Google's "Original" Results Are Back.

[sudhani]

First signs of Google tracking its results back>>>

How many of us spent sleepless nights after Google's Nov 16th revision of Search Results--- the recent "Google Dance"??? I am really sorry ...... i couldn't follow any discussion on WPW about what is the latest.

Now I think it is reversing the damage it has done to itself by introducing strong filters to "SEOed" sites.

Here is my observation:

Search results for Arifa Khan (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=arifa+khan) show www.arifakhan.com (http://www.arifakhan.com/) at #1.

It was there at #1 before google's revision. But this was not the case few hours back : it was not listed in top 20 or so. I am just checking a few
more things before we can have a confirmation.

Any of you have observed??? Just check and let me know!!!

Think Happy Days are back!!!

[janeth]

I think you need to do some more checking.
There not even close to being back

[rlrouse]

The SERPS change bit by bit every day as new pages are crawled and indexed. I haven't seen any changes in the last few days that are out of the ordinary.

[janeth]

Hi rlrouse,
I thought we had a new member for a second there. Long time no see.

[rlrouse]

Hi Janeth. It's good to be back. I was out of town for a while...

[sudhani]

think it just started ...... let us see ... its not like google crawling all pages to reindex ... but i feel they are retracing their steps back >>>

I am just wondering where they will end up / stop >>> lets hope they will go back to "content" based rankings .....

I am just keeping a watch >> look for it >> will post when i find more evidence

[acornwebworks]

Try the following search term, for example. Don't put it in quotation marks, because most searchers do not even know that's a possibility.

sell your home on the internet

That's one that I have always ranked very nicely for as "sell your home" is a phrase I focused on.

Doing it just now, the top 10 results are:

Yahoo
Used cars
Realty Times
Hell's Home Page
Publisher's Catalog
MSN House and Home
Wilson Web
Clickz.com
Starting a Small Home Business
The Web Newsroom

Do those sound like the most relevant results? I can't imagine why anyone would think so. And it doesn't get any better on the next page of results. Or the page after that. Ad nauseum.

I am still getting ZERO searches from Google on ANY of my keywords and phrases.

Instead I am getting hits on terms like "granite floors" and "bay window seats" and "home office"...so the people getting to me are ALSO being ill-served by Google's results.

Seems to me that, if Google were going to correct this situation, they would already have done it. So I reckon it's time for me to start making changes.

Merry Christmas, Google.

First signs of Google tracking its results back>>>

How many of us spent sleepless nights after Google's Nov 16th revision of Search Results--- the recent "Google Dance"??? I am really sorry ...... i couldn't follow any discussion on WPW about what is the latest.

Sure did---I had 2 clients' websites literally disappear completely for the whole dance....and the re-appear "pop" back into place....I'm noticing that this seems to happen everytime w/ newly indexed sites......that is...after they are first "snapshotted" by Google they always get lost in the first dance...



Think Happy Days are back!!!
I don't know about that my friend....there's a lot of weird stuff on the horizon---
Overture is beginning to change everything regarding SEO.....it's new territory for all of us.....I would love to think that though

CHEERS!
DAREN
http://WebPageTurner.com

[janeth]

What is Overture doing?

Out of all of them who has the best chance of going against Google?

[acornwebworks]

Hi folks,

I just discovered something and wanted your thoughts on it.

Do a Google search on the following:

free fsbo listings

Check out results #2-10. They will all take you to what looks like the same website. Then check out the source codes.

Is this what we should all be doing to get listed well on Google now? It sure worked for what is actually a credit report service.

By the way, what is this tag? It appears on some of the site.

<meta name="GOOGLEBOT" content="NOSNIPPET">

[sudhani]

Hi Daren,



....I'm noticing that this seems to happen everytime w/ newly indexed sites......that is...after they are first "snapshotted" by Google they always get lost in the first dance...


You might be true .. the site i refered got indexed recently ....... I am still trying to figure it out!!!

