SERP Wise: how bad is the panda penalty?

[Midir]

I'm trying to figure out if my site has been penalized by google. I've gone through the google dance a few times now with different sites. They all recovered around where they were, but I can't for the life of me figure out what this is.

I'm targeting a very easy keyword with an amazon review site (just 600 searchs, and I have an exact domain match, and proper on site SEO). I was ranking in the top 5 right after launch, but this was probably due to the new site honeymoon effect.

A few weeks after launch, as I've been adding content the site disappeared for every keyword I was ranking for. I was ranking in the top 10 for 3 of my goal keywords. I figured this was just the dance, since I was doing some light backlinking. The problem is that the site is on page 37 now, usually the homepage of my site would disappear completely from google during the dance.

I am a bit worried that I might have been hit a panda threshold. I have 25 products each on its own post, with on average 3-6 poducts per category page. Most posts are around the 300 word range, and contain just one cloaked (redirect), nofollow amazon link.

I've since been going back and adding about 200-250 words, some h3 tags, and some styling. I have a few videos on order on fiverr probably going to embed them into the blogsection. I also no indexed the contact us and privacy policy pages, and removed one category page that just had one product.

I am a bit curious as to what SEO experts think this is, and of course any tips would be appreciated.

[mosthost]

"Panda" is BS. What you describe is common for new sites. Keep doing what you're doing and you should be okay.

[JerryMarketing]

Midir, I have a couple of affiliate site that was hit like yours. It was on the 1st page for 2 weeks, then 900+ for the next 2, and then 1st page again for the next 2 weeks before it finally settled on 900+ for the last 1 month.

I've only used BMR for backlinking.

Not sure what went wrong and would be interested to find out if anyone got any tips on getting the site ranked again.

Currently, i'm slanting towards moving all my content and start all over again.

[Midir]

I'm pretty sure it's not a backlinking problem. I've done no heavy backlinking other then some web 2.0 and some high quality non spam blog comments.

I'm going to try a few things to see if it improves, this month I'm going to keep adding high quality content, embed videos, etc. Also going to try and get some backlinks from video submission sites. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try and remove all the cloaked amazon links and see if it will bounce back.

I can't help but wonder if it is the cloaked links that might be getting the site in trouble, or maybe you just can't have any amazon referal links or something.

[mosthost]

Originally Posted by JerryMarketing

Midir, I have a couple of affiliate site that was hit like yours. It was on the 1st page for 2 weeks, then 900+ for the next 2, and then 1st page again for the next 2 weeks before it finally settled on 900+ for the last 1 month.

I've only used BMR for backlinking.

Not sure what went wrong and would be interested to find out if anyone got any tips on getting the site ranked again.

Currently, i'm slanting towards moving all my content and start all over again.

You've only used one source for backlinking. You just outlined our problem. When the 'BMR posts' start out, they're on the home page. The next time Google updates them, they've been put into an archive. They lose effect over time. The only solution is to continue to add more and more links.

[JerryMarketing]

Sorry typo, i used BMR primarily only during the latter part of backlinking (started around november 2011)

Before that, the site has a wide range of links from linkwheels, comment postings, AMR submission and some article submissions as well.

Just to provide more info, the keywords targeted were product name, product name+review type of keywords.

What saddens me was, Google took a few of the better quality website that has been around for some time (my domain was 7 years old!) and replaced it with a couple of new sites that have less than 5 indexed page.

[JerryMarketing]

Originally Posted by mosthost

You've only used one source for backlinking. You just outlined our problem. When the 'BMR posts' start out, they're on the home page. The next time Google updates them, they've been put into an archive. They lose effect over time. The only solution is to continue to add more and more links.

I understand that BMR posts fall off the homepage after a few day. But it's highly unlikely that it will go from top 3 to 900+ for an aged domain.

[Midir]

Yeah, I'm fairly certain that this does not have anything to do with backlinks, but an actual content problem.

It might be a new site problem, but if Jerry has an aged domain and what sounds like a similar problem... It really makes me wonder if it is a content problem. I guess it's going to be a matter of adding more high quality content and hoping it recovers....

Actually, I've been reading that sites recover quicker if they just delete all the low quality content. It makes me wonder if I just pull all my products for a few weeks, and when the site recovers see about changing url for each product, adding a bit more content to them, and then readding it one by one.

[dcristo]

Originally Posted by mosthost

"Panda" is BS.

This is a very ill-informed comment. The Panda algo is real and one of the biggest changes that has impacted SEO in years.

[JerryMarketing]

I actually have 2 of my affiliate sites (with quality content) being sent to the deep ends (500+ ranking). Before that, they were ranking for on the 1st page for most targeted keywords.

Oddly, it still ranks for 1 or 2 less competitive keywords (product name + scam) on Google.

[CedricZenShopping]

Originally Posted by JerryMarketing

I actually have 2 of my affiliate sites (with quality content) being sent to the deep ends (500+ ranking). Before that, they were ranking for on the 1st page for most targeted keywords.

Oddly, it still ranks for 1 or 2 less competitive keywords (product name + scam) on Google.

I am having the same issue with my affiliate website. It suddently went deep down on my main keywords. I don't know how long it will take to recover...

[JerryMarketing]

Just an update: One of the affiliate site that was sent to the deep ends have recovered after 2 months.

Rankings are about the same as they were before being penalize.

[OmarNegron]

Hey Jerry! Good to hear. Glad you have your site back to where it was before.

I've seen this happen to some of my sites and a friends. Sometimes they do some crazy things (usually when they are 6 months or younger).

-Omar

[JerryMarketing]

The domain is about 2 years.

I highly suspect is was due to a bad AMR run which I tested (sending the links all to my money site). But i'm not sure.

Just glad it's back.

[biggcapp]

Wow, at least I'm not alone.

What I am finding out now is that some sites are ranking for internal pages before the main site. For example, www.mainsite.com has been pushed to page 800 or 900 and www.mainsite/randompost.com is ranking randomly on page 3.

All of my backlinks have either been built manually or from Tier 2 sites. Some of my Tier 2 sites have been blasted to hell by scrapebox and xrumer but my money sites have been heavily protected.

I observed some of this last year, but always bounced back. I have been not ranking for about 2.5 months now. Wondering if I should give up on the site or continue to add more content. All the content is 100% unique, non spun work.

I will subscribe to this thread....Midir please keep us updated on the status of your sites.

-Capp

[RayW]

Originally Posted by JerryMarketing

The domain is about 2 years.

I highly suspect is was due to a bad AMR run which I tested (sending the links all to my money site). But i'm not sure.

Just glad it's back.

No it had nothing to do with AMR. What happened to your site is what we call a "Google Dance". It happens often with new sites.

[cagliostro]

Well strange things happen the last weeks in Google serps.

My website is GONE from their index as "www" but exists (and gets traffic from google) as "domain.com" (without the www that is).

[JerryMarketing]

Originally Posted by RayW

No it had nothing to do with AMR. What happened to your site is what we call a "Google Dance". It happens often with new sites.

It is definitely not Google dance. My ranking goes from top 5 to 900+, stay there for 2 months and come back up to top 5 again.

A dance usually goes from page 1 to page 2 to page 1 to page 3 etc, but never from page 1 to 100.

I highly suspect it's a time penalty imposed by Google (sandbox). What's weird is that it only affect specific keywords for a specific page. I can still rank the same keyword but on another page during the time penalty.