39 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
39 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Ranking Increased! Here's what I did!

by SEO Haven
31 replies
  • SEO
    • |
It's true, after one of my EMD's page 1 rankings plummeted on 28th of September (to #239), it popped back on to 2nd page yesterday and back on 1 today (1 spot lower).

Want to know what I did?

Nothing. That's what.

Most people tend to freak out after every new Google update and alter their strategies and SEO efforts immediately to try and get back their lost rankings (usually in a big way).

You know what stands out? Someone who drastically changes what they've been doing for ages.

Sure, sometimes you need to adjust your linkbuilding methods, on-page SEO and so forth, I agree with that. But what I'm saying is that HUGE changes are hardly EVER necessary if you've been doing SEO properly since the beginning.

If your site got hit, wait it out for another week or two and see what happens. Maybe it pops back. If it doesn't, ONLY THEN do you start making SMALL adjustments to your SEO methods.

Write down what you do and keep track of how whatever you do or don't do influence your rankings. Minimize the usage of automation tools after and during an update.
#increased #ranking
  • Profile picture of the author TotalWebsiteControl
    I'm loving this post. Hit the nail on the head
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7095872].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author boxoun
    Since most amateur niche marketer based their sites on emds and shady link building, telling them to do nothing is the worse advice possible.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7095978].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Becker13
      Banned
      Originally Posted by boxoun View Post

      Since most amateur niche marketer based their sites on emds and shady link building, telling them to do nothing is the worse advice possible.
      Yep

      A Google dance is not exactly signs of doing anything right or wrong
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7097896].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Paperchasing
      Originally Posted by boxoun View Post

      Since most amateur niche marketer based their sites on emds and shady link building, telling them to do nothing is the worse advice possible.
      It's not really about that, though. It's more about not overreacting to a change without understanding. There's always an initial fallout and then an adjustment period after major algo changes. It's important not to overreact, especially when many variables are involved.

      People in the IM space tend to be really good at copy/pasting instruction lists and really bad at actual testing.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7106790].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by boxoun View Post

      Since most amateur niche marketer based their sites on emds and shady link building, telling them to do nothing is the worse advice possible.
      and we don't even know if the algo had anything to do with the "dance" the OP had. Its kind of crazy to think that google goes to all the trouble of updating the algo to go after marketers and what they consider spammy sites just to umm ah shucks lets let them rank again in a few weeks. Now every update there is some shuffling but once thats done you are dreaming to think its just going to correct itself by doing nothing. Once you really are hit you are hit.

      this is fantasy land but it will get tons of thanks and credit because people want to believe that its going to all be alright doing the same old same old even when it isn't going to help for ton loads of sites. Plus it sure helps a first page SEO seller to calm down the screaming customers and keep them on for a few weeks more.
      Signature

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7107592].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author SEO Haven
        Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

        and we don't even know if the algo had anything to do with the "dance" the OP had. Its kind of crazy to think that google goes to all the trouble of updating the algo to go after marketers and what they consider spammy sites just to umm ah shucks lets let them rank again in a few weeks. Now every update there is some shuffling but once thats done you are dreaming to think its just going to correct itself by doing nothing. Once you really are hit you are hit.

        this is fantasy land but it will get tons of thanks and credit because people want to believe that its going to all be alright doing the same old same old even when it isn't going to help for ton loads of sites. Plus it sure helps a first page SEO seller to calm down the screaming customers and keep them on for a few weeks more.
        Of course a majority of EMD's were hit, and so far very few techniques seem to have much of an effect. I don't need to calm anyone. All I'm saying is that SOMETIMES doing nothing is not a bad thing, at least for the first few weeks as the update rolls out (you gather info, etc).

        SEO is ever-changing, that's what makes it so beautiful. It's a challenge, one we all like winning.
        Signature
        All-In-One SEO & Marketing Service
        If you want the upper hand over your competitors, here's your chance.
        SEO, SMM, Google Local Optimization & Professional Internet Marketing done-for-you.
        Never worry about Traffic & Lead Generation again! Click Here for more info.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7107853].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Capbell
          Originally Posted by SEO Haven View Post

          Of course a majority of EMD's were hit, and so far very few techniques seem to have much of an effect. I don't need to calm anyone. All I'm saying is that SOMETIMES doing nothing is not a bad thing, at least for the first few weeks as the update rolls out (you gather info, etc).

