I understand you.

Let's say the city is Omaha and your keyword is "green jello".

Under normal conditions if you search "Omaha green jello" you are seeing the site #1?

However, if you change your location to Omaha and then search "green jello" you are seeing the site #4 or #5?

Is that what you are saying?

baconman · 10-13-2011, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeFriedman

Ok, let me make sure I understand you.

Let's say the city is Omaha and your keyword is "green jello".

Under normal conditions if you search "Omaha green jello" you are seeing the site #1?

However, if you change your location to Omaha and then search "green jello" you are seeing the site #4 or #5?

Is that what you are saying?

Yes, that is 100% correct and what I am seeing. Pretty much for any city besides Omaha, and my rank tracker, scroogle, and friends computers will see the keyword at the top. Thats why its so weird.

MikeFriedman · 10-13-2011, 11:07 AM

Well, no matter what town you are searching from, "Omaha green jello" and "green jello" are two different keywords. Changing you location to Omaha, doesn't mean Goolge is going to fill in the town for you automatically when you do a search.

baconman · 10-13-2011, 11:17 AM

I mean like when I searched "omaha green jello" with not changes to google and google understanding that i am in miami then my result will be at the top. When I change the search location on the left hand column on google to Omaha seeing what people in omaha see then I drop down in rankings.

Edit: Not sure if I explained it very well. I live in Miami, and I type in Omaha Green Jello then my site will be #1. If I used the location change option within Google and changed myself to Omaha and then typed in Omaha Green Jello my site will have dropped down in the rankings. If I change it to new york, boston, orlando or anywhere else besides Omaha, my site will still be #1.

baconman · 10-14-2011, 08:28 AM

anybody have any idea?

TheFBGuy · 10-14-2011, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baconman

anybody have any idea?

http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...ogle-serp.html

Melvolio · 10-14-2011, 12:55 PM

Well, nobody really knows. The algorithm ain't talkin'.

Your best bet is to stop fussing about the details and keep improving your site, keep creating great links to your site and expand.

Expending all that energy getting sick to your stomach could be better spent.

mkl3377 · 10-14-2011, 03:29 PM

As I understand it, depending on where you live in the world google will grab data from different data centers based on where you live. Because you changed locations, google probably retrieved different info from different data centers.

This is very normal. Just because you see it at #1 doesnt me the rest of the world will see it at #1. And also depending on the tool you use to search google the ranking will differ too because the tools are searching from different locations in the world even though they are all retrieving google data. Like if I use Mkt Samurai and rank tracker they will each return different results.

Also there are very likely other aspects of the google algo where google considers the other site more relevant for people that search from that specific city and google consideres your site most relevant for people that search from your city. What are those other considerations? only google knows.

So your sites are behaving accordingly. if you had been hit with a penalty you would have seen a change accross the board and not just geographically.

hope this helps

fastlancer · 10-14-2011, 06:18 PM

It might be worth a shot - switching up hosting and resubmit

InitialEffort · 10-14-2011, 07:45 PM

Well IMO here is what is going on. There was a new Google update today. Also last week there was on page SEO penalty enforced for sites that had similar onpage, duplicate onpage, or empty onpage content.

So if you have a page like Minnesota Accountant and Wisconsin Accountant on the same site and the only words that were different on the page were Minnesota and Wisconsin the site got a penalty. Also affected a lot of ecommerce websites.

10-13-2011, 10:22 AM	#2
kindsvater Senior Warrior Attorney War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Jedi Temple Posts: 3,126 Blog Entries: 39 Thanks: 76 Thanked 2,616 Times in 756 Posts	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! I've never heard of a 3 position "penalty" by Google. If you were penalized you would be off the first page. As far as "help" - the best thing you can do is to keep getting backlinks so your position is maximized no matter where someone is searching from. .
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10-13-2011, 10:27 AM	#3
yukon SEO Strategist War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 6,533 Thanks: 355 Thanked 1,993 Times in 1,274 Posts	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! If a 3-position drop in the SERPs makes you sick, I would advise you to stop trying to get traffic from the SERPs ASAP. SERPs are not static.
	- SEO Strategist -

10-13-2011, 10:44 AM	#5
MikeFriedman Don't Drink and SEO War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: York, PA Posts: 2,009 Thanks: 207 Thanked 551 Times in 393 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! Are you sure you were actually ranked #1 and are not just seeing personalized results?
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10-13-2011, 10:46 AM	#6
baconman Active Warrior Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 87 Thanks: 14 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! yup, still seeing #1 in scroogle, and when i am not geo targetting the city.

