I'm loving it

my sites all climbed the rankings without me doing anything... a lot of the EMD sites that were above me have been slapped

What did they expect would happen, when you build a business that another company has control over, you're standing on quicksand and it's only a matter of time before things go bad.

The sooner webmasters realize that Google / SEO is only a small (and increasingly irrelevant) part of the success equation, the better.

Every year when Google publicly announces a new update another batch of bloggers, webmasters and marketers cry about how unfair Google is... the lesson yet again is that webmasters should be diversifying their marketing strategies instead of relying on any single method.

Until the next world-ending update,
Mick

Give it time cooler, the SERPs aren't done moving around. The update is just rolling out. People who's websites got slapped needed something to go after to try to seem justified, and that was the best they could reach for. Things will settle down and the results will be much better. Just wait and see.

On the petition, I'm all for activism, but really?

I think this petition will not get any results, because Google don't care about our websites, and with this Penguin update it decided to kill all the websites we care about for work.

It's sad but this is the actual situation, and I'm sure this penguin popped out just for IM'ers.

See you soon,
Alessandro

Bottom line: It's just a search engine and there will always be creative ways to get to the top.

The only problem I see now is there are A LOT of SEOs talking about G bowling other peoples sites now... and that isn't good.

My traffic has gone down a little bit not so much so that I'm concerned about it or anything. It usually dips a tad during the weekend anyway, so I'm not sure if it's due to an update or what. With the previous updates, my traffic has gone up, so I'll just have to wait and see.

Joey

Personally, going forward, I would pretty much ignore SEO all together. Imagine it doesn't exist, just write for users, get your traffic numbers up there and never worry about how Google decides to run their business ever again.

Aside from a little bit of basic on-page SEO to keep things organized, I'd put zero effort into trying to play Google's game anymore. I think one of the smartest things people can do for their online business is do whatever they have to do to generate their own traffic, their own community. Then you'll have the power and can use it to launch new sites, promote your own money sites, etc.

I wish those that got smacked hard by Google the best. I know it's rough if you've built up a dependance on that traffic.

I sort of got over google a while back, I get tons of traffic from them but I basically ignore just about everything they do mostly because I think they are a waste of my time and energy. I will check out the petition though

My sites are doing fine. SEO is a zero sum game. For every change there is a winner and loser*. So some want a petition. Others do not.

* Except for Google.

.

You should find alterior ways to make money online without Google. Best petition i can think of.

I have a client site that I lost half of it's traffic starting last December for no apparent reason. We didn't do any backlinking at all except for article submission sites and our authors linking to us. This week our traffic doubled and the site is rising in the rankings.

The lesson is to stop relying on Google for traffic. Work on other methods of getting traffic so you won't be so dependent on someone who can turn off the traffic spigot at any time.

Bonnie

I'm not complaining.

I was sick of seeing spammy sites ranking higher than mine which has 2+ years of careful content creation and patient link building.

I say, Let the Cheaters EAT THEIR HEARTS!

Has anyone noticed that we are only hearing from the Google losers and not the winners?

LOL

For every site that disappeared from Google's SERPs, another one rose from obscurity to take its place!!

I am not going to comment on the issue but I would like to add a little something that might be of some use to people.

If your site has been hit by the update and you don't think it should have, here is a form to provide feedback: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...bkE6MQ&ndplr=1.

I don't know if they will take any direct action as a result of a submission via that form but it wouldn't hurt to submit your site if you think you have been wrongly hit.

EDIT: And for the curious minds, many of my sites have climbed in rankings and few have lost their spots so I am kind of liking this update

my sites all climbed the rankings without me doing anything SEO at all.... lots lots of visitors and lotss of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$... I'm laughing alllll the wayyy at the bank!!!

This update has been good for my sites. Except one site, I've seen SERP rankings improve across dozens of sites I own/manage!

[DELETED]

There's never going to be an outcry over Google changes. They don't care about publishers and the user would never really notice a difference.

[DELETED]

...and the "best search results" are the ones that deliver what the consumer public asks for when searching.

I spent some time tonight doing a bunch keyword searches to see how much the results had changed.

The results I got tonight are far, far better than results on similar/same searches done in the past few months on multiple topics/niches/keywords FROM A CONSUMER SEARCH POINT OF VIEW. Google is, after all, a search engine/advertiser aimed at the internet public.

I didn't find reams of EMD sites with a few pages of crappy content or a page filled top to bottom with links - and not a single page filled with sites featuring the same PLR content either.

I also notice most of the results are not brand new sites - they are not GAMED sites - they are not sites "positioned" for a keyword but offering nothing of value.

I've made several large online product purchases in recent months and it was frustrating to do a search because of the crappy sites that didn't ofer what I was looking for and were clearly designed only to rank in google and sell a CB product ABOUT the product I wanted buy.

Those sites were missing tonight - good riddance. Could it be the days of launching a site, buying a bunch of Fiverr gigs and using every trick you can find to push your site to the top quickly...are over?

Google doesn't care about your SEO efforts or the thousands of backlinks you bought in the past week.

If I sound like a Google fan - I'm not. It's a tool like many other things I use. It's a business - and I don't own it (darn it). My own sites haven't changed - but I never play the SEO games and I don't build thin sites.

