Is there any hope for recovery after this google changes

50 replies
  • SEO
  • |
I thought i survived from this google changes bacause i have sites with unique and well written content and manual backlinks
and this day, from #1 to page 4 !
Is there any hope for recovery, what should i do ?
All my incomes are based on organic traffic from google
#google #hope #recovery
  • Profile picture of the author Ashera
    If you've honestly never built garbage links - then wait it out. The algorithm like any Google algo takes time to adjust. Some sites that weren't really meant to be hit by it will see themselves coming back in the next few weeks to a month.
    Signature
    If you don't change direction, you'll end up where you're going.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6137810].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author jefkas
      Originally Posted by Ashera View Post

      If you've honestly never built garbage links - then wait it out. The algorithm like any Google algo takes time to adjust. Some sites that weren't really meant to be hit by it will see themselves coming back in the next few weeks to a month.
      So hitting the competition with garbage links is all I have to do to rank sites now?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6153268].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author mosthost
        Originally Posted by jefkas View Post

        So hitting the competition with garbage links is all I have to do to rank sites now?
        That's what they say. For people in 3rd or 4th position this seems WAY TOO TEMPTING.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6153427].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author derprinz
    I hope so.
    because right now, i am like a man who lost his job
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6137835].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author derprinz
    can adding some other good articles help in such a situation
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6137839].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author boxoun
    Can't hurt.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6137865].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author opensky
    Could there be any negative seo done to your backlink profile recently? This is becoming viral since these insane unnatural links penalties started.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6137881].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author derprinz
      Originally Posted by opensky View Post

      Could there be any negative seo done to your backlink profile recently? This is becoming viral since these insane unnatural links penalties started.
      No
      i just can't understand what google is doing
      some sites that don't even have the keyword in the domain nor in articles and with pagerank 1 are in the page 1 !
      What is wrong with google and Mutt Cutts team !!!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6138263].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author opensky
        Hmm, yeah, it's pretty insane. I'm seeing some PR0 sites with zero backlinks ranking in position 2 for very competitive KWs, out of the blue, since this update. Hopefully your rankings will recover soon.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6138283].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author derprinz
          Originally Posted by opensky View Post

          Hmm, yeah, it's pretty insane. I'm seeing some PR0 sites with zero backlinks ranking in position 2 for very competitive KWs, out of the blue, since this update. Hopefully your rankings will recover soon.
          may be that's a good sign
          because it's impossible that a search engine like google allow such things.
          I think they will return to the algorithm before this one
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6138400].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author RightGood10
        Originally Posted by derprinz View Post

        No
        i just can't understand what google is doing
        some sites that don't even have the keyword in the domain nor in articles and with pagerank 1 are in the page 1 !
        What is wrong with google and Mutt Cutts team !!!
        To be honest not having the main keyword in the domain should never be a ranking factor anyway, that mentality of google has just promoted ugly url's since day one. Matt Cutt's said last year that Google would be putting less emphasis on keywords in url's and thank god, maybe real brand name urls will start being the norm and things will start looking tidy on the net.

        Im not having a go at all buddy, I've been wacked bad just like you and am on the brink of re-writing my CV, but I wouldn't think of URL keywords as a ranking factor especially not moving forward.

        I hope your site rises up again and mine too :confused:
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6141599].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by derprinz View Post

        No
        some sites that don't even have the keyword in the domain nor in articles and with pagerank 1 are in the page 1 !
        What ever made you think that a keyword had to be in the domain and the article for a site to rank or that a site with a pagerank of 1 shouldn't rank highly?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6141651].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author derprinz
          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          What ever made you think that a keyword had to be in the domain and the article for a site to rank or that a site with a pagerank of 1 shouldn't rank highly?
          the keyword: isn't in the domain, isn't in articles
          how would google know that the site is talking about that keyword !

          and it's not even popular site with good pr i mean
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6141735].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
            Originally Posted by derprinz View Post

            the keyword: isn't in the domain, isn't in articles
            how would google know that the site is talking about that keyword !

            and it's not even popular site with good pr i mean
            You really think Google's algorithm is that dumb that it needs big neon signs to tell it what a page is about? If the article is on topic, the keyword does not need to appear anywhere.

