Google rankings - I'd laugh but it's too painful - Explain this if you can!
- SEO |
A lot is happening right now with google rankings and it's various panda releases in the last few weeks.
Their stated aim is to improve the quality of the search results. (Their unstated aim is to make more PPC income).
Anyway, can anyone explain this or tell me it's not just me that thinks google has gone psychotic:
One of our authority sites has been around for more than ten years. For at least 5 years or more we have had one of our main two word keyword phrases always sitting on page one of google.
It is a nice site, hundreds of pages of unique content. It is not an exact match domain. NO spammy links have ever been built for the site. It has never been part of any blog network etc...
The last few days this traffic has reduced by half as we are no longer on page 1. We are now on page 2 at about position 15.
I am gutted about this. About half of the sites above us I recognise but there are now about 5 or 6 different sites ranking better than us that were never on the radar.
Believe it or not, one of these sites is one of ours which we have never done anything with. I mean this literally.
The new site of ours that is beating our authority site is an exact match domain, but it has zero content on it. All it has on it is the install page for drupal. It has had absolutely no links done on it and it literally has zero content apart from about 200 words of drupal gobbledy-gook.
So please can anyone tell me how google thinks that ranking a page higher with nothing on it (although an EMD) is better than ranking a well established non spammy site.
Basically, I am now completely at a loss about SEO. All of the old basic "rules" don't even seem to apply anymore.
Does anyone have any shred of a clue about what is going through google's mind and how we can get some common sense ranking happening here.
(I will of course be adding some content to our new EMD wonder site, but that isn't the point).
What is happening is actually quite sad and it makes no sense to read about good businesses and websites being affected so dramatically and so ruthlessly with no come-backs.
Spare me the "it's google's site they can do anything they want" lecture.
Sam
Their stated aim is to improve the quality of the search results. (Their unstated aim is to make more PPC income).
Anyway, can anyone explain this or tell me it's not just me that thinks google has gone psychotic:
One of our authority sites has been around for more than ten years. For at least 5 years or more we have had one of our main two word keyword phrases always sitting on page one of google.
It is a nice site, hundreds of pages of unique content. It is not an exact match domain. NO spammy links have ever been built for the site. It has never been part of any blog network etc...
The last few days this traffic has reduced by half as we are no longer on page 1. We are now on page 2 at about position 15.
I am gutted about this. About half of the sites above us I recognise but there are now about 5 or 6 different sites ranking better than us that were never on the radar.
Believe it or not, one of these sites is one of ours which we have never done anything with. I mean this literally.
The new site of ours that is beating our authority site is an exact match domain, but it has zero content on it. All it has on it is the install page for drupal. It has had absolutely no links done on it and it literally has zero content apart from about 200 words of drupal gobbledy-gook.
So please can anyone tell me how google thinks that ranking a page higher with nothing on it (although an EMD) is better than ranking a well established non spammy site.
Basically, I am now completely at a loss about SEO. All of the old basic "rules" don't even seem to apply anymore.
Does anyone have any shred of a clue about what is going through google's mind and how we can get some common sense ranking happening here.
(I will of course be adding some content to our new EMD wonder site, but that isn't the point).
What is happening is actually quite sad and it makes no sense to read about good businesses and websites being affected so dramatically and so ruthlessly with no come-backs.
Spare me the "it's google's site they can do anything they want" lecture.
Sam
Get Page 1 Rankings With ZERO Work
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Robert A. Heinlein