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Jeff Finally Writes How Aviva Directory Came out Of Penalization

Discussion in 'Directories' started by jhnrang, Feb 26, 2008.

  1. #1
    As usual, I was just catching up with happennings online and found Jeff of Aviva Directory has done a huge work on blogging about how Aviva Directory has come back from Google penalization.

    All those directory owners whose directories have been penalized might be very interested to know his experience.

    Read Here

    Happy reading.:)
     
    jhnrang, Feb 26, 2008 IP
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  2. xc06

    xc06 Notable Member

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    #2
    great! thanks for sharing the info...
     
    xc06, Feb 26, 2008 IP
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  3. dhruv37

    dhruv37 Well-Known Member

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    #3
    Nice article....thanks for sharing the same.

    :)
     
    dhruv37, Feb 26, 2008 IP
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  4. tradeya

    tradeya Notable Member

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    #4
    thanks for your info. It's surely useful for us directories owners. ;)
     
    tradeya, Feb 26, 2008 IP
  5. mywebsearches

    mywebsearches Peon

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    #5
    Great Article!

    Really helpful tips and advice to take to heart.

    and Congratulation to AvivaDirectory for its success in implementing so many great changes.
     
    mywebsearches, Feb 26, 2008 IP
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  6. malcolm1

    malcolm1 Prominent Member

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    #6
    Very Interesting read...

    Much like Aviva our directories are inter linked to send clients to our other directories in the network and
    will use "no follow" as this might have been a issue for us.

    We removed several recip fields and never really wanted any as most times your placed on a page that
    doesn't even get cached and if theirs a FEE its to discourage BUT will now make sure that its totally
    removed so that its never an issue again.

    Most of our directories have biz-giant banners to show they are owned by us but can see that not enough
    and would be actually confusing if others use them so now each directory will have text in the footer to show
    that its a "biz-giant" property as well as the "editor in charge" of that directory and that should clear any doubts
    as to ownership issues...

    Sponsored text link advertising mod whether its just on the home page or site wide could be a problem and will be
    changed to "scrolling banners" relevant to category rather then Text Links and should cover that issue...

    The "Top Hits" page is very bad in my view as its always manipulated sites that creeped in when they offered
    free submits so that will be removed all together to prevent this issue from happening again and editors
    will be doing some clean up in their directories to remove the worst offenders and sites that shouldn't be there.




    Appreciate the fact that aviva (jeff) made everyone aware of what might have caused all this and shared with us
    his insight so as to help fellow directory owners overcome these issues... many thx for this

    Hopefully if im able to attend the SMX West ( Funny Video from Webpronews) that will be in California
    soon i can get more insight on issues that need handled...

    thx
    malcolm
     
    malcolm1, Feb 26, 2008 IP
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  7. hotpop

    hotpop Peon

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    #7
    Very good news for directory industry.
    Thanks for your info
     
    hotpop, Feb 26, 2008 IP
  8. uttoransen

    uttoransen Prominent Member

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    #8
    thanks for posting jhnrang! nice article!
    Empty categories are not that bad:rolleyes: but who will explain that too google staff! so it's better to fill up those cats or just delete them!

    anyways, i guess, no-follow cross-linking will be a good idea!:)
     
    uttoransen, Feb 26, 2008 IP
  9. iceberg

    iceberg Notable Member

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    #9
    Firstly, congratulations to AVIVA [both Avivas] ;) . Hope other few quality directories would get out of penalization soon.

    Pretty useful info, more or less we all know most of them, but many of us haven't implemented them till now. Those who haven't, do it now, better late than never.

    I am also working hard to get out of the same problem, though I am still confused about some of the causes Jeff mentioned. Dunno whether I'll be ever successful or not. But I'll continue to make trincas a useful resource for viewers.
     
    iceberg, Feb 26, 2008 IP
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  10. jhnrang

    jhnrang Notable Member

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    #10
    All the very best mate with your trincas.

    As for me- I do not agree with keeping some sites ( like Men's Health) sites out of my directory if they are by renowned and established companies. I also look for the quality of sites (including age of the site) before I approve listing. Also DMOZ/Google directory too have those kind of sites listed.