            You might want to do some research about LSI. You will find your answers there.

            Most of my client's sites that are ranking have no keywords in the domain name, URL, title tag, h1 tags, or anywhere in the content. It's not that hard if you know what you are doing.
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6141754].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author derprinz
              Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

              You really think Google's algorithm is that dumb that it needs big neon signs to tell it what a page is about? If the article is on topic, the keyword does not need to appear anywhere.

              You might want to do some research about LSI. You will find your answers there.

              Most of my client's sites that are ranking have no keywords in the domain name, URL, title tag, h1 tags, or anywhere in the content. It's not that hard if you know what you are doing.
              What i can see now is that this algorithm made some crappy sites with useless aticles, on page 1

              ps:
              I confess that i am not a professional in SEO, i just right good articles and do some good manual backlinks BUT google isn't a human.
              what happened to your client sites by the way, did they survived this update?
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6141779].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
                Originally Posted by derprinz View Post

                what happened to your client sites by the way, did they survived this update?
                I only had 2 clients hit by this update. One I have been working with for about 3 weeks and they had previously bought a ton of fiverr gigs. The other one had previously used a popular WSO provider on here that I have warned against for the past year. This update targeted exactly the kind of crummy service he provides.
                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6144536].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author zonkow
              Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

              You really think Google's algorithm is that dumb that it needs big neon signs to tell it what a page is about? If the article is on topic, the keyword does not need to appear anywhere.

              You might want to do some research about LSI. You will find your answers there.

              Most of my client's sites that are ranking have no keywords in the domain name, URL, title tag, h1 tags, or anywhere in the content. It's not that hard if you know what you are doing.
              That's redicilious.
              For example, If I'm writing a review on Samsung UN55D8000 LED TV, how in the hell can I write it if I don't include the keyword in the title and anywhere in the content?
              What is the LSI of Samsung UN55D8000 LED TV?
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6141841].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
                Originally Posted by zonkow View Post

                That's redicilious.
                For example, If I'm writing a review on Samsung UN55D8000 LED TV, how in the hell can I write it if I don't include the keyword in the title and anywhere in the content?
                What is the LSI of Samsung UN55D8000 LED TV?
                I never said not to use the keywords or that you cannot use the keywords. What I said is that not all pages have to have a specific keyword in the content, title, or any tags in order to rank for that keyword.

                Using your Samsung example, if I was targeting "review of Samsung UN55D8000 LED TV", I could write an article with out ever using that phrase and rank for it. Obviously, in that example you would want to use Samsung UN55D8000 LED TV somewhere in the article, but I wouldn't have to include the words "review of" and could still rank fine. Also, you could use just "Samsung UN55D8000" without the "LED TV" and still rank for the whole phrase.

                Anyhow, like I said, my point was that you can rank pages without the keyword being present on the page. I do it all the time for clients that have keywords that don't fit into the content without looking like you are trying to stuff the keyword in there.
                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6144526].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author mrultra
              Banned
              [DELETED]
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6143221].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
                Originally Posted by mrultra View Post

                Yeah, I'm calling BS on that one. Sorry, had to be done. Somebody done jumped the shark on that one, lol.
                It's not BS at all. If you have clients targeting 30-125 keywords, how do you fit all those onto a page?

                The backlinks still have more to do with the rankings than anything onpage.
                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6144543].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Andrew Simond
    I have faced this same types of problem. I want to change it also.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6137901].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author opensky
    Maybe. Or maybe they want people to be so confused as to not bother trying to game the system. Either way they're creating more spam and negative seo.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6138452].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author derprinz
      It's like Wall Street Crash of 1929 !
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6138491].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Chicagoremodeling
        Banned
        [DELETED]
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6147622].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Bizmarkie
          Originally Posted by Chicagoremodeling View Post

          It's worst than that if you were the one who got hit!
          I am curious - is it only affiliate sites and people with adsense who got hit? what about standard mom & pop small businesses who rely at least somewhat on their google traffic? what about well known established e-commerce sites? Insurance and real estate companies with authority? how are they doing?
          Any feedbck is apprecaited.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6153143].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author MuayThaiGuy
            Originally Posted by Bizmarkie View Post

