Why the sudden penalization on Directories?

Just an honest question here friend and no pun intended.

How do you define quality and how do you think Google is not doing anything as I have searched a famous big site that used to be an authority directory and its not anymore. Cause I am as anyone confused on trying to figure out what is wrong or happening right now.

 

That makes sense. If the Google algo did just penalize a site for doing something like that, it would be very easy for competition too mimic that. Unless I'm forgetting something that prevents such a easy tactic to be used?

From Cutts Post:

There is no doubt in my mind that organic links are much better. But just because a good well quality site can wait for organic links doesn't mean they will be noticed in the SERP's. Perhaps certain keywords or phrases limited to a certain group, but not those heavy targeted keywords where your competition doesn't want to rely on only organic links.

Even though I built my directory slow, I was always planning to try to find useful and deserving sites relevant to the category I was editing. Sites that just truly do rely on organic links are sometimes still only able to reach the top 50-150. I'm going to use a phrase from Matt Cutt, "take off your webmaster hat" and ask yourself would the normal user dig into the 5th - 15th page result to find a site they are looking for? Most likely not. And I know I'm not the only editor who has this mentality of trying to find sites on their own. If directory editors had this mentality, wouldn't us editors be "organically linking" to well deserved sites? Wouldn't our listings to these sites in return better the search results?

Yes thats right. And it is said that Google's algo will devalue any type of these links. But why penalize a site for it? This again goes with what shutzu mentioned. Site A can create 20 sites in a week and interlink Site B. Another very doable tactic.

I can't declare anything about whats going on with a lot of sudden drops in SERP's. I guess like many, we'll have to wait it out to see if things resolve. If not, then I can only speculate that the sites affected were somehow penalized.

 

I tend to agree.

1. I have a couple of non-directory sites that have been affected. In one example, I had marketed keyword combos with the name of a company. That name is not in the English dictionary.
   
2. A large majority of my directory sites were not affected. The one that was affected did not have a title that can be found in a dictionary.

Here is a theory for your comments.

Google is ignoring all links with text that include a high percentage of non-dictionary words.
Google could exclude authority type sites and they could manually exclude other sites when they get complaints.

 

Now I am wondering how that should be if its a non dictionary as I have

My New Directory

 

Your site would only trigger the filter if it had hundreds of links with "wownaman" as anchor text.

 

It is interesting that my earlier post regarding how much you must be concerned for your customers ( of which I have been one to most of you) - goes unheeded.

Very telling, and very sad. Never have I seen customers ignorned like this - must be an oversight.

Also, it must be hard for the banned directories to suspend submissions whilst this is going down.

How have you broken this to customers on your homepage?

How are you all coping with this?

You have my sympathy in this time of YOUR need

 

Hey perhaps this is a large scale devaluing of reciprocal links.. I have a competitor that moved down quite a bit. They've been on the first page for more then a a year, mostly old reciprocal links from 1999.

 

A lot of directories have reciprocal links and anything is possible.

Just one more step in Googles "link control" agenda

 

Well i guess that the AX fell not only on directories but also blogs, websites and what have not.
It would seem that this new filter has kicked in major overdrive as many have complained and not only directories but everyone...

this reminds me off the banking tv commercials for Capital One...

So whats in your wallet Well it seems someone has been peaking

thx
malcolm

 

Even I think this is the case.

IMO, this happened not because the sites bought/sold links, but because they were all interlinked with high PR and sitewide links - making it all a virtual network.

 

Playing dirty tricks, outsmarting Google, directories with hundreds of categories without a single listing just to be indexed, open link buy / selling, links to irrelevant high pr sites, exploiting the industry without sweating a bit to add listings in own directories.... should I go more ?

 

Any updates - have the SERPS returned?


Just interested as a customer

 

The "SERPS" never went away.

Do a search. For anything. Your choice of search terms. Your choice of search engine.

Press the "Search" or "Ask" button as the case maay be.

Look at the browser page in front of you.

There they are. Just where they always are. "SERPS".

 

Wealdie,

We pay our money for a directory listing and we take that risk.

There's too much crap on the internet, which means it's even more difficult for the search engines to filter the crap from the good. I have lost touch of the number of directories that interlink with other directories, that list adult, drug links.

I do though think it's a shame that directories like Aviva are having problems as I always classed this as a quality directory, but how many links on other directories and forums does the directory have?

Your asking for trouble in my opinion.

The net needs a tidy up!

 

There will always be winners and losers.

Someone goes up and someone has to go down,

 

It could be a change in algo. but I guess we wouldn't know what's happening now. PR update is so late, too. I simply can't think much what Google is doing.

If G is penalizing certain directories, I would like to know what causes are. So far, only one of mine has lost its position in the SERP. But then it was ranked well about a week ago. I can't conclude anything just yet.

 

Totally agreed. I have $pent a few thousand $$$ on directory subs this year - plenty of that with owners residing here.

I dont regret that - but I do regret the "me me me" without no regard to the customers.

Not once have I heard a directory owner say "this is unfair on our customers and we need to sort ourselves out for their sake"

I shall not be spending any more - mostly due to this attitude

 

...

This is unfair on our customers and we need to sort ourselves out for their sake.


Although there are a handful of directory owners who only care about the customer greens, there are some who also care for the customer and their viewers.

What is this "me me me" thing you are blabbing about? Whose "me me me"? I'm pretty sure some of the directory owners being affected do care for both, their site that they built and their customers.

 

"ALSO"

I dont doubt that for a minute - the problem is that these threads and the Directory Forum never seem to get this point across.

It I am simply pointing out that there are Directory Customers as well as owners on these forums and reading these threads - it is all in the public domain.

And It dont read good from a customers perspective

See above

 

I see your point. Even though there will always be a handful of directory owners who do really care, the ones who do destroy the image of the industry will always make it much more clearer.