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Anyone DARE Fix Their Site to Please Penguin?

by momo3
19 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hello

I was wondering if anyone is cleaning up their site -- such as removing excessive keywords, adding better navigation, deleting pages, etc. to look better to penguin.

My questions:

1.) Do you think its wise to do this? Or do you think its a trap? Because the moment they see us tweak things they know we know SEO?
2.) Also, do you think sites are recoverable or will they have a permanent black eye?
#dare #fix #penguin #site
  • Profile picture of the author WhosGotMoves
    Excellent question, I'm highly interested in finding out what can be done to recover from a bit of the tanking from Penguin. Had a few sites skyrocket up the ranks and some inexplicably drop off of the first page all together. Anyone seeing any benefits from any clean up work?
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    • Profile picture of the author greboguru
      Interesting question - I'm going to give it a couple of weeks before making any changes ... I never considered my self to be a web spammer but having said that I've already started to check my sites for keyword densities and the general writing style of the pages to see what I could improve on. I think these are the areas that I'll be looking at first along with my overall linking strategy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aditeo
    Yep sme question someone please help with some tips for optimization
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  • Profile picture of the author akazzz
    1. Of course. Improve all aspects of your onpage seo
    2. Yes, sites are recoverable.
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  • Profile picture of the author momo3
    Akazz, how do you know that they are recoverable? Its been 1 week.
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  • Profile picture of the author JeanneLynn
    There is a guy on the Google forum who says that it's no using fixing your site. He suggested just starting over with a fresh domain and new content. I don't know if he is right, but he's a level 12 member.

    I really wish that I knew what to do. I'm leaving my old site up for now, but I'm making a new one too. I guess we can always hope that the old sites will come back.
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    • Profile picture of the author cooler1
      Originally Posted by JeanneLynn View Post

      There is a guy on the Google forum who says that it's no using fixing your site. He suggested just starting over with a fresh domain and new content. I don't know if he is right, but he's a level 12 member.

      I really wish that I knew what to do. I'm leaving my old site up for now, but I'm making a new one too. I guess we can always hope that the old sites will come back.
      Why would that be the case at all? This update is targetting over optimization, how would it be in Google's interest to not let sites recover.

      If it's no use fixing your site than that means that backlinks can permanently damage a site, which is completely beyond ridiculous because no one can control who builds backlinks to their site.

      How much did you vary your anchor text when building links to your site? That is a common issue raised.
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      • Profile picture of the author JeanneLynn
        Originally Posted by cooler1 View Post

        Why would that be the case at all? This update is targetting over optimization, how would it be in Google's interest to not let sites recover.

        If it's no use fixing your site than that means that backlinks can permanently damage a site, which is completely beyond ridiculous because no one can control who builds backlinks to their site.

        How much did you vary your anchor text when building links to your site? That is a common issue raised.
        I don't understand why Google is doing this either.

        Just because a site has some shady backllinks doesn't mean it's not a good site.

        I've been using Yahoo and Bing for searching because I think that Google may be depriving me of some of the better sites that I'd like to visit.

        I had hardly any links to my site. I used BMR for about 3 weeks. I did vary the anchor text heavily. I guess using BMR was the problem.
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        • Profile picture of the author BTbuzz
          Originally Posted by JeanneLynn View Post

          I don't understand why Google is doing this either.

          Just because a site has some shady backllinks doesn't mean it's not a good site.

          I've been using Yahoo and Bing for searching because I think that Google may be depriving me of some of the better sites that I'd like to visit.

          I had hardly any links to my site. I used BMR for about 3 weeks. I did vary the anchor text heavily. I guess using BMR was the problem.
          Might be a silly question but why cant google just tell you whats wrong with your site, then proceed , or is that to logical? Coming from a contractor and singer song writer background , If the boss dosen't like a board in wrong place , hey its in the wrong place fix it! If the producer says hey your chorus sucks, fix it . Done deal. Sure alot of mystery to this biz.
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          Your Classy Money Making Website Awaits!
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  • Profile picture of the author Ohioquotes
    I have removed signature links, changed some description tags and lowered the keyword percentages. There's a lot to do but I have seen some improvement but who knows if it is related.