            I am curious - is it only affiliate sites and people with adsense who got hit? what about standard mom & pop small businesses who rely at least somewhat on their google traffic? what about well known established e-commerce sites? Insurance and real estate companies with authority? how are they doing?
            Any feedbck is apprecaited.
            I have a new Muay Thai and MMA training facility here in Thailand and the home page got hit.
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6153230].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mattmactavish
    Originally Posted by derprinz View Post

    I thought i survived from this google changes bacause i have sites with unique and well written content and manual backlinks
    and this day, from #1 to page 4 !
    Is there any hope for recovery, what should i do ?
    All my incomes are based on organic traffic from google
    I was building pretty good backlinks for my clients and now out of 30 clients 2 clients were hit only and you are not going to believe I have done same things for backlinks. Its all about time. In a while you can have it things normal.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6138497].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author samd123
    I was talking about this with a colleague this morning and it occurred to me that whatever Google is up to with this latest shuffle about, there is one certain benefactor.

    I've read that Matt Cutts actually talked about penailizing 'over-SEO'd sites' - notably he does not specify how SEO'd is over-SEO'd.

    What this is doing is creating a huge doubt in our minds as SEO guys offering our clients the ability to get free organic traffic.

    So if you cant guarantee free organic traffic, where does a smart businessman with a website that needs reliable targetted hits turn to?

    ... And lo and behold, we are back to the days where everyone is scrambling around jostling over getting the lowest rate PPC clicks from Google.

    Google wins all ends up. The days when I was believing in their enlightened friendly corporate image are long gone now. Could this be yet another multi-billion dollar entrerprise now squeezing the little guy for all its worth so as to increase their already exorbitant profits.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6140654].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author tylerherman
      There is no hope. Might as well off yourself...

      It's been less than a week. The updates might not even be complete. Plus there will be tons of little updates from Google over the next 2-3 months.

      Just keep making good content, maybe rank for a few new terms. Build up those sites and some quality backlinks if you can.

      Keep ****ing Google until they love you.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6140774].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author derprinz
      Originally Posted by samd123 View Post

      I was talking about this with a colleague this morning and it occurred to me that whatever Google is up to with this latest shuffle about, there is one certain benefactor.

      I've read that Matt Cutts actually talked about penailizing 'over-SEO'd sites' - notably he does not specify how SEO'd is over-SEO'd.

      What this is doing is creating a huge doubt in our minds as SEO guys offering our clients the ability to get free organic traffic.

      So if you cant guarantee free organic traffic, where does a smart businessman with a website that needs reliable targetted hits turn to?

      ... And lo and behold, we are back to the days where everyone is scrambling around jostling over getting the lowest rate PPC clicks from Google.

      Google wins all ends up. The days when I was believing in their enlightened friendly corporate image are long gone now. Could this be yet another multi-billion dollar entrerprise now squeezing the little guy for all its worth so as to increase their already exorbitant profits.

      Google has made a lot of money from our websites and than look what happens, they just look for money !
      I think that we should penalize google, create some association of IMers or something.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6141272].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by samd123 View Post

      I was talking about this with a colleague this morning and it occurred to me that whatever Google is up to with this latest shuffle about, there is one certain benefactor.

      I've read that Matt Cutts actually talked about penailizing 'over-SEO'd sites' - notably he does not specify how SEO'd is over-SEO'd.

      What this is doing is creating a huge doubt in our minds as SEO guys offering our clients the ability to get free organic traffic.

      So if you cant guarantee free organic traffic, where does a smart businessman with a website that needs reliable targetted hits turn to?

      ... And lo and behold, we are back to the days where everyone is scrambling around jostling over getting the lowest rate PPC clicks from Google.

      Google wins all ends up. The days when I was believing in their enlightened friendly corporate image are long gone now. Could this be yet another multi-billion dollar entrerprise now squeezing the little guy for all its worth so as to increase their already exorbitant profits.
      There is one big problem with these silly theories. When a site moves down in the rankings, that means other sites move up. How do you know (or Google for that matter) that a site that got bumped up to a much improved ranking wasn't a high paying AdWords customer. Now because of all the free traffic they are getting, they don't need AdWords.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6141641].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author colourofspring
        There is one big problem with these silly theories. When a site moves down in the rankings, that means other sites move up. How do you know (or Google for that matter) that a site that got bumped up to a much improved ranking wasn't a high paying AdWords customer. Now because of all the free traffic they are getting, they don't need AdWords.
        It would be trivially easy for Google to bump up only/mainly sites that didn't use Adwords.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6144728].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author satrap
    I think there's always hope for recovery and there's always ways to recover. But personally I think for the first few weeks you shouldn't do much, let things settle down. After a few weeks or so, we will all have a better understanding of what really happened and what are new important factors for ranking.