Sudha

[janeth]

We are back for all our key words but we changed out site 100% from what we had before droping over 1,200 words on our home page and changing everything.

I figured we would loose a lot of key words but it looks more like we got the old ones back and gained some new ones.

[kjohnson5576]

I noticed I'm ranking high on many keyword phrases that I couldn't be found in after the Nov dance. I think it is begining to come back around.

Thanks for all the new techniques I learned as a result of this.

I'd like to know about this "snippet" thing also.

Also, one of my major competitors is a total spammer with key words. The site has almost 75 words in the description, all key words with no coherent sentance structure. Plus, just a paragraph of key words at the bottom of their page. It never left the rankings during the dance, yet, what I would consider total spam. I figured I couldn't go wrong either, so I increased my description by a ton of key words and phrases. I'll let everyone know if something bad or good happens.

Kent
www.discount-leather.net

[JayDrake]

I noticed I'm ranking high on many keyword phrases that I couldn't be found in after the Nov dance. I think it is begining to come back around.


I've got to say that I got hit pretty hard myself from the Nov. dance, though I managed to stay within the top 100 at least. Primary keyword which I had worked up to low 20's dropped down into the high 70's in position and upon hearing other tales of woe I bought stock in Rolaids. Over the weekend my site has been moving back upward fairly steadily, nudging out sites that are truly less relevant and hopefully this will continue as I tweak away. Need to sell that Rolaids stock before everyone quits buying them en masse again. ;)

[OutsourcingDoug]

I have done much better after the change, I think my eBay Store Has A LOT to do with it.

What I see is that I am getting a lot more hits from other engines, too.

All of a sudden, I am getting many clicks for the one word, laptops.

for the past week..
1. laptops 84 50.3%
2. notebook 7 4.2%
3. laptop car mounts 5 3%
4. notebooks 5 3%
5. laptop 5 3%
6. other 4 2.4%
7. laptop car mount 3 1.8%
8. laptop car harness 2 1.2%
9. httpwww.axzar.com 2 1.2%
10. blinking dog collar
11. georgiadawgsgifts 1 0.6%
12. gifts for car guys 1 0.6%
13. laptopgifts 1 0.6%
14. strap on dildo merchandise 1 0.6%
15. poopens 1 0.6%
16. need to replace cracked lcd for laptop 1 0.6%
17. cat of collar blinking 1 0.6%
18. b 1 0.6%
19. dc adapters for laptops 1 0.6%
20. batman dog collar
. lighted christmas collars 1 0.6%
22. car laptop mount 1 0.6%
23. liberator sex pillows 1 0.6%
24. putting a laptop in a car 1 0.6%
25. funny yiddish stocking caps 1 0.6%
26. home made laptop car mount 1 0.6%
27. k9 sex toys 1 0.6%
28. liberatorshapes 1 0.6%
29. laptop car audio 1 0.6%
30. 26002a4f8dc22624


I guess my real question is Who wants k9 Sex toys!


Ahh, just my observation if it helps you guys, from a small fry in his kitchen.

[DrTandem1]

A quick side note before I start my rant: Regarding the question of "snippets", we can get the answer from Google here:

http://www.google.com/remove.html#remove_snippets

Now, here is an interesting observation. It may be old news, but it does show how Google will list purely on content association and links. Do a search for:

miserable failure

No quotation marks are necessary. The top result returned is President Bush's bio on whitegouse.gov. Of course, that term, miserable failure, does not appear on Bush's site. It's simply a term that has been repeatedly used by the biased media along with Bush's name and some 32 sites that have used the term as anchor text linking to the bio.

To read a news account, you can go here:

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzgoog1206,0,2339508.story?coll=ny-business-headlines

What's fascinating about this is not the childish behavior similar to the previous administration removing the "w" key from all of the White House's keyboards (which cost tax payers a bundle, thanks), but the way in which Google operates. Think about it. According to the article referenced above, some 800+ sites have used the term along with Bush's name, yet only 32 have actually linked the term to the bio.

