Weird Things Going On At Google....

[scottmc]

Originally Posted by kaus

Its nice to outrank someone but to see them suffer from something that they no longer have control of...thats different

Google does not hand out penalties for no reason. You now outrank them because they most likely got caught doing something against Googles webmaster guidelines. And that is not to say that others who haven't been penalised are playing by the rules, they just haven't got caught yet.

[PPP]

It looks like a minus 50 penalty. The sites all rank 50 to 60 or so for their names and main search terms. Buying those text link boxes everywhere was always a risk.

[scottmc]

Originally Posted by PPP

Buying those text link boxes everywhere was always a risk.

No arguments there. However with this penalty I have seen a couple of penalised sites that haven't bought links like that and also non-penalised sites who do that a lot.

[Ridge]

My first thought was did Pokerlistings finally get hit. Of course not, and we all know buy more links than anyone.

It looks like lots of the SERPS have been affected. I see that several cloaking sites have vanished as well. I think some sites got hit that shouldn't have been, but the others pretty much knew the risk.

I hate to see a PAP member or two got hit with this, but they are good sites and will bounce back.

My next thought is: Aren't we about due for a good old PR update?

[PPP]

It could be a reverse phenomenon, as in one particluar link seller became the hub of a bad neighborhood, and those sites that were linked from there were hit, while pokerlistings/pokerteam/pokerjunkie didn't buy links from that particular site.

[newjabber]

My next thought is: Aren't we about due for a good old PR update?

the rumor says yes, and my expectations are high

[thefarang]

Well, my site went from 5 to 3 overnight. I don't buy backlinks from anyone. In fact, I've never bought a link. So why did I get a penalty? :-)

[Notspot]

I don't think it's penalties, I think they're testing a new algo.

I've noticed they've been rolling back a fair bit. I change my page titles and descriptions fairly regularly and I've noticed they will crawl and have the new Meta's in the SERP's for a few days, then they roll back to the old version again for a few days, then back to the new version again. It's easier to spot when you're changing the descriptions.

The same thing happened a few months ago - it went haywire for around 2 weeks then settled down again (around the time of the last PR update? maybe, I can't remember). Last time I was propelled to number one for a few phrases for a few days but this time everything is pretty stable for me.

Have you noticed the sites that have been hit are all what we in the business would consider to be 'authority' sites - maybe they're messing with aging factors.

Very interesting topic which should be discussed, but I don't think gloating at anyone elses downfall is very productive - it may be you next time and they've all worked hard for their positions. I hope they all come back to their former glory soon.

EDIT: Actually I've just properly checked what's going on with some of these sites and it may be a penalty (but I still think they are algo testing too).

[PokerPie]

thats a great blog, just read like the last six months of it. a lot of good stuff in there for affiliates/site owners

[BootyCraze]

I dont know if anyone has noticed but google is showing different results for different servers. Apparently they are testing different algo's.

Who knows what they are testing.

Spam bots? Paid links? Link exchanges?

Could be anything but as most things are against googles rules, its more likely some are being stung for bending the rules more than others.

Most people want fairer results. Thats not being against some of the larger sites, Ive also noticed a few spam sites slipping through the net, so it looks as though they need a bit more testing before they settle on what they are looking for. I wouldnt trey to change anything because the results all might jump back again overnight.