Anyone else's sites dropping in rank lately?

It's the laws of physics. For each site that drops, there is a corresponding one that rises.
But those people must post on the other forum.

Paul

sigh.. mine of all gone up over the past 6 months until now, never seen this before. The worst part is the site i had ranked first not even showing anymore. My earnings have been cut by over 60% because of all of this. I thought it might go away after a day or so but now it seems like it's official. What a joke.

Straight up reciprocal exchanges or three/four way links? I never had much luck with either.


Hey mooble, sorry to here that. Article marketing is definitely headed in a downward spiral. I saw an interview with Matt Cutts saying that the web spam team of G are trying to tweak the way links are evaluated to disregard spun article links. I'm sure those that depend solely on article marketing are going to be hurting over the next year. Add some more mix to your links.

I've also had my best month ever last month. And now the sites are taking a dive too... all of them.

Really? I had at least a dozen or so... lost track out of 90 sites on page 1 or 2 and they all dropped overnight and now just bounce around in cyberspace... I check rank tracker once in a while and I'll see some finally coming back, as in I might get to page 5-6 and suddenly boom back to 100 something.

So either I am the only one or "yes" it can affect all of your sites.... and it ##!@!s

My sites have all dropped as well. It was sometime on Thursday night. I have 40+ niche sites and every one dropped in Google SERP's. My backlinking strategy is basically non-existent, so I realize that's where I need to start. They're all less than 1 year old, so I'm hoping that just putting some effort into backlinking will get them moving in the right direction.

Yup...same story here. This does not look good. I went from 2K impressions a day to 10!

I experience the Google dance or whatever it is as well.
Have some niche sites that were on page 1, then disappeared entirely and now back on page 1.
Other site that is not new at all, the keyword for it is dancing between pages 2-3 (and I try to get it to page 1...no success yet).

Will Google continue with this none sense for long?

Google really started to be a real mother f%$%^$#er!
First they just kick affiliates off adwords, now SEO? When it's free and according to their terms and algorithms? This is frustrating and to tell you the truth everytime I read some one is suing Google or it loses money I am a bit happier....sad we have come to this...

Why do these Amazon niche sites have to be 95% dependent on the Google tit? That is a MAJOR flaw in this business model. These sites may be going the way of the adsense templates. People were really abusing them and just cutting and pasting from Amazon. Honestly, a niche site should be created by someone with a passion for the item, who can add something of value that you can't find elsewhere. What if you worked for LG and designed TVs? Then you are in a position of authority and can write some articles and make suggestions. You get the idea. BTW, these sites are nothing new, people I know people were doing them with books since the late 90s. They would discuss the book and of course put an affiliate link. I also picked up some bad vibes on these sites from the Google webmaster forums.

Google mentions in their guidelines that some affiliate sites are ok if you add substantial value. What does that mean? Think pricegrabber. The collect prices from many merchants and they host their own product reviews. That is site I would return to over and over to check prices on items. Even sites like that don't rank in the top for products now.

Honestly, where else can you promote these niche sites? We have to think on those lines. No one on a social bookmarking site like Digg is going to care about your juicer review. Possibly Youtube, maybe if you make a demonstration with the actual item.

Google may be on to these sites. Like other posters mentioned, I also monitor many sites. There is too much data here to be a coincidence. Especially where some of these sites were placed. Google needs to take one quick look at the backlinks....and know if you are real or not.

The only light I see are some OLDER (1yr+) affiliate sites kept their rank. I've also noticed they have a backlink profile with other retail blogs/sites. There also may be a long cultivation period now before sites see any money. Even this is uncertain.

These sites are not good for Google. Not only do they take away a possible adwords click, but the big players who pay for adwords lose top 10 positions.