    In the mean time, I would focuse on creating more high quality content and of course other aspects of running a useful site beside SEo. More importantly you should spend some time on social media and other ways of getting traffic (if you already are not doing this, you need to get on it as fast as you can). Good luck.
    Signature
    60 Awesome Ways to Make Money Without a Job
    .................................
    Check out my blog Survey Satrap featuring honest reviews of paid survey sites.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6140829].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author akazzz
    My advice would be to wait it out, give it 7-10 days to confirm whether your site has been penalized. If after 10 days, you're site is still penalized its your offpage seo problems since I believe your onpage seo is "should be" fine due to unique content.

    In the mean time, I would suggest getting traffic from social media i.e: twitter,facebook, reddit, etc.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6140878].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
      Originally Posted by akazzz View Post

      My advice would be to wait it out, give it 7-10 days to confirm whether your site has been penalized. If after 10 days, you're site is still penalized its your offpage seo problems since I believe your onpage seo is "should be" fine due to unique content.
      Why are you using the word "penalized"? Penguin is not a penalty, it's an algorithmic change. The rankings are a result of this change, not of a penalization.
      Signature
      *** Affiliate Site Quick --> The Fastest & Easiest Way to Make Affiliate Sites!<--
      -> VISIT www.1UP-SEO.com *** <- Internet Marketing, SEO Tips, Reviews & More!! ***
      *** HIGH QUALITY CONTENT CREATION +++ Manual Article Spinning (Thread Here) ***
      Content Creation, Blogging, Articles, Converting Sales Copy, Reviews, Ebooks, Rewrites
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6153581].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author derprinz
        Originally Posted by GeorgR. View Post

        Why are you using the word "penalized"? Penguin is not a penalty, it's an algorithmic change. The rankings are a result of this change, not of a penalization.
        Right,
        i am on page 21 now, that means google is still updating their algorithm i think
        and if i got penalized, i wouldn't be there and my site would have dropped to the last pages from the beginning
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6153632].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author dmtaylor247
    Originally Posted by derprinz View Post

    from #1 to page 4 !
    You got off lightly mate, going from #1 to page 401 then you should be worried, add more content and build some(a few) high pr relevant links.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6140963].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author derprinz
      Originally Posted by dmtaylor247 View Post

      You got off lightly mate, going from #1 to page 401 then you should be worried, add more content and build some(a few) high pr relevant links.
      now on page 9
      weeks ago, i would say that's google dance, but now, it's google torture.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6141280].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Bizmarkie
    Originally Posted by derprinz View Post

    I thought i survived from this google changes bacause i have sites with unique and well written content and manual backlinks
    and this day, from #1 to page 4 !
    Is there any hope for recovery, what should i do ?
    All my incomes are based on organic traffic from google
    That sucks to hear. I lost my main keyword which is in the URL of the main doman, tags etc.. going from page one to page five and I had just updated it about six weeks ago and had done an article submission blast only a week or so ago. Obviously, if I had known they were going to
    "Penguin" us I would have waited. Luckily I have not been building any other links to the inner posts and pages and will wait a week or so to see if any patterns emerge before doing that work.
    My advice though is to never rely on google organic search as your primary source of income. at best it should be 50%.