    In fairness, I lost rankings but not in all key words.
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    Walk Across America For Groats Disease
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  • Profile picture of the author NicheSiteLab
    I'm actually in the process of improving one of my 'authority' sites.. penguin has forced me to re evaluate things, and I feel the site would benefit more if it was more socially engaging. I'll be posting an update on my nichesitelab site in due course.


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  • Profile picture of the author tylerherman
    Originally Posted by momo3 View Post

    Hello

    I was wondering if anyone is cleaning up their site -- such as removing excessive keywords, adding better navigation, deleting pages, etc. to look better to penguin.

    My questions:

    1.) Do you think its wise to do this? Or do you think its a trap? Because the moment they see us tweak things they know we know SEO?
    2.) Also, do you think sites are recoverable or will they have a permanent black eye?
    How do you know that was even why you got hit? For most people is was junk links not their sites content.

    Making your site better is a good thing but don't fix what isn't broken.
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  • Profile picture of the author momo3
    Hey everyone.. after posting this thread I read this: Penguin Analysis: SEO Isn't Dead, But You Need to Act Smarter | Microsite Masters

    So now I am thinking it really IS links.....

    However.. at the same time, I feel it CANT be links as people could then do Negative SEO
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    • Profile picture of the author zaco
      Originally Posted by momo3 View Post

      Hey everyone.. after posting this thread I read this: Penguin Analysis: SEO Isn't Dead, But You Need to Act Smarter | Microsite Masters

      So now I am thinking it really IS links.....

      However.. at the same time, I feel it CANT be links as people could then do Negative SEO

      Their post has alot of mistakes, they say alot of the sites or almost half have money keyword pointing to them which is a complete wrong statement, I have seen sites without a single money keyword linking back to them

      I also had a site ranking from links that has nothing to do with the site, like fully from unrelated blogs so here is the second fail, nobody knows the full information about the change, if people knew then they would know what to do.. every person is writing his own opinion which doesn't mean its right or wrong
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      • Profile picture of the author Nicky Papers
        Originally Posted by zaco View Post

        Their post has alot of mistakes, they say alot of the sites or almost half have money keyword pointing to them which is a complete wrong statement, I have seen sites without a single money keyword linking back to them

        I also had a site ranking from links that has nothing to do with the site, like fully from unrelated blogs so here is the second fail, nobody knows the full information about the change, if people knew then they would know what to do.. every person is writing his own opinion which doesn't mean its right or wrong
        How would you consider what was presented to be a mistake? The conclusions were drawn from hard evidence from thousands of websites where keyword rankings are tracked daily. Simply put, it's a perfect data set to analyze!

        Your analysis takes into consideration what you've "seen" and an example of one site in particular where you've "beat the system". That's being a little short sided, but different strokes for different folks...

        There's a big difference between writing about opinions and presenting hard facts which Microsite Masters willingly provided. Take it over leave it, a strong case study has been presented.
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  • Profile picture of the author ilovechinesefood
    I took out my keywords in the footer, took out some keywords in my content and meta description and my rankings jumped. It's hard to prove cause and effect with SEO so take it for what it's worth
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  • Profile picture of the author Natlex
    I'm trying out to clean a few sites that I think I can remove some of the over optimization. No idea if it will gain back it's rankings though... But I will at least give it a try
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  • Profile picture of the author WhosGotMoves
    I've started lowering the keyword density of some of my articles and mixing up my internal links and I've already seen some movement. Mind you these are for some of the easier keywords to rank, but the income difference is quite substantial so for me it's worth a second look. Anyone notice anything so far or have you found other posts here on WF discussing similar cause and effect changes post-Penguin?
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  • Profile picture of the author retsek
    Originally Posted by momo3 View Post

    Hello

    I was wondering if anyone is cleaning up their site -- such as removing excessive keywords, adding better navigation, deleting pages, etc. to look better to penguin.

    My questions:

    1.) Do you think its wise to do this? Or do you think its a trap? Because the moment they see us tweak things they know we know SEO?
    2.) Also, do you think sites are recoverable or will they have a permanent black eye?
    What you're describing is what you should do anyway - regardless of Penguin or not.

    And for those of you who know that your site has shortcomings, but have escaped this update unharmed -- you should start fixing it now. Maybe during the next update (Zebra?, Skunk?, Ocra?) you won't be so lucky?
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