Am I getting penilized by Google?

Discussion in 'SEO' started by Jude Vihervaara, Jun 28, 2006.

  1. #1
    Just noticed that the traffic on my sites has dropped dramatically down to 20% of the normal level. First thing I did was check the SERPs from Google and there was the reason why traffic has dropped - all search results has dropped atleast with 50 or even more, comparing to the Google sitemap statistics. Or if there isn't so many results, then to the last position.

    OK, the title of this thread is stupid - I am punished hard by Google. Thing is that I don't understand why I'm punished. If I write to Google, they wont answer me. Don't they understand that no one will not learn anything if they don't know why they are punished. Punishing without reason or showing the reason will only create mad dogs.

    My site has been up for 3 years now and this is atleast third time I'm penalized. During that time I have only updated the content and made slight changes into the pages - just small cosmetic changes. Everytime the penalizing has taken 3-4 months and after that the results are coming back and the traffic is getting back to the normal level. And then it happens again. But I just don't understand why, because Google doesn't tell my why. When I look my competitors pages, in my opinion, I have more more and better valuable content than they and they aren't punished ever.

    O' Mighty Google - tell us what we are doing wrong so we can serve you better.

    P.S. Google's marketshare in Finland is about 95% - that's why I'm really dependent of Google's results.
     
    Jude Vihervaara, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  2. Art

    Art Peon

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    #2
    Hello Jude,
    Did you happen to have the URL of the site in question? I have a theory on why it's dropped, but I'm not certain about it just yet.
     
    Art, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  3. GADOOD

    GADOOD Peon

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    #3
    Tell us your theory anyway, Art. :)

    Pete
     
    GADOOD, Jun 28, 2006 IP
    Art likes this.
  4. PaulJames

    PaulJames Peon

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    #4
    yes please do, i am very curious now
     
    PaulJames, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  5. Elee

    Elee Well-Known Member

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    #5
    Please............ end the suspense!! Tell us what you think
     
    Elee, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  6. LinkBliss

    LinkBliss Peon

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    #6
    I suffered the same on two sites. All keywords dropped 30-50 or more or even out of the rankings entirely. This is the first time it has happened on either site in years, they are both 5 years+.

    I was running co-op ads on both, I have removed them from both site just a couple days ago, no improvement in the rankings yet.

    Eric
     
    LinkBliss, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  7. alephito

    alephito Peon

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    #7
    alephito, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  8. tonyinabox

    tonyinabox Peon

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    #8
    I have the problem too. I think they just have problem or something.

    I don't think it's about co-op because another sites of mine still fine
     
    tonyinabox, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  9. Art

    Art Peon

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    #9
    I wasn't quite sure whether to post or not since I don't want to throw any information out there I'm not certain of. It also deals with the co-op network which some people are quite sensitive to. I like to think I'm reasonable so there's no point placing blame on an aspect we havn't confirmed yet.

    It's really a combination of things I've noticed that're becoming more and more apparent with Google. I'll use one of my sites as an example, this trend has exhibited itself across all of my sites that're in similar conditions.

    I had a site with XX,XXX or so indexed pages, the majority of them non supplementary, this became an attractive place to place co-op links so I did so, with great results over time. In order to maximise the number of cached pages (the site itself had a great number more pages, all with unique content in the form of comments and discussion), I changed the structure of the site from subdomain categorized (i.e. category.domain.com) to subfolders. I then 301'd the subdomains to their respective folders. Around the same day I did this, the Big Daddy update was at its height (horrendous timing, perhaps?).

    Now technically, this was a perfect switchover, every page had a perfect 301 with robots.txt entries to ensure no bad spidering of certain pages. Here comes the issue: Google never deindexed or removed the cache of the original pages (there're still many thousands of them there), but marked them as supplementary. The next issue comes as well, the new subfoldered pages are being hit by what I'm assuming is duplicate content penalty and being thrown into supplemental hell with a large majority of the previous pages being deindexed (whilst their 301 targets were never indexed at all). Note that these pages all have unique content with much deep linking as well.

    As a result of the supplementary pages (and massive deindexing), a great deal of traffic has been lost, along with the co-op weight.

    This experience has been repeated on all my sites that have used 301s and is lending weight to a few things.

