Can't Recover From Florida Update Help!

cz · #1 (**permalink**) 04-07-2004, 04:46 PM

Hi Forum!
I have a site that had enjoyed listings in the top 5 results on Google for all of my search terms for about a year. Then Florida update hit and I disappeared from view, losing 66% of traffic which all came from Google. Further, my search terms for this highly competitive niche were for general terms. Such as widgets, but now I'm lucky to get a 2nd or 3rd page listing and that would only be for the exact product title, like: XYZ model 300a widgets. That is the best I can do? I have added about 10 related >PR4 links since the last PR update and some interlinking from product pages to info pages that serve up info realted to the product..that kind of thing. I was making a considerable income on this small site and now barely get 3-5 orders per week. I am in all the free directories except DMOZ (won't allow my site) and Google directory. http://www.safetyenforcement.com/
Thanks for any advice, I can't get a handle on this, w/o a clue?
Any advice welcomed!
CZ

mm99 · #2 (**permalink**) 04-07-2004, 09:44 PM

I took a look at your head and it's pretty messed up. change this:

<html><script language="javascript" src="http://redirect1.vip.store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/referadd?et=4074adbb&r=http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php%3Ft%3D17299%26sid%3D3aa0946240d38952 7c2b09a842d51211&catalog=personaldefensesystems"></script><HEAD><TITLE>Self Defense Products, Pepper Spray, Stun Guns, Home Alarm Systems, Personal Alarms</TITLE><META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Self defense products, pepper spray, stun guns, home alarm systems and personal alarms. Mace, butterfly knives, stun batons, telescopic steel batons, dummy cameras and more.">
<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="self defense products, pepper spray, stun guns, home alarm systems, stun batons, steel batons, mace, butterfly knives, home security systems, telescopic steel batons, dummy camera, pepper sprays, stun gun, alarms, surveillance camera, metal scanner, pepper foggers, wholesale, free shipping, knives, knifes, child monitors, hidden cameras, wholesale, hidden camera, wireless cameras, spy cameras, room alarm, door and window alarms, home security cameras, Knives, security cameras, home security, security systems, spy cameras, police equipment, butterfly knifes, portable alarms, spy gear, martial arts weapons, self defense, safety, law enforcement equipment, police gear"><style type="text/css">
h1 { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; color: #666666; margin:1px; line-height: 24px}
</style><style type="text/css">
.yst-side-nav {font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; margin:0px; line-height: 20px}
A.yst-side-nav:link {font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; margin:0px; line-height: 20px}
A.yst-side-nav:hover {font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: underline; font-weight: bold; margin:0px; line-height: 20px}
A.yst-side-nav:active {font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; margin:0px; line-height: 20px}
A.yst-side-nav:visited {font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: bold; margin:0px; line-height: 20px}
</style></HEAD>

to this:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.1 Transitional//EN">
<html>><TITLE>Self Defense Products, Pepper Spray, Stun Guns, Home Alarm Systems, Personal Alarms</TITLE> <META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Self defense products, pepper spray, stun guns, home alarm systems and personal alarms. Mace, butterfly knives, stun batons, telescopic steel batons, dummy cameras and more.">
<META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="self defense products, pepper spray, stun guns, home alarm systems, stun batons, steel batons, mace, butterfly knives, home security systems, telescopic steel batons, dummy camera, pepper sprays, stun gun, alarms, surveillance camera, metal scanner, pepper foggers, wholesale, free shipping, knives, knifes, child monitors, hidden cameras, wholesale, hidden camera, wireless cameras, spy cameras, room alarm, door and window alarms, home security cameras, Knives, security cameras, home security, security systems, spy cameras, police equipment, butterfly knifes, portable alarms, spy gear, martial arts weapons, self defense, safety, law enforcement equipment, police gear">
<style type="text/css">
h1 { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; color: #666666; margin:1px; line-height: 24px}
</style><style type="text/css">
.yst-side-nav {font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; margin:0px; line-height: 20px}
A.yst-side-nav:link {font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; margin:0px; line-height: 20px}
A.yst-side-nav:hover {font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: underline; font-weight: bold; margin:0px; line-height: 20px}
A.yst-side-nav:active {font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; margin:0px; line-height: 20px}
A.yst-side-nav:visited {font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; font-weight: bold; margin:0px; line-height: 20px}
</style>
<script language="javascript" src="http://redirect1.vip.store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/referadd?et=4074adbb&r=http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php%3Ft%3D17299%26sid%3D3aa0946240d38952 7c2b09a842d51211&catalog=personaldefensesystems"></script></HEAD>

Then get rid of the script in the head.

peace...Paul

Mel · #3 (**permalink**) 04-07-2004, 10:31 PM

Hi CZ
Have you changed the content of your pages since the Florida update? If so and you have a copy of the old pages you might want to try using them, as I am seeing many sites which lost rankings in Florida and which made no site changes are now ranking well again, in some cases better than ever.

cz · #4 (**permalink**) 04-07-2004, 11:22 PM

Thank you both for your advice. I have two Yahoo! sites and they both come with the java redirect stuff at the top of the pages. Not sure how to be rid of it. I posted in RTML forum to see if any Yahoo! platform people can help with that.

I have only enhanced my site by adding several relevant links (like my top rated competitors) and still on that. As far as the old web pages. They are a bit different. I have removed tons of repetitions of keywords in the description and keyword tags and have played around a bit with new ones. I still have the old site info copied...just in case. I have pages floating around (if you can find them..I have) that have their cache back in the Pre-Florida days...the bottom is loaded with text links which I deleted because they duplicated the navigation bar (had the nav bar changed from a graphic to text)and added a sitemap with a text link to it at the bottom of each page and deleted the three rows of text links that were formerly on the bottom. I thought that might be just too much, and get me in a penalty situation. I have uncovered several backlinks that are not passing their PR anymore (about 6 mos now)not showing as links any longer on Google. Each one had their links page coded domain.com/links.html and "poof" they disappeared. I did re-do my links page and named it /resources.html so I'm waiting for a PR update since I deleted the PR4 links page, the (/links.html one). What a mess!