Took a Hit :(

by 47 replies
54
#search engine optimization #hit
  • I noticed all my sites have lost page 1 rankings and have dropped to page 2 and beyond. All are Adsense sites with a variety of backlinks. I don't know if this is just temporary or what, but they had been doing well in the last few months after they got hit in October. But now dropped again.
  • Google made a big change to their algorithm:

    Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Page layout algorithm improvement

    Here's an article from Search Engine Land:

    Pages With Too Many Ads "Above The Fold" Now Penalized By Google's "Page Layout" Algorithm

    Suzanne
    • [1] reply
    • But I've noticed all others that don't even have ads on top got hit and one of my offline clients site got hit as well even though they have no sort of advertising on their site and the whole content is all above the fold. There is has to be more to this than just the content layout.
  • One website of mine got hit a week ago. A well established website, registered since 2004.

    I lost all rankings and about 10 $ per day. No idea why.
    • [1] reply
    • Banned


      If that was the case, looks like EZA will be in for a major smack down soon, in the SERPs.

      I see 7 Adsense Ads + 2 Chitika Ads (per page). I know EZA is a premium Adsense publisher. Just saying...

      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I've been noticing that alot of the exact match domains and those that were set up for Adsense have been hit pretty hard. I checked a few of my sites that had an EMD and was ranking on first page and all of them have dropped anywhere from page 2 to page 6. Also other competitors that were ranking right below or a few spots under me got hit as well. So I think it has to do more than just page layout since these other sites have different layouts and got hit as well. By the way I have just 1 Adsense block under the title and then the unique content below that.
  • It's more where ads were prominently above the fold, with little to no content "above the fold."

    Suzanne
  • This could be the reason of what happened yesterday. I'm using CTR theme too which could be a problem. I'm not using anything above the fold though hmm..
  • So themes like Clickbump and CTR are getting the hit since those use ad blocks above the content? The sites that I use Clickbump theme on all got hit overnight. Everything went from page 1 to page 2-6. I don't know if it's just the theme layout that is causing this or what? I think my backlink scheme was OK since after the last hit in October I was doing diverse backlinks and the sites all climbed back to page 1 rankings and then last night all of them got hit hard again.

    So I wonder if removing the adsense from under the titles would help the sites come back or not?

    Anyone using the Clickbump theme and got hit as well?
    • [1] reply
    • Got hit as well and I'm using the latest Clickbump theme.

      But I've just built a couple of high PR homepage backlinks to the two sites that took a hard hit so it could be because of the link building activity. I've noticed ranking drops every time new inbound links are built for a site before they bounce back to claim higher SERP rankings, so this could be it.

      I think I'll have to ride this for a few days and see how this develops. I'm set to add additional quality pages on the sites that were hit in the next couple of days, so we'll see what happens in the coming weeks.

      Maybe we'll just have to hold tight to our seats on this and keep doing what we've been doing in the past to make our sites really valuable to web users.
      • [1] reply
  • Hmm I went from #5 to #3 .... #12 to #8 and #13 to #9 for my main targeted keywords...I guess clearing up the spammy adsense sites does leave an opening for quality sites to rank higher afterall...

    It will only continue and MFA will be totaly demolished in the next year or so. Just my prediction...

    Sincerely, Buyseech
    • [1] reply
    • Look for 'Google Adsense Best Practices.' Check out their new heat map. I'd probably move that ad unit lower on the page.

      I used to have 3 Adsense ads before I read the best practice post. I removed all but one an my revenue went up. It's how Google wants things now.
      • [1] reply
    • [1] reply
    • I don't think your ad placement is an issue. The content is accessible above the fold.

      It doesn't seem like the change from Google on ads is your issue.

      Did you lose all your rankings of just some?
  • Hi guys

    i have lost a lot of rank on some of my sites too, and a few of them dont have hardly any adverts on them, so its all a bit baffling.

    i dont see any problem with teh first site on here either the smartpet site as you only have one ad on there, so I dont see how this could be affecting you.

    Ste
  • Maybe luther why dont u put the ads on teh right rather than in ur posts ?

    Ste
    • [1] reply
    • my sites improved as well for all the keywords.. but i have niche sites with a lot of content.. maybe this is the end for MFA sites as we know it?
    • [1] reply
    • I can't believe some of the nonsense.

      Just because you took a hit, in no way means
      it's google's new or old algorithm.

      If people would just read for themselves, instead
      of going ga-ga, they may actually get the real story.

      But still, we hear people screaming now, OH! I had ads above the fold!
      I am doomed! Crazy. No, not crazy. Silly.

      New? It's always been against adense TOS to have zero content above
      the fold. I've been telling people that for a long time.

      But there's no way the lot of you suddenly took a hit because of
      any new algo.

      But it does make a good story, and since one cannot believe that
      search results are dynamic, well,...

      We also ignore the fact that this will not affect more than 99%
      of searches. Yes, over 99% of searches will not be affected.

      So that means all of you are in the <1% ? At least we know
      where those people hang out.

      Paul
      • [1] reply
  • Hi there

    When they say above the fold what do they mean ?

    I agree paul people could be overeacting, but when u take a hit its hard not to panic a bit lol

    Ste
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      Above the fold means everything that's on a monitor when the page is first loaded, without moving the browser scroll bar.

      Everyone doesn't run the same size monitor (screen resolution) so it's another shot in the dark trying to figure out which resolution is the ideal size.

      True, no need for anyone to panic or assume a SERP drop is caused by this (above the fold).
      • [1] reply
  • Hi there

    True FBI guy but I think what paul was saying is it likely to be something else, unless your really putting adverts on pages where you shouldnt be.

    As it looks like generally if you use your common sense with adsense ads your really going to be ok.

    Ste
    • [1] reply
    • My site decreases 10% of its search traffic. I don't know what happened though. All my keywords dropped its rankings.
  • I was ranking above the Google places results prior to yesterday and since I have dropped just below them. I think that this is just a temporary move and will eventually be right back where it started since I have about 4,000 more backlinks than the competition.
  • Something weird that I just noticed is that when I do my searches on my mobile device my rankings are still there, but when I do it on my desktop my sites have really taken a dive. Usually it's the same results whether I search on my mobile device or desktop. What can be causing this?
    • [1] reply
    • Log out of Google, or use a diff browser, then put "gl=us" in the url after the search and hit go.

      The results will be pure us based serps.
      WJ
  • I have maintained the same rankings. I even have a few emd's and everything is still good.
  • For those of you who took a hit... i hope this will be some kind of consolation https://twitter.com/#!/FattGutts/sta...12290247028736
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Banned
      That's hilarious Fatt Gutts.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Lost a bit of traffic as well with this algo update...
  • I'm not making much at all via adsense, about $1 a day, but until last summer it took me about 18 months to make even 100, so I guess that's some improvement. I've got one advert at the top and am going to see if I make more by having it at the top of the page, top of the post or on the right.
  • Do any of you use the 100K Adsense Blueprint theme? I just startedwith it so I can't say anything has taken a hit since I am not ranking for anything yet anyway. However, it appears to me that there is zero content above the fold on their most recent theme. I am just curious as I would hate to put in dozens, if not hundreds of more hours trying to promote a site that will never rank becuase of the ad placement. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
  • I've dropped on some keywords too. Not exactly sure why though. All part of the SEO game I guess?
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