Massive SERP drop...again

[innominds]

Let me tell you something about my site. Online eBooks, Software & Information Downloads is a site which deals with the review of the products and has a good SERP till Aug 13th 2007. But after, the site lost all its SERP ...may be due to google updations. Later on Sep 26th, the SERP was again back and stayed there till Oct25th. On 26th morning, all the SERP vanished.

Why is this happening again for my site. Please do suggest me what to do to regain the lost SERP.

[FlatFeeKing]

You have possibly joined different forums or industry group web communities that google considers to be "link abusers" where the whole site is basically junk content with links to thousands of websutes

[wyspa03]

Did you add 'nofollow' tags recently, after last week G update, or were they present way before the update?

[FlatFeeKing]

what do the nofollow tags do? is that someone we all need to ad?

[innominds]

I think I've added the no follow tags after Sep 5th or so. Should I add them or delete them?

[cass-hacks]

Originally Posted by innominds

I think I've added the no follow tags after Sep 5th or so. Should I add them or delete them?

If the links that are nofollow'ed could be considered affiliate, sponsored or advertising or just about anything else that doesn't add relevancy, I would definitely leave the nofollow's in.

Depending on the crawl rate of your site and the size of your site, it could just be that Google hasn't crawled all the pages with the nofollow on them and so thinks there are some things about your site that it doesn't like.

Personally, I use nofollow's as sparingly as possible but when in doubt, it is probably better to be safe than sorry. And, always make sure that Google has had a chance to get a complete new picture of your site before making too many decisions or changes.

In any event, I wish you good luck because it can be hell sometimes trying to figure out what it was that set off the "beast".

[wyspa03]

Originally Posted by cass-hacks

If the links that are nofollow'ed could be considered affiliate, sponsored or advertising or just about anything else that doesn't add relevancy, I would definitely leave the nofollow's in.

I'm not the biggest fan of 'nofollow' tag, however I agree with cass-hacks. Because of all this recent updates, it's might be worth to revised your business model and keep the tag to any sponsored review links. (of course if you have any)

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by wyspa03

I'm not the biggest fan of 'nofollow' tag, however I agree with cass-hacks. Because of all this recent updates, it's might be worth to revised your business model and keep the tag to any sponsored review links. (of course if you have any)

Nofollow for paid links is a THREAT. Use it, or pay the price!

[Webnauts]

But since I am talking about the price, what is the price anyway?

Loss of PageRank? Or a -930 penalty? What would you tip?

[cass-hacks]

Originally Posted by Webnauts

What would you tip?

I'd only tip 10% but I'm cheap.

I always have a hard time figuring out what 10% of a -930 penalty is though.

Is there a good rule of thumb to go by?

Seriously though, I couldn't agree more with your saying "Use it, or pay the price!".

The question I often hear is, what might be considered a "paid link", besides the obvious.

Affiliate links, product reviews that may look like they are paid for etc. Is this one of those times when being paranoid might not be a bad idea?

I'm thinking especially for the case of innominds' problem with the site's SERPs porpoising up and down.

[incrediblehelp]

What is the purpose of the website? To make money on AdSense? If so then you will never rank as well as real websites serving a real purpose.

[innominds]

No..it is the site that reviews products and so the affiliate links with nofollow. Other than that there is no chance of sponsorship.

[dartman]

Originally Posted by Webnauts

Nofollow for paid links is a THREAT. Use it, or pay the price!

And nofollow for "not paid" and/or internal links?
Do you see any issues with this since there are sites and
internal pages that one may not want to pass PR to.