          SEO is ever-changing, that's what makes it so beautiful. It's a challenge, one we all like winning.
          Yes. People must do nothing... or they can "BEAT Google's EMD with Relevant, High-PR Homepage Links!"

          (It makes sense, doesn't it?).


          How do you guys sleep at night? Christ
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7110386].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author SEO Haven
            Originally Posted by Capbell View Post

            Yes. People must do nothing... or they can "BEAT Google's EMD with Relevant, High-PR Homepage Links!"

            (It makes sense, doesn't it?).


            How do you guys sleep at night? Christ
            Very well thanks, probably because of that new pillow of mine that's made from the skin of cute little baby animals. Go troll someone else.
            Signature
            All-In-One SEO & Marketing Service
            If you want the upper hand over your competitors, here's your chance.
            SEO, SMM, Google Local Optimization & Professional Internet Marketing done-for-you.
            Never worry about Traffic & Lead Generation again! Click Here for more info.
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7112390].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
              Originally Posted by SEO Haven View Post

              Very well thanks, probably because of that new pillow of mine that's made from the skin of cute little baby animals. Go troll someone else.
              Sorry but though he is new he raises a valid point. He is most definitely not trolling. You start a thread about recovering from theEMD update and have a claimed solution to EMDs in your sig so its fair game. Your whole premise is wrong. If people are hit by this EMD update the changes they have to make are fairly large not small. We have no idea of the site you claimed has been recovered was even truly hit by that update.
              Signature

              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7112493].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author TotalWebsiteControl
            Originally Posted by Capbell View Post

            Yes. People must do nothing... or they can "BEAT Google's EMD with Relevant, High-PR Homepage Links!"

            (It makes sense, doesn't it?).


            How do you guys sleep at night? Christ
            Says the kid with 19 posts and joined a few days ago lol

            Christ
            Signature
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7112400].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author GodMode52
    Signature

    Want Google Page ONE Rankings? [YES] [NO]

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7096018].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jackiej21
    Thats really encouraging - hoping my best sites make it back to page 1 - thanks for letting all of us know
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7096140].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author SEO Haven
      Originally Posted by jackiej21 View Post

      Thats really encouraging - hoping my best sites make it back to page 1 - thanks for letting all of us know
      Not ALL of them will recover, but Google targeted some EMDs with good original content together with the poor quality ones. I'm sure as the update rolls out over the next week (or however long it takes) Google will correct incorrectly penalized sites. They're only human, well, part-human anyway.
      Signature
      All-In-One SEO & Marketing Service
      If you want the upper hand over your competitors, here's your chance.
      SEO, SMM, Google Local Optimization & Professional Internet Marketing done-for-you.
      Never worry about Traffic & Lead Generation again! Click Here for more info.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7096548].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author CletusVanDamme
        I haven't touched any of my sites yet and none of them have recovered - I'm going to wait it out though to see what happens... I also find it strange that on one of my blog sites new posts still get indexed rather quickly even though the entire site is penalized...
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7097562].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author surfinking21
          Originally Posted by CletusVanDamme View Post

          I haven't touched any of my sites yet and none of them have recovered - I'm going to wait it out though to see what happens... I also find it strange that on one of my blog sites new posts still get indexed rather quickly even though the entire site is penalized...
          Yeah I feel like blogs are going to be getting much more attention than before.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7098116].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jamesnixon487
    Good and valuable information. After penguin update Google not encourages the site getting back links from irrelevant sites.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7097760].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author andrej
    Glad to hear this. You are a lucky man. I hope if only one of my sites that has been gone with this update could recover.
    Signature
    Custom WordPress Themes
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7098042].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author fanta81
    Wow. Glad to hear that. I hope my blog get its lost traffic soon.
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7098195].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Dan R
    Glad to hear...thanks for the pick me up
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7098627].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author BlueGig
    You should still never stop marketing your business though. Google is very complex in what it takes into consideration for ranking. No drastic action is ever required, its gradual important marketing that works well and if done right reeps rewards.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7098769].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jerrywhyte
    Well said and direct, maybe desperate IMers need to adjust their linkbuilding strategy
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7098778].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JoshuaG
    That's a unique perspective but it makes sense. I'm not planning on making any changes to my sites (2 were hit in the update) until things "settle down" and there is a clear trend. Over-reacting without having a large enough data set is silly.
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7098841].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author SEO Haven
      Originally Posted by JoshuaG View Post

      That's a unique perspective but it makes sense. I'm not planning on making any changes to my sites (2 were hit in the update) until things "settle down" and there is a clear trend. Over-reacting without having a large enough data set is silly.
      Make no mistake, I have other sites that were hit and shows no signs of coming back anytime soon, but I doubt large changes would be needed.

