Why the sudden penalization on Directories?

First, this is an assumption and one that I'm pretty sure people can assume. It seems like a lot of directories are being affected with some sort of Google penalization. Whether it lasts for only a few days or months, who knows. This is what I wish to discuss.

I would like to hear the thoughts and opinions of directory owners being affected by this sudden & dramatic change in Google SERP's. Also for those who have prior experience with sites faced with a similar penalty are welcome to speak their thoughts and opinions as well.

Certain people have mentioned its due to directory owners purchasing paid links from directories, which doesn't make sense to me.

http://www.ripenapples.com/images/BigDifference.gif

My site was affected and I purchased relevant directory listings. I did not chase PR since 50% of the paid directory listings I purchased were from PR3 and under. Sometimes purchasing a directory listing was out of appreciation vs. anything to do with "gaming the SERP's". I also have the same amount of natural links compared to links received from paid directory reviews.


A question that has been puzzling me all day is why certain directories were affected and not others? Is this just a first wave? Will there be more? Obviously, not many people will have the answers to the questions I'm asking, but any insight and opinions will be appreciated.


Leopard

 

my assessment is that G is just making some major changes in their algorithms and testing the results out currently. We are still seeing lots of fluctuations and changes in the SERPs every single day, which tells me that issues are still being worked out. Thus, I would advice not to jump to conclusions too quickly and give it sometime to settle.

I'm pretty confident that quality directories will not be penalized to the extend that we see now as in complete delisting of sites, which I think is way too extreme. Let's just wait & see.....

 

Please see this thread that has been bouncing around all day.

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=461494

 

I think you have got it 100% wrong with your OP even suggesting the word penalization by Google are they not a respected company who have a right to change their SE indexing as and when they feel so inclined

Why does everybody have to knock G all the time, the best way in business is to carry on and take care of your own business and let 3rd party companies take care of their own business also

 

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=4350443&postcount=76
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=4350155&postcount=75

and

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=4350116&postcount=74

Seems like I'm not the only one.

Swedal, that thread seems to have more non-directory owners that are not affected by this sudden change.

Edit:

Even though I never seen this guy posting in this section, he does have a point?

 

O.k guys don't be quick to judge, I would think that someone will leak some info to help us know what's really happening. It is impossible for Google to keep this info "secret" for so long.


In the mean time, I make it a point not to advertise my directories/sites here at dp and others forums specially during this trouble time. I think it helps somehow to keep you safe (my opinion).

 

it is still early to say that it is penalization. Maybe Google is just testing its new algo...might be back a few days. However I feel lucky that all my sites were not affected.

 

Hi xc...I hope your right and I'm dead wrong.

I really do.

Do you know if this is happening to any other type of sites that are totally unrelated to directories? If other type of sites are being affected as well, then the chances of it being something to do with a change in algorithm makes sense.

 

Hello...

I just did a check on most web directories and what has happened is that they must have added a
filter somewhere for "repeated word targeting" on those that are attempting to gain better rankings for those keywords..

Give it a few weeks and it will change again...

I think they are saying build for your clients not for SEs as they are tired of everyone manipulating thier rankings

thx
malcolm

 

How about text-link-ads?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Text-Link-Ads&btnG=Search

 

Looks like Digg gave them the AX as well ...

 

http://www.seobook.com/archives/002453.shtml

It's somewhat related to this thread and I just wanted to share with you guys.

 

Hello...

They just confirmed my suspisions...

Ive noticed that when i add something showing my "betterment" in Gs rankings within a few days
its gone and its because they have "their" people here reading these threads..

I can show proof of what i said above... but wont as i dont want my sites penalized by them or them changing thier game plan..

In the end it boils down to knowing seo techniques (which they throw curve balls puposely) or buying google adwords plain and simple

Will they compromise thier search results just for $$$$ ? ... Evidently

thx
malcolm

 

but its not logical that they only targeted certain directories and not all. You can see that there are still several directories that kept their rankings on these keywords....

 

Well when i came to that conclusion as i had only checked a few of mine and not others...

Now that im aware off the others i can only imagine that this is somehow 2-3 part in that "Maybe" more then 1 filter was added..

I guess we have to also look at what all these other directories have in common that caused what has happened in the serps..

when i think about the "big names" that this has affected i have to go back and think about the number of "backlinks" before and after the Quality issues and also if gaining to many to fast had something to do with it for the new ones...

Thier is no doubt a penalization going on but not sure "why"

To be honest im still trying to figure out why exactly why myself..

thx
malcolm

 

Thanks for taking your time to find this xc.

Richie thanks for sharing.

The most interesting note in that article and one that may explain why certain directories were affected and some were not:

Also want to mention that its not only my directory/brand name I'm losing SERP's for, but all other keywords I ranked in top 10 as well.

 

Same here.

I ranked high for the terms like 'blue idea' , 'lively theme' , 'alike theme' but all are gone now.

Is this just another one of the many signs that Google is now going evil?

 

Oh no google turning evil or just matt cutt turning evil

 

I find that sites are not ranking for their own name most strange, as Google is making its search results inaccurate to searchers.

This site is a PhpLD directory and now ranks no.1 for 'Zippy Directory'
http://www.zippydir.com/

My site used to rank no.1 and can now be found on page 4 or 5
http://www.zippydirectory.com/

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=zippy+directory&ie=UTF-8

So why have I been penalised but not the other directory?

 

well, phpld is not not affected.... duval must be pleased

http://www.google.com.sg/search?q=p...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a