    On the other hand, one very good point I took note is- " To check already listed sites regularly" . Many sites change quickly from what it was before.
     
    jhnrang, Feb 27, 2008 IP
  11. dugu

    dugu Active Member

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    #11
    Interesting find. 10x mate
     
    dugu, Feb 27, 2008 IP
  12. mikey1090

    mikey1090 Moderator Staff

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    #12
    Pretty much everything he blogged about was mentioned in the DP thread that was made, or the thread I made on talkdirectories that recapped it all.

    Interesting to see he stopped sponsoring templates. I wonder how he will build links now. Perhaps him stopping paid links and theme sponsoring has lead to his SERPs falling, which is what he was confused about.

    Congrats to Jeff. His great directory is back again!
     
    mikey1090, Feb 27, 2008 IP
  13. jg123

    jg123 Notable Member

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    #13
    A very interesting read but it looks like a bit of a shotgun approach so I am not sure if - all, half or most of the changes are what brought about a lift of the penalty.

    Some questions that come to mind are:

    1. Since some 'paid links' still remain and google can't know if they are still paid for or not was that really part of the pentalty? Or was it the appearance of 'many' paid links that triggered some sort of manual review?

    2. You sponsored many free templates and they are probably still being used with link backs and are also probably still available to download at other places on the web? So again, was it the number of sponsored templates or the fact that you sponsored any at all?

    3. The reciprocal link thing is a confusing and I guess it is best removed.

    4. A directory has to start somewhere so a penatly for empty categories seems harsh. It sounds anti-competitve to me.

    5. I don't understand why google would penalize a directory for linking to a bad neighbourhood site that Google itself lists in its' own index. I don't think it is fair to hold other people to higher standards than you hold yourself.

    Lots of good information but I am left, as usual (and I am sure the way google want me to be) confused.
     
    jg123, Feb 27, 2008 IP
  14. mikey1090

    mikey1090 Moderator Staff

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    #14
    yeah. The themes are still there for download, so even though no more are being sponsored, backlinks can still be generated from the existing themes.

    I would say age/time measure is needed here. Aviva is quite old compared to many web directories promoted around DP. If it had empty categories when it was 3 years old, that would be easy to spot.

    I would say its not about the fact that google lists them, as it lists everything nearly. A web directory is human edited, so if Jeff was linking to crap he would clearly not be reviewing sites/letting people in due to payment.
     
    mikey1090, Feb 27, 2008 IP
  15. enQuira

    enQuira Peon

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    #15
    Looks like all the old backlinks were discounted in the ongoing PR upate. It is never easy to recover from a google penalty :eek:
     
    enQuira, Feb 27, 2008 IP
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  16. dargre

    dargre Peon

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    #16
    What was possible for Jeff (congrats anyway) may not be possible for anyone else.
    You can make changes, write Mr G. thousands times and don't expect they will ever reply or review your site. Happens, but accidentally.

    As always in case of ban or filter my suggestion is (you can ask any expert) just don't care of it, go forward, create new sites using your knowledge and experience you got with previous.

    All of it if you're not Jeff of course :)


    - D.
     
    dargre, Feb 27, 2008 IP
  17. BlueDevilMedia

    BlueDevilMedia Well-Known Member

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    #17
    Congrats Jeff!!! Aviva is truly one of the best directories in the industry.
     
    BlueDevilMedia, Feb 27, 2008 IP
  18. Freewebspace

    Freewebspace Notable Member

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    #18
    Whether there is a PR update now?
     
    Freewebspace, Feb 27, 2008 IP
  19. enQuira

    enQuira Peon

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    #19
    many reported changes, I have seen some.
     
    enQuira, Feb 27, 2008 IP
  20. mikey1090

    mikey1090 Moderator Staff

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    #20
    DataCentre 72.14.255.xxx is updating. My FD and ZL are PR0. ZD still PR4 and TD still PR3.
     
    mikey1090, Feb 27, 2008 IP