10-13-2011, 10:51 AM	#7
MikeFriedman Don't Drink and SEO War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: York, PA Posts: 2,009 Thanks: 207 Thanked 551 Times in 393 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! Ok, let me make sure I understand you. Let's say the city is Omaha and your keyword is "green jello". Under normal conditions if you search "Omaha green jello" you are seeing the site #1? However, if you change your location to Omaha and then search "green jello" you are seeing the site #4 or #5? Is that what you are saying?
	Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. --Benjamin Franklin HMA VPN - Cheaper than proxies. Access to over 17,000 IP addresses.

10-13-2011, 10:15 AM	#1
baconman Active Warrior Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 87 Thanks: 14 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! I have 10 different sites on one hosting plan and I think I might have got them penalized. I would appreciate any help I can get on this. I am doing local search and lets say I have domain cityword.com that ranks for "city keyword". I do not live in that city, but when I check my rank tracker and even when I google it, I see the result as #1. When I go to change the geo location of the search and see what the people in the actual city see, my keyword drops to about 4-5. Has anybody experienced this? My sites took a hit and its making me sick on the inside. I really would need somebody helps. I cleared the cache and cookies, checked my friends computers, and even checked on scroogle. I need to know what is going on. Please please please help if you can! Thank you!

10-13-2011, 10:32 AM	#4
baconman Active Warrior Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 87 Thanks: 14 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! Yes, I know 3 spots isn't really a penalty. But when it happens to all of my sites in one day, then something is up. Especially when its local and its only happening in the city that I am targetting.

10-13-2011, 11:07 AM	#9
MikeFriedman Don't Drink and SEO War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: York, PA Posts: 2,009 Thanks: 207 Thanked 551 Times in 393 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! Well, no matter what town you are searching from, "Omaha green jello" and "green jello" are two different keywords. Changing you location to Omaha, doesn't mean Goolge is going to fill in the town for you automatically when you do a search.
	Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. --Benjamin Franklin HMA VPN - Cheaper than proxies. Access to over 17,000 IP addresses.

10-13-2011, 11:17 AM	#10
baconman Active Warrior Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 87 Thanks: 14 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! I mean like when I searched "omaha green jello" with not changes to google and google understanding that i am in miami then my result will be at the top. When I change the search location on the left hand column on google to Omaha seeing what people in omaha see then I drop down in rankings. Edit: Not sure if I explained it very well. I live in Miami, and I type in Omaha Green Jello then my site will be #1. If I used the location change option within Google and changed myself to Omaha and then typed in Omaha Green Jello my site will have dropped down in the rankings. If I change it to new york, boston, orlando or anywhere else besides Omaha, my site will still be #1.

10-14-2011, 08:28 AM	#11
baconman Active Warrior Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 87 Thanks: 14 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! anybody have any idea?

10-14-2011, 12:55 PM	#13
Melvolio Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: England Posts: 70 Thanks: 5 Thanked 8 Times in 8 Posts	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! Well, nobody really knows. The algorithm ain't talkin'. Your best bet is to stop fussing about the details and keep improving your site, keep creating great links to your site and expand. Expending all that energy getting sick to your stomach could be better spent.

10-14-2011, 03:29 PM	#14
mkl3377 HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: , , USA. Posts: 158 Thanks: 25 Thanked 29 Times in 24 Posts	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! As I understand it, depending on where you live in the world google will grab data from different data centers based on where you live. Because you changed locations, google probably retrieved different info from different data centers. This is very normal. Just because you see it at #1 doesnt me the rest of the world will see it at #1. And also depending on the tool you use to search google the ranking will differ too because the tools are searching from different locations in the world even though they are all retrieving google data. Like if I use Mkt Samurai and rank tracker they will each return different results. Also there are very likely other aspects of the google algo where google considers the other site more relevant for people that search from that specific city and google consideres your site most relevant for people that search from your city. What are those other considerations? only google knows. So your sites are behaving accordingly. if you had been hit with a penalty you would have seen a change accross the board and not just geographically. hope this helps
	Michael Lee

10-14-2011, 06:18 PM	#15
fastlancer Active Warrior Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 48 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! It might be worth a shot - switching up hosting and resubmit
	HowToMakeMoneyWithGoogle.com (for sale)

10-14-2011, 07:45 PM	#16
InitialEffort Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Minnesota Posts: 1,104 Thanks: 16 Thanked 117 Times in 87 Posts	Re: I'm getting sick to my stomach! I need help! Well IMO here is what is going on. There was a new Google update today. Also last week there was on page SEO penalty enforced for sites that had similar onpage, duplicate onpage, or empty onpage content. So if you have a page like Minnesota Accountant and Wisconsin Accountant on the same site and the only words that were different on the page were Minnesota and Wisconsin the site got a penalty. Also affected a lot of ecommerce websites.
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