GoogleGuy Says: Google's Forum Posts

[Garrett]

GoogleGuy appears at the WebMasterWorld forums and talks with members about Google's constant changes. He can't tell all of Google's secrets, but he does offer some crumbs, and the occasional banquet, of search engine optimization wisdom.

If you'd like to stay abreast of what he has to say, look no further than the GoogleGuy-Says blog. Mark Carey, who provides "consulting services for web presence management," reprints GoogleGuy's posts from WebMasterWorld and rates them according to what he thinks their importance is.

You can even sign up for an email announcement that tells when Mark posts Google quotes he considers to be of high importance.

So here's what's been happening so far this week:

In response to a member asking if there would be an update this weekend GoogleGuy said, "I don't foresee any updates short-term (e.g. not this weekend, as you asked), although I don't claim to know of everything at Google that could ever affect a search result."

In a post rated "Importance: Low" GoogleGuy reiterated that, "AdWords/AdSense has no impact (positive or negative) on scoring/ranks."

On the 22nd, GoogleGuy stated that PR gets dropped when a domain expires, and told a forum member "I wouldn't bid over one tenth of that price" for an expired domain name the poster was eyeing.

Also on the 22nd GoogleGuy said, in response to questions about an alleged update, "I wouldn't call this an update, because no new algorithms have been pushed. In an SEO world in which search engines update their index every day, there's always going to be new data going out."

Mark, in response to GoogleGuy here, said, "Personally, I find this hard to believe, at least for a small number of query phrases. I have seen sites go from #1 to #100 in one day, in a stable industry. That can't be explained by 'new data.'"

So that's a taste of GoogleGuy for you. It's a little disorienting to read since it's pulled out of the context of WebMasterWorld, but it's fascinating and addictive.

Before you go and spend an hour or two reading his posts though, remember, "I advise people to spend less time on their toolbar PR, rankings, or a single keyword phrase and more time seeing how they do across several search engines, seeing if they can be relevant for diverse phrases, and on looking at their logs to figure out what keywords users are typing to really find the site."

In other words, don’t obsess over PageRank or Google.

[webhoster]

google guy's posts generally raise more questions than they do provide answers historically. answers he can't provide for obvious reasons, in all fairness to him...

however, if you are spending (wasting?) alot of time reading on what is up with google constantly, and how to get to #1, guess it couldn't hurt...] there is a better way, or something to make your reading worthwhile:

my advice, learn the basics of optimizing for google. they are posted in just about every forum that follow google.

than, set up a test site along with your real site. a site that you really do not care what happens if it runs afoul of google nono list. it can be a related subject site or not. do whatever you want. it's not a real site and it does not matter. but use caution because if you get ranked people will see your page content!

in this way you can experiment and if you experiment like a scientist would you will be able to learn for yourself what works, what doesnt, and what gets you in trouble with google. try things you read about too. what is helping you on your real site, and what is hurting you. it will take time to get the site up and google to be paying attention to it, but all good things take time. it will take time to learn as well as you see the results of what you try.

than, apply the good things you learn to your website...

between that and reading posts from knowledgeable google optimizers, you will get much further than trying to guess what googleguy is implying, when he is even willing to do that. or, writing to google because they won't give away secrets either!

final word: you should know the kinds of things that google doesnt like. in general concept. cheating...
if you test and than incorporate agressive techniques that seem to work right now on google, but are questionable using common sense... just remember google changes it's algos and filters all the time. and they work to keep cheaters at bay as best they can, as a generaly rule. so just because it works today doesnt mean your site wont get banned to tomorrow if you incorporate it into your real site.

optimize for all majors, but google is king of the hill in search traffic for the moment, by far.

[fathom]

google guy's posts generally raise more questions than they do provide answers historically.

I totally agree with most of what you say, the quoted statement though is inaccurate.

If you are limited in your general understanding of how things are with any search engine (plus Google) then yes - Googleguy doesn't offer much to you.

If you do your own homework - then most of what he says is extremely enlightening.

School exam teachers review - is the same thing, and doing no homework doesn't allow the teachers "little gifts" to spark your lightbulb! :-)

[jackson992]

I have a very hard time with Googleguys posts. The fact that he has blatantly lied and said that there has been no algo change is ridiculous. Websites just don't totally vanish from the listings without some change in the algo:)

[cbp]

There are a lot more things than a change to the ranking algorithm can cause a site to drop.

CBP

[jackson992]

a site yes. Several sites no:)

[cbp]

If it was several sites, did they detect some cross linking between them?

CBP

[jackson992]

On my sites yes mine are cross linked. On many others tho no cross linking at all. On my sites I have a list of my sites at the bottom of each page

[cbp]

On my sites I have a list of my sites at the bottom of each page

I would look to that being an issue. In this thread:
http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=16646
i commented on a site review that GG did at WMW(before the tread was deleted - real shame as it gave some valuable insights) - he specifcally referred to several issues with the site that Googlebot and the ranking algorithm could have had with the site in question. I mentioned some in that thread linked above - GG also referred to the crosslinking between sites as somewhat probalematic. Not enough to get a ban, but enough to send a poorer "signal of quality".

CBP

[Dave Hawley]

I cannot think of any reason why GG would lie about any algo change? None of the others have been kept secret...

When I was allowed on WebmasterWorld :o), I found his posts a voice of sanitity in a sea of insanity. Not sure why he even bothers with WebmasterWorld???