    Otherwise, it is like giving your retirement investments to one advisor and telling him to put it all in one mutual fund or worse, just one stock. He would probably tell you (if she was any good) that putting all your investments into one fund or stock, no matter how lucrative it might be now is absolutely dangerous and not a smart strategy.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6142214].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author stelweb
    On one side, i see 3k to 10k per month sites just getting wiped out by this update. On the other side, i see sites built by webmasters just thriving. The other side's sites all had natural links. So maybe from now on, it is better to have a portfolio of sites with natural links plus sites with acquired links.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6143396].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DiVincenzo
    I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I have a site that is ranked #1 for my target keyword and I have done hardly any SEO. All I did was find a long-tail keyword with some decent volume of monthly searches, wrote an article using the long-tail keyword as my title, and voila. Numero uno. I realized that other people tried to use this particular long-tail keyword as their title too, but they were ranked below me...the reason? I was the FIRST to post. So, it appears one important thing (I don't know if this is a recent change, but maybe now there is more weight to this factor), is timeliness.

    Time to put on our Nostradamus hats.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6143425].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Bizmarkie
      [QUOTE=DiVincenzo;6143425]I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I have a site that is ranked #1 for my target keyword and I have done hardly any SEO. All I did was find a long-tail keyword with some decent volume of monthly searches, wrote an article using the long-tail keyword as my title, and voila. Numero uno. I realized that other people tried to use this particular long-tail keyword as their title too, but they were ranked below me...the reason? I was the FIRST to post. So, it appears one important thing (I don't know if this is a recent change, but maybe now there is more weight to this factor), is timeliness. "]



      That is interesting. My EMD got hit hard and it was like on page four or something with no back linking and then I did one article directory submission via a fivver gig (so of course these are spun content that does not read well being posted on directories that nobody reads) and almost overnight it went to page one only to then within 2 days hit page five and now it is completely gone.

      Yet on a free word press blog where I did the same thing, I am doing OK mainly though with low search volume KWs - the one term that is decent also has had an article submission done on it yet it is still hovering around position #11. ONE big difference is that It is for an inner post, not the main domain. The main difference is that I did it months ago. Not sure if that timing makes a difference or not
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6147508].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Best thing to do right now is nothing.

    Just wait it out, its only been about 4 days.
    Signature

    BS free SEO services, training and advice - SEO Point

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6143495].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author GodMode52
    I'm actually working with 3 different clients hit by new update penality. So far we have pretty good results and two of 3 are in ultra competitive niche. You have to do a deep analyze on your backlinks history and see which one was the main reason for penality. Anchor text , blog networks etc. When you find the problem then start working on those adding quality backlinks with anchor text and link diversity. If your site is still indexed you can get it always back. It's just a matter of time and hard work. Good luck
    Signature

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

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6144549].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mosthost
    I say don't wait it out. Get moving on recovery strategies or new site building or something. Were people smart to try and 'wait out' Hurricane Katrina?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6144574].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author extremejava
    just keep working hard on your websites to make it the best place and leader in terms of content in your niche
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6144578].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Watch Store
    i have a client that was an e commerce site and he was hit.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6153192].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author opensky
    hahaha that is so funny derprinz!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6157126].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author brchap
      Join the club. Lots of babies were thrown out with the bath water on this latest update. I have authority sites that were hit very hard... and these were sites with original content, articles over 1000+ words per page, low bounce rates, great stats for time on site, lots of reader comments, etc.

      By most people's definitions, this was a great "authority" site. Do you think that Google took this into consideration? Hell no. I went from #1 for my main keyword, down to page 11.

      But, all is not lost. My rankings for that site continue to fluctuate, so I see some hope in that.

      Ironically, a few of my thinner sites have suffered less. These are sites with 10 pages or less. Some of them dropped from the #1 or #2 spots back to the 2nd page. It makes no sense to me, and it tells me that Google doesn't have it right yet.

      Hey, I'm all for cleaning up the Internet. There is a lot of crap out there. Google needed to change the algorithm to reward the people who build sites as a labor of love and out of a sincere desire to help others, as opposed to building a site just to make a quick buck at the expense of some unsuspecting visitor's trust.

      But, I don't think that Google did the right thing on this one.

      I will leave you with this, though: Do not give up. Just regroup and create another plan. Relying on Google to deliver all of your traffic to your sites is definitely putting all your eggs in one basket. Trust me... I made the same mistake because SEO was so easy and effective. But, honestly,there are tons of traffic strategies besides Google. Just search the Warrior Forum for the word "traffic" and you'll have enough reading to last you a solid month.
      Signature

      I'm currently taking MASSIVE action...

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6176580].message }}

Trending Topics