Here some pranksters have manipulated Google into listing a rather obscure page as #1 from a relatively few other sites simply pointing towards it. So much for relative content and our good intentions for our own sites. It proves that you simply need your search term anchoring a link to your site. Since most of the 800+ sites using the term with pages that included President Bush, do not have a link, it would seem that the power of the 32 that do is overwhelming.

As the White House webmaster probably didn't optimize the page nor submit the page for the term "miserable failure", it would be a simple matter to create a derogatory search term that would point to your competition's site. This is the problem with Google's "democratic" approach. Eat excrement, a billion flies can't be wrong. "Billions and Billions served" doesn't mean that it's good, whether we're talking about hamburgers or web pages.

It proves that your site's actual content is of little value to Google. What is important is simply the virtual perception projected by other sites about your site regardless of its content. Of course, "miserable failure" is a fairly unique term and very few sites would want to point (link) to something such as that. It therefore makes it easy to manipulate it.

I bet that we could create 64 sites using the same term pointing to Google and overtake Bush's "monopoly" of "miserable failure". However, I'm sure Google would quickly "fix" that with one of their infamous filters. The point being, that no matter what Google does, it will be manipulated and they will morph again like a bacteria becoming immune to an antibiotic.

Of course liberals aren't the only pranksters. You can enter French Military Victories into Google and use the "I'm feeling lucky" button and Google returns the question, "Do you mean, 'French military defeats?'"

[thecrane]

Things are definately changing again, I don't know about your keywords, but mine are horrible again. As of Monday the results for my keywords were back to the way they were before the November update, and this morning they are back to the results after the update. www2 and www3 as this morning were all the same.

Also I found the results this morning used the stemming filter.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=imprint+golf+balls

These results for "imprint golf balls" for a very long time have had my website www.logogolfproducts.com as #1. As of today I am behind a competitor where the word "imprint" is not found on their page, but "imprinted" is numerous times.

When will the madness stop???

[DrTandem1]

Don't forget, Google has many different servers and they are not all synchronized. So, it is very possible that you could place , say at #6 for a search term and then be #26 just a minute later. This is because your search was done on different Google servers.

I don't have the list in front of me, but I think you can get the list from Google's site to access specific servers and compare the results.

[minstrel]

Don't forget, Google has many different servers and they are not all synchronized. So, it is very possible that you could place , say at #6 for a search term and then be #26 just a minute later. This is because your search was done on different Google servers.
My understanding is that (with the exception of the regional searches like google.ca or google.uk) the servers / databases ARE synchronized under normal circumstances. When they are not, it's because Google is updating and/or adjusting things.

See Google Dance Tool (http://googledance.seochat.com/). As of last night, the databases were still yielding slightly different results for a couple of phrases I checked.

[janeth]

Hi minstrel,
That is also my understanding

[nakulgoyal]

I agree with minstrel and vote for his opinion. :-)
Should help you...what do u say ?

[thecrane]

Thanks for that tool Minstrel!

For my search terms things are still different from server to server. I just want this to be over.

[DrTandem1]

I'm sure they attempt to have them all current, however, because of the sheer number of pages and servers, it is impossible, unless they take a break from indexing, which I doubt they do. By the time they do, they are probably already in the midst of updating them again.

You are seeing this in action with the Google Dance Tool. I have yet to see it where all of their servers had returned the exact same results. I have accessed each of them seperately (there are more than four, I think 10 is closer)and have seen vastly different results for the exact same search term on different servers.

Some believe that Google does an update once a month. I think that it is more likely an on-going process that never ceases. I suppose for a very brief interval it would be possible to have them all the same. When they test their programs, they may do so only on a server or two at a time before they release it to all of their servers. Sure, they can test scripts in the lab, but until they go on-line with actual full scale usage, they won't know what bugs may be found. It is also probable that they have one server dedicated to such testing.