      We're busy with a lot of split testing on these sites that were hit and so far it seems only minor adjustment to the text and meta tags need to be made.

      One thing some of them have in common is very obviously trying to rank for a particular keyword (the one in EMD name). Although, we've noticed that even some URLs with "inurl:keyword" got hit that is somewhat unrelated to the EMD. Soo....

      Back to testing, so far so good, but no solid results as to what works flawlessly. Guess we'll have to wait for this one (update) to settle down a bit before posting something that will work for the majority.

      As for the other post I saw above somewhere, yeah, "nothing" might not be the best advice for a lot of people out there, but being too impatient and drastically changing your strategies without truly knowing 100% what the hell's going on isn't either.
      Signature
      All-In-One SEO & Marketing Service
      If you want the upper hand over your competitors, here's your chance.
      SEO, SMM, Google Local Optimization & Professional Internet Marketing done-for-you.
      Never worry about Traffic & Lead Generation again! Click Here for more info.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7102463].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author blend
    Originally Posted by SEO Haven View Post

    It's true, after one of my EMD's page 1 rankings plummeted on 28th of September (to #239), it popped back on to 2nd page yesterday and back on 1 today (1 spot lower).

    Want to know what I did?

    Nothing. That's what.

    Most people tend to freak out after every new Google update and alter their strategies and SEO efforts immediately to try and get back their lost rankings (usually in a big way).

    You know what stands out? Someone who drastically changes what they've been doing for ages.

    Sure, sometimes you need to adjust your linkbuilding methods, on-page SEO and so forth, I agree with that. But what I'm saying is that HUGE changes are hardly EVER necessary if you've been doing SEO properly since the beginning.

    If your site got hit, wait it out for another week or two and see what happens. Maybe it pops back. If it doesn't, ONLY THEN do you start making SMALL adjustments to your SEO methods.

    Write down what you do and keep track of how whatever you do or don't do influence your rankings. Minimize the usage of automation tools after and during an update.
    That's the first time ive heard of this???

    Theres reason why these sites got hit and other EMD didn't. I think adjustments need to be made on these sites as Google are clamping down on the sites that target that target a speciific keyword, in the domain, anchor text and in the content.

    The only way to prove this is to post your domain really isn't it eh???

    Ive made changes and I'll shall see what happens???
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7099370].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author gearmonkey
    Nice to read some positivity on this forum for a change.
    Signature

    My Guitar Website | My SEO Blog - Advertising spots available.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7099388].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Nelapsi
    I won't go so far to say "nothing" is the right answer for everyone but Google does have a track record of hitting hard on the first run of an update and then backing off a bit as response/information is gathered. It should serve as a warning though that you are on the cusp of what Google is looking at to target for less then desirable sites perhaps if you recovered by doing nothing at all. If it was me, I would probably clean up old content and add some new fresh content just to get off that edge.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7099413].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kilobytestechnologies
    nice to hear from you that you got your top position back..
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7102930].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ettienne
    I'm still seeing a lot of instability in the rankings. We're analyzing multiple client sites' behaviors and doing some testing at the moment. Will report back as soon as I have anything solid. So far homepage links seem to have the most influence, as well as strong social signals (nothing new, really)
    Signature

    ... or just jump in and get a 14-day Free Link Building trial
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7106587].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author GobBluthJD
    Exactly. What I've been saying through the past 2 Google updates too! Thanks for the post
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7106974].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author deezn
    It's kind of weird. I have an EMD that I've left for dead (not really, it still pulls me in clients for long tail keywords, the EMD keyword though is ranked like 100+).

    On 9/25 for its EMD it dropped from 100 - 200. Huge drop. It's been recovering since, but only to it's previously punished levels. I haven't touched a thing, it was already punished by Panda 1.5 or so.

    What does that tell you? That we know nothing! My keyword started recovering the day the update supposedly went out. Maybe I was on the beta test. This site has over 150 pages of good, unique content on it.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7114158].message }}

Trending Topics