One thing I noticed:

The search results feature mainly authority sites - big sites - sites with some age on them - sites with good, helpful, informed content...and lots of it. This was a suggestion ("start building authority sites") that was made on this forum several times in the past six months.

Of course it's frustrating if your sites got dinged. You can yell at Google for being "unfair", you can sign a petition telling Google how you want them to run their business - or you can learn what is working now and deal with it. I think the best way to proceed is to let the dust settle then evaluate and see what you need to do. Some of the dinged sites may come back - I've had it happen.

This is only what I saw myself...tonight. It may be different tomorrow....and the next day...and the next.

kay

link building is dead.. from now on everything has to be natural.. sad but true.. I think we should quit IM and look for some real world opportunities. Maybe selling lemonades can be a better idea.. A world without Google.. a world without thinking the next update. Just sell lemonades. wouldn't be better?

Several others have already said something like this, but here goes: Google has the right to do what they want to with their own property (search engine). It's time to spend more time building sites up the right way, instead of using questionable tactics. I have seen some traffic slip, but not much.

I am waiting until the 'dance' from this roll out is over, then I will reassess my methods.

Linda

I was hoping to see a petition like :

Human Rights Petition: The President of the United States: Help Start a movement to Stop congress from passing the CISPA bill! | Change.org

Google is nothing more than a search engine, there are more going around to be concerned about than Google and its lousy algorithms. Yes, Google I am sorry but you start to loose your track, too many updates, in a very short time and lousy results.

I started to have a hard time actually using google to find what I am searching for online.

Google will never reverse this update. To be honest this update is a sign of better IM and better internet experience. The GURUs who are now crying will learn the fact very soon.

I've been watching what's going on from my own business perspective and what's happening to others.

Most of my client sites haven't moved at all so I guess they are 'playing by the rules'. One affiliate site (my oldest) is doing okay and actually climbing - getting more traffic for some competitive keywords that I previously didn't see doing well.

I've been interested in some of the weird sites appearing on page one at number one with no content - I guess that will resolve.

I'm really glad that I sidelined into offline for a while because it forced me to really focus on content for quality sake not content for keyword sake. EDIT: Actually I have added what I call 'landing pages' which I excuse from the aforementioned, those do indeed act as ways to get 'found' in G for multiple keyword phrases. I do always however, start with the base information and user friendly site. And I could not afford to do anything blackhat with those sites so its been more about doing things correctly with a grey hat twist

I totally agree that as marketers we cannot afford to rely on Google unless you are prepared to pay for your traffic. The way we now work will have to involve more effort in real marketing not just building links.

I'm keeping my eyes on all the forums, my sites, Google's posts and continuing to do what I believe works.

I feel really sad for some of those whose whole livelihood has disappeared overnight and am gutted for the website offering free help to addicts losing its position - that's something G needs to deal with asap for moral reasons.

Right now syndicating your content is a good thing, its a natural activity that Google expects to see and even if we are actually doing this in part at least, to get our link on authority sites, we are also marketing ourselves. The tools and techniques we use to get our keywords neatly nested on our sites, our pages out there for G to position and our marketing strategies will change and improve. We as marketers will still find ways to do what we do easily and efficiently.

But to continue in this business I think the key is 'pride'. Creating first and foremost a site that however basic (eg even if its only 5 pages), the content is high quality, useful to the reader and we would find it helpful ourselves is our step one. Then making sure our sites are working correctly and easy to navigate, are pleasing to the eye and we would want to recommend. Once we've set things up the right way, its all about letting people know our site is here for them. That's where thinking like Google, which also involves thinking like an advertiser who uses Google, is where you go next.

Whatever you want to create, think about making it quality first. If you can feel proud of your 'babies' - the sites you 'deliver' to Google will rely less on SE's and more on people to grow and you will naturally prosper

(well fingers crossed anyway - lol!)

Very creative idea for a squeeze page.

Will

Haha, now I understand why my site has a mysterious significant traffic increase (adding 200 more UV/day than before). And now they're using the Batman's villain for their latest update? Thank you, Google!

signed i lost few ranks with last update

Well guys I can definitely attest to the fact that it's not just sites using "tricks" or unscrupulous methods. I write a blog twice a week, and have done so for almost a year. I write for my readers, relevant content to my niche, no keyword stuffing or anything of the sort.
The keywords occur naturally in the articles, and then I place the relevant keywords in the space provided in wordpress.

Last week I could type in pretty-much any keyword remotely related to Gospel music or music ministry and my site would have several entries on the first page of Google. After reading about this update today I checked again this morning.

Now my site is not coming up for many of the same terms it was coming up for before. I didn't even come up for the term "music ministry" , which as always landed me in the top 3. I definitely look forward to learning from other members here about different traffic generating techniques that don't involved being a slave to Google's constantly changing algorithms.

My site is getting advantage of the new update. And I don't thing google is going to listen to the webmasters. I read one webmaster saying "Google we are going to leave you for other search engines." okay, but people who are searching for something will never leave google. So if few webmasters leave google, they won't care I guess.

