Goolge update January 17th - client dropped - Advise needed

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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Scotland, UK
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Goolge update January 17th - client dropped - Advise needed
Hi

We have a client Mother of the Bride Outfits, Dresses Scotland | Frox Of Falkirk Ltd who has been ranking really well for many years now, most main keywords in top 5 in google.co.uk

Last year website didn't see any major drops in rankings when penguin and panda where released, traffic did drop but it seem to drop gradually over the year. 17th Jan this year, rankings for the clients main keywords all took massive drop, and later in Jan took even further drop. Most keywords now pages 20-30+ upwards.

Last year we removed a lot of links - that where generated from an article distribution service, we managed to get all these links removed. Now using ahrefs, majestic, open site explorer and links from google webmaster tools, ive had a good look through, generally speaking I think the links look ok, their is many quality relevant links pointing to the website.

I did find some site-wide comments, and social links, which are spammy (we didn't build these) but most of them seem to be nofollow so not sure if they will cause much problems. These links have pushed the % of anchor text up quite high.

The website itself on-site couldn't find any major issues, apart from their is not much on the website, mostly photos, but didn't think that would affect such as large drop

I think its penguin related

any advise people can give would be great
#17th #advise #client #dropped #goolge #january #needed #update
  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    Do you have a Google Webmaster account?

    Were you tracking this website in your account?

    Did you receive any notifications from Google (i.e about breaking their webmaster guidelines by getting links perceived to be 'manipulating page rank')?

    Your symptoms are exactly like those of a site that was penalised for bad linking practices.

    You can find out by submitting a "reconsideration request" for that site in your Google webmaster tools area.

    You'll then find out if you're still under a penalty and what type it is.

    Google are not the monster that many people make out and usually if you make reasonable efforts to undo any poor practice they should eventually lift the penalty your client is suffering from.

    Andy
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOScotland
    Hi Andy

    thanks for your reply, yes we have been tracking this account for years through GWMT and the website has had no notifications regarding links at all, none.

    I was thinking about doing a reconsideration request, but not sure if it will make it better or worse
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    • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
      Originally Posted by SEOScotland View Post

      I was thinking about doing a reconsideration request, but not sure if it will make it better or worse
      How much worse do you think it can get?

      If you want to deal with it - you need to get real about the problem and get started making it better.

      At least with the recent ability to add links for Google to ignore you don't have to be able to have all the bad ones removed, but even then there are services like linkdelete.com which you can get to do it for you so you have evidence to show you have worked to improve things.

      It's up to you but I think you shouldn't worry about the reconsideration request unless you're just hoping things will get better on their own - in which case good luck with that.

      Andy
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOScotland
    Hi Andy

    Thanks for your advice, I am definitely thinking about doing a reconsideration request but not sure how to approach it and also whether to use the disavow tool before I contact them.

    I just wish I had better idea whether its panda, penguin or something else, but Google haven't confirmed any update on 17th
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    • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
      Originally Posted by SEOScotland View Post

      Hi Andy

      Thanks for your advice, I am definitely thinking about doing a reconsideration request but not sure how to approach it and also whether to use the disavow tool before I contact them.

      I just wish I had better idea whether its panda, penguin or something else, but Google haven't confirmed any update on 17th
      From your timings it sounds like Penguin but that's pretty much irrelevant because you know what's good and bad practice now and where Google have publicly shown that they have expectations - so who cares which algorithm change hit it - ultimately what you need to do about it is the same.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOScotland
    Hi Andy

    When you say timings, this year, have Google confirmed any penguin refresh?
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    • Profile picture of the author pasik
      Originally Posted by SEOScotland View Post

      Hi Andy

      When you say timings, this year, have Google confirmed any penguin refresh?
      Google hasn't confirmed any Penguin updates this year. There was a Panda refresh on Jan 22nd.

      Google Panda Update Version #24; 1.2% Of Search Queries Impacted

      That refresh probably didn't cause your client's website to drop because it happened on 22nd. However, many people reported significant changes in their rankings during the previous week.

      More Signs Of A Google Update
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    • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
      Originally Posted by SEOScotland View Post

      Hi Andy

      When you say timings, this year, have Google confirmed any penguin refresh?
      No - they don't usually announce the updates and do them many times a day.

      I think you're focused on all the wrong things - just forget about Google's updates and get working on making your client's site profile good again.

      Google can update their algo's whenever they want and they won't ask you first and they may not tell you when they do it - so don't focus on Googles changes - focus on creating value and moving forward.
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  • Profile picture of the author hostking
    Is it possible that google may not advertise there updates being done? or do they always do this. I've always wondered
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    • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
      Originally Posted by hostking View Post

      Is it possible that google may not advertise there updates being done? or do they always do this. I've always wondered
      Yes - Google very rarely tell you when they update their algorithm because they change it many times every day.

      Only when they change something really fundamental that will affect a large percentage of sites do they make any official (or semi-official) comments on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author skiing
    I'm having the exact same problem as SEO Scotland. In beginning of January our website rankings were the highest they had ever been, but since 17th Jan the rankings have been sliding although 1 or 2 high competition keywords have crept up the rankings.

    the site is powder (then) white (with a .) com

    Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong or what can be done to reverse the slide? The main thing I am doing is creating links via social, articles, bookmarks and am getting several high PR or authority links from national newspapers about once a week and adding content weekly to the site blog. (note the blog ranks fairly high for keywords used in titles)

    Any insights appreciated. (SEO Scotland... I feel your pain) I showed my clients the comments on SEOroundtable just to let them know it's not just them.
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  • Profile picture of the author jtuttlechiro
    Originally Posted by SEOScotland View Post


    Join Date: Feb 2012
    Location: Scotland, UK
    Posts: 21
    Thanks: 2
    Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post

    Goolge update January 17th - client dropped - Advise needed
    Hi

    We have a client Mother of the Bride Outfits, Dresses Scotland | Frox Of Falkirk Ltd who has been ranking really well for many years now, most main keywords in top 5 in google.co.uk

    Last year website didn't see any major drops in rankings when penguin and panda where released, traffic did drop but it seem to drop gradually over the year. 17th Jan this year, rankings for the clients main keywords all took massive drop, and later in Jan took even further drop. Most keywords now pages 20-30+ upwards.

    Last year we removed a lot of links - that where generated from an article distribution service, we managed to get all these links removed. Now using ahrefs, majestic, open site explorer and links from google webmaster tools, ive had a good look through, generally speaking I think the links look ok, their is many quality relevant links pointing to the website.

    I did find some site-wide comments, and social links, which are spammy (we didn't build these) but most of them seem to be nofollow so not sure if they will cause much problems. These links have pushed the % of anchor text up quite high.

    The website itself on-site couldn't find any major issues, apart from their is not much on the website, mostly photos, but didn't think that would affect such as large drop

    I think its penguin related

    any advise people can give would be great
    Tell them they are not alone. The best way is find another strategy that will work with the latest Panda Update.. and hope that you will get back when Penguin has a new update.
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