I haven't noticed this before but it seems that: http://www.hotvsnot.com/ and http://www.dirone.com/ are banned out of G. I thought this where highly respected directories. Also http://www.allwebdirectory.com/ has got a pr0 but still is indexed in G. It's almost which directory next in line to get shot.. Does anybody else got nasty experiences with directories that disappeared from the G index? And care to share his/here thoughts about this.
For all I know they could be back tomorrow and others are banned instead hehe PS your sig line is cool
Google has been targeting scrapper sites and link exchange directories this past week. I think G is treating link exchange directories as link farms. There are some good talks going on in some of the SEO forums.
Maybe just scrapper sites, most directories would look like a scrapper site to an algo. Or just they are linking to bad neighborhoods.
I think the same thing. There is a definite pattern there and the ones that didn't get banned have a different set-up than the usual "a listing for a link".
Exactly these directories look like scrappers or link farms to the algo, and they are getting "scrapped" from the index too.
If most of your incoming links are from sites that you link to as well, the purpose of your site and the directory is very clear. It's no surprise to me that this has happened. Link exchanging is an indicator that you work hard, but not that the sites that are being linked to are really popular and useful to the average web surfer
well hotvsnot didnt have anyone reviewing listings. if you paid the money via paypal, your listing would show up immediately. i bet they were linking to a lot of bad people.
Right, when you become less selective, you will be punished as well. They figgure that when you list crap, your site may be crap as well. Once again, it all makes sense. It is very important for any directory owner to be selective. Some directories are doing a great job with that and as I see, those are still indexed
I feel like reciprocal directories are getting burnt the most. And the ones where absolutely anyone can go and buy a link.
They might as well have hung a sign out from that said "we sell page rank". A directory with no editorial control (i.e. pay and you're in regardless of your site's content) is nothing more than a glorified link farm. Glad to see them penalized.
I believe this is a reasonable explanation. What the directory owners could do is insert some article or a brief description to each category what descripes the topic of that category. That way there is content on the category pages. And the pages are not longer seen as link pages only.
I don't think content on catagory pages would matter - still dozens and dozens of bought and paid for links to crap. Who knows though...they could be back in the index tomorrow for all we know.