The "It's Happening..." Syndrome
I was on another forum and came across a thread discussing a possible 'Google algo change'. The OP listed some recent strange behaviour with some of their sites, asking if anyone else had recent similar experiences.
The next post said something to the effect "yeah, I think one of my sites just dropped from Page 2 to Page 4, gotta be this change..."
And on and on.
Then I noticed the original post was like a year old, but the last posts were recent.
I realized two things. One is that given the vastness of the internet and the lack of certain knowledge about what goes on at Google, it's almost impossible to tell what factors caused what. Invariably, someone will experience something and see it as validation of something that may or may not be related at all. A Google algo change sounds good and is convenient, but often it's something totally unrelated. With so many variables, links coming & going, competitors moving up & down, etc., there isn't always any way to tell exactly what caused what.
Secondly, with so many websites and so many people attempting to market, rank, etc., there's almost always someone or something that 'fits' an explanation, creating a meaningless validation of something that may not be so.
"Yeah, it's happening to one of my sites too, that must be it!"
bfas
The next post said something to the effect "yeah, I think one of my sites just dropped from Page 2 to Page 4, gotta be this change..."
And on and on.
Then I noticed the original post was like a year old, but the last posts were recent.
I realized two things. One is that given the vastness of the internet and the lack of certain knowledge about what goes on at Google, it's almost impossible to tell what factors caused what. Invariably, someone will experience something and see it as validation of something that may or may not be related at all. A Google algo change sounds good and is convenient, but often it's something totally unrelated. With so many variables, links coming & going, competitors moving up & down, etc., there isn't always any way to tell exactly what caused what.
Secondly, with so many websites and so many people attempting to market, rank, etc., there's almost always someone or something that 'fits' an explanation, creating a meaningless validation of something that may not be so.
"Yeah, it's happening to one of my sites too, that must be it!"
bfas
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