    1. Google is absolutely terrible at dealing with 301s. I'm guessing after their AdSense hijacking they would've implemented some sort of redirect hijack algorithm which is potentially pulling in innocent sites.

    2. Google's supplemental index is picking up unique content pages. Initially this occured only to a very very small % of pages, I'm figuring their algorithm will let some pages slip through, but whatever revision they've made is picking up important content as well.

    3. I've noticed a scary drop on sites failing to rank for their domains and unique domain keywords (e.g. randomwordhere.com, failing to rank for "random word here" even with links.), this has only occured on my co-op sites. Those who know me know that I'm not quick to jump to conclusions, so I'm still on the fence regarding this one. The initial drop was exactly in the range of 30-40 positions.

    These are just my observations, I was going to check his URL for the co-op and for any strange duplicate content/supplemental issues. Regardless of the cause, the issue is inherent in Google, and it doesn't bode well.
     
    Art, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  10. alephito

    alephito Peon

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    #10
    We are a lot with the same symptoms in sites running co-op links.
     
    alephito, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  11. enQuira

    enQuira Peon

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    #11
    a big drop in my serps in all datacenters. still have the old rankings in these datacenters:
    64.233.189.107
    66.249.89.107
    72.14.235.107
    when I use the site: command the homepage doesn't show first. still show 90% of the site's pages, no supplemental but the output of site is not as it used to be (ranking). I hope it is a site problem otherwise this will cost me $70 a day.
     
    enQuira, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  12. Sjorritsma

    Sjorritsma Peon

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    #12
    Same problem here, but

    64.233.189.107 (Serps same as Yesterday)
    66.249.89.107 (New Serps)
    72.14.235.107 (Serps same as Yesterday)

    I don't use COOP.

    Very weird. Only 4 pages are affected in the serps
     
    Sjorritsma, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  13. deny

    deny Active Member

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    #13
    I did tested my site via site: whatever.blabla
    and my site is listed but i lost top 10 positions by all most searched words.
    i try to be not in panic but i panic already.It never happend before.Didnt change anything.
    Traffic dropped already for 70%/ PR is still same 5.
    I can understand slightly losing of position but i;m unfindable in first 100 search result by almost any word.
    Jesus Christ whats going on here!?

    btw

    I just reasearched this center
    64.233.189.107
    66.249.89.107
    72.14.235.107

    and position is still good old.WIthin first 10.I hope that this is glitch and that it will be same as before within couple days.
    I do not use COOP and only advertisemnet network on my site is google adsense and till today monthly statistic was more than 100.000 visitors.
     
    deny, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  14. williamjack

    williamjack Notable Member

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    #14
    Same problem with me guys i lost SERP for my site using coop.
     
    williamjack, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  15. Sjorritsma

    Sjorritsma Peon

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    #15
    New algo ??
     
    Sjorritsma, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  16. enQuira

    enQuira Peon

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    #16
    read what I wrote, my site also show with the site: command, but the homepage is not ranked first when using that command, which is weird. try to do the same and check if you have this problem. plus site: gives a totally wierd and new ranking of the pages that's why I hope that this also a site: commande problem
     
    enQuira, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  17. Sjorritsma

    Sjorritsma Peon

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    #17
    I'm only having this problem with 4 pages.

    I tested with 1 page

    With the site:command
    on server 64.233.189.107 - position 2

    on google.com position 705
     
    Sjorritsma, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  18. MikeSwede

    MikeSwede Peon

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    #18
    Yesterday I lost 50% of my visitors from Google to my site that has been around for 6-7- years. I look at my sitemap stats (NOTE: I dont have a sitemap but have submitted my site so I can see stats) and every keyword that I was ranked 1-10 is GONE!
    I don't know WTH is going on here but it ain't good! I don't use the co-op and never have so it can't be it. One thing though that I see is that some of my subdomains has been spidered and shows up in the search but not my main site?!?
    God I hope that they will get their act together soon and stop playing with us serious people!!:mad:
     
    MikeSwede, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  19. deny

    deny Active Member

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    #19
    site: command (with first blank) homepage is still show as first one
     
    deny, Jun 28, 2006 IP
  20. alephito

    alephito Peon

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    #20
    Those that don't use co-op and are being penalized: do you use Link-vault or any oher link exchange program?
     
    alephito, Jun 28, 2006 IP