Watching the search results on Google is like watching your weight while dieting. You will see all sorts of fluctuations, if you weigh yourself numerous times throughout the day. However, if you just weigh yourself once a week, you'll have a more reliable trend to follow.

[sudhani]

See Google Dance Tool (http://googledance.seochat.com/).


Thanx minstrel.

btw, is there any specific inferene that we can take??? ...... like the results on www2, and www3 are going to be the future results

[minstrel]

I have seen times when all three of the Google servers/databases (or major ones) yield identical results. The usual conclusion is that at such times Google is not making major adjustments to its algorithms, etc. But of course, that may well vary for different keywords - for my keywords, a coupole of weeks back they were all showing the same thing, including the regional database (google.ca).... now they are different again, so I assume Google is still tweaking.

[geoffreygag]

I'm still learning and adapting to google every day by tracking the logs and refining responsive terms.

search term "negocio" my site during the dance dropped to 7th position but has now returned to 3rd.

Anybody knows why such a minimum adjustment.

The same happened with "floreria" and "Ecuador Maps"

[minstrel]

search term "negocio" my site during the dance dropped to 7th position but has now returned to 3rd. Anybody knows why such a minimum adjustment. The same happened with "floreria" and "Ecuador Maps"
I suspect because those search words/phrases weren't ones that were worrying Google when they began tweaking the algorithms - I didn't see the drastic changes that some in these forums saw either. My understanding is that Google was/is targetting certain keywords and phrases that they felt they had reason to believe were being abused.

[DrTandem1]

A minor change for one, such as yourself dropping to #7 from #3, may be a huge change for another. For instance, we tend to focus on our own sites for certain keywords and maybe that of a couple top competitors. When your site went to #7, that means at least four other sites jumped ahead of yours, not just yours dropping.

Sometimes, the sites that jump ahead of yours were not close or even on the radar before the change. So, for them the change would not be minor. Moving from #3 to #7 and back to #3 may not be a change at all. You may simply have hit different servers that are not displaying the same results. You will need to access the specific servers and compare results to see what is actually happening.

[minstrel]

You may simply have hit different servers that are not displaying the same results. You will need to access the specific servers and compare results to see what is actually happening.
Under normal circumstances, that should not be necessary, since the databases are normally synchronized (excluding the regional ones like google.uk, etc.).

However, while Google is making adjustments to its search algorithms, you may see variations among the primary databases temporarily (which was still the case a couple of nights ago from what I could see).

[mobileman]

I don't see any reversal of Google Nov 16 results.

My site is related to Manufactured Housing.

I have been on the first page of Google results when anyone searched for MOBILE HOME for the past 3 years.

Now, a search on " mobile home " does not even return a site pertaining to manufactured housing until the second page of search results.

What's their explaination for searches that Totally Miss the Content Mark ?

[cbp]

mobileman

You bring up good point - I did search for mobile home and most sites at top are related to mobile phones ... it all comes down to how Google determines relevancy - in this case as the 'mobile' is first in the search phrase, the way the algorithm/filter is set up Google are assuming that the searcher is looking for something to do with mobile phones (they can not read minds of searchers) - if the searcher was, then the results are very relevant. If they wanted to purchase a mobile home, then they are very irrelevant - BUT, if they were dissappointed in the Google result, they need to type in a more specific search, such a 'purchase mobile home' - then they should be happier with the results they get.

Since the introduction of the florida filter, I have not been unhappy with any results I have got from Google when searching - BUT, I have had to add in some extra search terms to make the search more specific - I guess that is the effect of this filter on the searcher... after all Google can not read minds when a search term in entered.

CBP

[minstrel]

Some Google adjustments seem to be still in progress. As of tonight, the databases still do not seem to be synchronized for some keywords or phrases, although for others they are...