An authority web site I own has recently experienced a drastic shift in search engine results for different pages. Some pages that were formerly #4 are now nowhere to be found, yet other pages are listed favorably. The page is cached with Google, although that sometimes disapears, too. There seems to have been a major change with Google recently. Is anyone experiencing anything similair? Is it because of a change in Google algorithm or a major update? When do you expect this to return to normalcy?
Yes, just Google "950 penalty." Nobody knows, but there's a lot of discussion at another webmaster board (WMW) about this and the consensus seems to be that it is a penalty based on over-optimization for certain phrase-based keywords. People are going nuts, changing keyword density and even going so far as to remove the phrases from their pages altogether. There is almost no support for any theories on why this is happening, save a few choice Google patents that the community has focused on. Whenever G sees fit, if it sees fit. Edit: I've been checking this board pretty regularly over the past week and have been a bit concerned that there's not more discussion about it here. Tells me it's a local problem, not everyone's been hit. My story: I was hit last Saturday 2/24 (sent to the back of the line, #900s), then got a huge boost Sunday and Monday (top three), but since Tuesday, my pages are ranking from #78-900 for all keywords that used to rank in the top ten (about 15 phrases).
My best guess is that Google has begun putting more focus on the LSI part, they have been using it for some time now, but only now it sees a more prominent role. Of course this is just an educated guess and is very far from a certainty. Regards, George
I've noticed it-FOR SURE. Number 1 rankings galore and now, I'm all over the board. I didn't change much but I shot from #1 to #8 on one term, #8 to #169 on another and lost big ground on several smaller ones. I am waiting and seeing instead of overhauling. I think it's a fluke but time will tell.
I know Google is very dilligent in these matters. I read somewhere that Google keeps webmaster on their toes, as they refine the algorithms all constantly.
I mean local as in, it's only affecting certain sites/keywords. Not everyone is affected. And I agree that if your site is a true authority, you have nothing to worry about.
I thank everyone for their helpful replies. How does one determine if a web site is indeed a true authority site? What are the parameters and criteria? My web site is 5 years old, has a page rank of 6 on many pages and is listed on the first page for Google SERP's for many popular and highly-competitive keywords. Daily traffic is around 4000 uniques.