I agree with those who say a petition would make no impact at all.

Much has been made on this thread about Google trying to create the best experience for its users and them not caring about IMers. Well what do their users want? Answer: High quality free content.

But who is going to provide this high quality free content if Google punishes sites that are trying to make money by selling stuff (eg. the $47 ebook on "How to learn to play the Guitar")? And who is going to provide this quality content if the only way to make money online is by creating the content and waiting years for it to become popular enough to rise high in the rankings naturally?

Personally, I have lost 3/4 of my traffic for my biggest website out of this update, and I have created a lot of very high quality content for the website. What sort of SEO did I do? Basic onpage SEO (include keyword 3-4 times in an 800-1500 word article, keyword in title, keyword in H1 tags, keyword in metadescription etc) and then commented on various blogs and forums. Is this so evil in Google's eyes?

For one of the main keywords I'm targeting, guess what the new #1 is? It is a press release from about February this year. The article is short, the content is clearly spun and of very low quality, and the page does everything it can to try to stop you from leaving (multiple exit popups). To me, this is a terrible user experience. Yay Google!

Paul, I'm sure you're smart enough to know that the price of a share doesn't make it any more expensive to own.

I don't know if it would be that great an investment anyway. With everyone here saying how important it is to move their traffic generating focus off Google and onto other mediums, why would business pay to use Google's services?

Is it because millions of people make targeted searches on Google everyday?

Being dependent on it is definitely bad but it's still a pretty big decision to ignore the opportunity because it's too tough.

That's a great point Mike, I hadn't thought about that, but that's certainly the case with a site like mine that's always being updated with new blog articles.

The problem is not that this site or that fell in the rankings. It is not that your content is Pulitzer worthy, yet you just dropped from page one to page 106. It is none of that, really.

The real problem is that it gives business owners a long sought, effective method to negatively affect competitors' search results. If people were of a mind to use "black hat" techniques to boost their own rankings, will they not jump with reckless abandon on the ability to downgrade their competitors' sites?

Of course they will, and we'll see things that will exhibit little semblence of rational results, at least until G makes another algo change. Unfortunately, by that time, some of the best sites, many of which are fairly resource intensive, may have been irreversably harmed.

This is one of the primary reasons I am transitioning my business to more of a local consulting model. Sure, you can have excellent content, and only have search engine traffic for one part of your traffic equation.

However, the fact is that if new people want to find what you do, they will use search engines. If you're not there, you'll not be found by those people. If they're not seeing your Twitter feed, one of your blog subscribers, in your G circle, or one of your FB friends, you'll live in obscurity for these folks, no matter if your site offered a great solution for them, or not.

The fact is that if they are already connected to you via social media, they are already aware of you. Search engines are for bringing in those who ar not, and thus will continue to be somewhat important, no matter how much you diversify your traffic away from them. Gviing competitors an effective blueprint to mitigate this is just plain bad business on Google's part, if they really do want to deliver the best user experience.

By the way, what happened to the "Do no harm" they used to live by, or did that go out when they started blocking Chinese search result at the request of the Cinese gov't.?

Each time I think I've seen the silliest idea related to SEO, someone proves me wrong.

You guys that keep trying to have direct contact with Google are only causing your own problems.

Good luck with that. :rolleyes:

I am not an SEO expert or anything, but I think it doesn't matter now what ever SEO strategy your using or even if your not doing SEO at all. After those google updates, NegativeSEO is somewhat clear. Before negative SEO could be true but now it has more weight, the penalty is much greater. Just try to search in godaddy how many negativeseo related domains had been registered, I did found SEOBOMBS..COM unregesterd
Google did update their algo, SEO is just waiting on their updates, especially the blackhat ones. And I am hating it

I get a little tired of the posts like "Waa, Google. I had to fire my 10 employees because of this update. Your ruined my business!"

If you were banking enough to hire 10 people but you can't withstand one negative update, you didn't have a business. You had a 'lick.' You should have realized that was 'easy money' and been reinvesting to build something sustainable.

Now you're going to find out the hard way: Google doesn't give a **** about your business.

As long as there's a Google, there's a way to manipulate it.....

This petition is silly. Google does not exist to serve other businesses, Google exists to serve Google. I can't believe people are really asking for a hand out like this...

If you rely on Google and get slammed, it's your own fault.

This Penguin update has its flaws as people have pointed out. Websites that are just horrible are ranking higher than quality ones! My website went from number 1 to number 8 on the first page of Google, but thankfully it has risen back up to 2. The website above mine is just garbage though.

A petition, eh? haha.. Newsflash.. multi-billion dollar corporations don't make decisions based on a few hundred users getting a little less traffic to their sites.

I'm not sure if I'm a cynic or not though.. because I did help to stop SOPA.

I'm another one to benefit from the algo change. I guess I need to start a petition to thank Google for doing a great job.

Where do I sign!!!!!

[DELETED]

Google wouldn't care, but I agree with you

Interesting 1,011 sig so far

Hehe interesting idea! - but why not just build more authority sites?
If you sign that thinking you can then go build c*** online and make money, then you would be wrong - if its because you have a reputable business that got hit for the wrong reasons - then go for it