Google or Not to Google?

[Keimos]

having been hit by the recent changes that Google have made and looking at the quote that has been received through Garret. (well done!)

It would appear that we should stop griping and listen to the advice.

I was hit last year and managed to get back up and I have been hit really hard this year. To me the question is not what have those stupid b********s done but what should I do to ensure that I can overcome it.

There are simply two choices.
boycott Google and move to another search engine.

listen to what is coming from google and adjust your site accordingly.

What a really crap answer that is. I wish that my crystal ball was available or even better, I could have been at the drinking session when they decided the new algorithms.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My intentions are to now to get out my old archived site and stick it up. At hat time I had no idea about SEO or all these tricks yet it manged to last at #1 for 3 years. (computer courses) and no you will not find it at the moment, wonder why?

Good luck to you all in overcoming this hiccup.( normally every november, so at least you have been warned for next year)
Keimos

[ron sheldrick]

Google is widely used by consumers for finding products..so if you're a commercial site ignoring google is business suicide. As they say pride comes before a fall. I'm a freelance SEO engineer, so adjusting sites to rank highly is a way of life.
A lot of people think that you tune once and sit back and the $$$ roll in....it don't work that way..only in dreams !!!!
Serious internet retailers should treat SEO as a business necessity...If nobody knows you're there...nobody knows you're there and if you don't sell anything a strange thing happens...NOTHING

[amberstar702]

As Keimos said, we can boycott Google and move to another search engine (or engines).

IMHO, as Google distinguished itself from the mass of search engines, so can another one rise up as well. I predict that this will happen. I am sure that other search engines are gearing up to topple Google from their pedestal. It's inevitable as Google has gotten too big for their britches.

My husband does the search engine promotions for our websites and he mentioned that there is a noticeable relaxation of submission requirements on a few other small engines. Good luck to the contenders!

[Christian_SEO]

When you use any free service, it's hard to complain when things change... or it should be, no matter how frustrating it is.

To me, it's like all those poor souls that were heavily, if not 100% invested in ENRON. It's not quite the same thing, but it's the same principal.

Now more people know what we have said for a long time, get divesified and submit your site everywhere you can. Even a small search engine or directory may become a large player in a couple of years. Google used to be small. Alta Visita used to be big.

Get diversified and don't spend time on much beyond having a site would good content based around scored keyword phrases. Have what people look for on your site and you are going to get found.

Out of the 50+ sites we have worked on in the past two years, only one client has contacted us with concerns about changes in traffic patterns.

[janeth]

History shows that no one stays big forever.

I would keep working with Google but do not ignore all the other search engines. You never know who will be #1 next year.

[amabaie]

I, too, have noticed a lot of people griping because their free ride is over. Other webmasters have been cheering, because the algorithm change has helped them. Their turn at the gravy train.

I wish that my crystal ball was available or even better, I could have been at the drinking session when they decided the new algorithms.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My crystal ball tells me this: "Do things the way you are supposed to be doing them, and you will probably rank high." The problem is that so many SEOs are selling webmasters on sneaky tactics for short term gains.

The recent mess is just the first wave of what is to come, and was predicted by a few of the more visionary SEOs months ago.

I wrote this article three weeks ago -- call it the next wave of predictions. I might be off on the details, but follow the principles and you can hop aboard the free ride for a while longer:
http://www.vinuthomas.com/article75.html

[minstrel]

My crystal ball tells me this: "Do things the way you are supposed to be doing them, and you will probably rank high." The problem is that so many SEOs are selling webmasters on sneaky tactics for short term gains.

The recent mess is just the first wave of what is to come, and was predicted by a few of the more visionary SEOs months ago.

My feelings exactly... on both counts: the web is in this predicament today because of abusive SEO tactics and it wasn't difficult to predict that sooner or later things would be changed so that those tactics would no longer work.

The SEO industry is like the car sales industry: Not everyone in the industry is bad, but the ones who are give the whole industry a bad name. Maybe those in the industry should think about accreditation or at least a Better Business Bureau type of organization to help the public identify who is who.

[tnt]

I got kicked very badly, and I'm therefore one of those who's deeply disturbed with Google. And there's little in the new Google "advice" that would help me now, because I wasn't really violating their rules in the first place.

For example, I didn't belong to a link farm, and had only one link page with the same basic links on there for two years now. And there's a big difference between sneaky SEO and smart SEO. I had a link popularity of about 500. One of the outfits that replaced me on page one was a two person firm that had 29,000+ links pointed back at them. How's that possible without some kind of "sneaky" tactic? There just seems to be little rhyme or reason at Google, IMHO.

They remind me of young lovers who loose their heads over someone fawning over them so much, and begin to take it for granted that there's something so special about them that they can treat that love with impunity. It's not until years later and that love's long gone that they realize how valuable it was. Google may look back in the same at the 'love affair' we all seem to be going through with them because they're "so popular".

Remember four years ago when the wisdom of the Internet said that "If you're not listed on Yahoo, you might as well not be on the net?" Well I can't prognosticate, but it wouldn't surprise me if we don't one day look back at Google in the same way.

I actually like http://www.exactseek.com. They not only offer to actually help webmasters with their ranking, but allow you to schedule your own recrawls. The trend for search engines to offer 'service' to webmasters may become a competitive tactic. Even if nothing changes, maybe it would be better to have good search term ranking with 10% than fight Google for their smug control of today's 70%. And who knows, today's 70% may one day be like Yahoo's current 10%.

[jl-reis]

My crystal ball tells me this: "Do things the way you are supposed to be doing them, and you will probably rank high." The problem is that so many SEOs are selling webmasters on sneaky tactics for short term gains.

I'm going to have to agree w/amabaie here. I run a small web design business, so small that right now I can hardly afford more traditional means of advertising. My only options are to optimize my site (and those of my clients) the way that they're supposed to be done so that my targeted clients find me.

As a result, my site hasn't moved but maybe two spots either way during this last Google "fiasco". Two of my clients are placing respectfully for their chosen search words, and a test site is doing better than I could've hoped for.

I sometimes think that we put entirely too much store in this whole SEO business, whether for our own company or our clients. When I go through some of these boards I get the feeling that we're only aiming for that coveted "#1" spot, everything else be damned.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm tired, maybe it's those old holiday blues, but this is getting so-ooo old.

[felicity1127]

I personally hope another search engine rises up and puts Google in it's place. What they have done to the small businesses around the world with this latest algo is ridiculous. What bothers me is the websites that were'nt spamming or doing anything wrong were booted down in rank also. Patti