Google algorithm change overnight

[SlotsAff]

How can you tell if your site as a whole has been hit? I don't really see any changes

[cass]

How can you tell if your site as a whole has been hit? I don't really see any changes

You can tell if you were ranked very high in the se's for your main kw's and got dropped suddenly as is the case with us. The strange thing is we now rank quite high for kw's we never promoted that heavily. I think Google was pissed when it rolled out this update.

[davemerry]

It seems like most sites have been hit quite hard especially those with quality content. To be honest I don't think Google got it 100% right.

Got to agree with you there. Without blowing my own trumpet, we offer much better and much more content than the sites promoted above us, all quality stuff as well. From what I can see the webspam update has improved the rankings of webspam!

@Mike65 - The 24th was the big night for me as well.

[baldidiot]

According to SEL the update is now fully rolled out. They also report that any penalties issued are purely algorithmic and there will be no manual tinkering or re-inclusion requests.

Because this is an algorithmic change, Google has no plans to make manual exceptions. Webmasters cannot ask for reconsideration of their site, but we’re happy to hear feedback about the change on our webmaster forum.

I am still hoping that there will be some adjustments to the algo over the next week though...

Suggestions for sites that were hit include removing dubious links and building good links - normal spiel.

http://searchengineland.com/penguin-...-advice-119650

[baldidiot]

Aha, slight glimmer of hope - google have released a form for people to submit strange queries etc...

https://docs.google.com/a/google.com...bkE6MQ&ndplr=1

[shortow]

Very interesting update and looks to me like things have been shaken up quite a bit...for the better in some cases and the worse in others.

As with most big updates i'm sure Google will assess the carnage and do a degree of fine tuning in coming weeks.

[davemerry]

Aha, slight glimmer of hope - google have released a form for people to submit strange queries etc...

https://docs.google.com/a/google.com...bkE6MQ&ndplr=1

Nice! I'm too scared to use it though in case they do me in more!

[F-L-C]

How can you tell if your site as a whole has been hit? I don't really see any changes

You probably haven't been hit then

and @ Dave... that was my thoughts too!

[lots0]

What do you mean by using "no-follow" for affiliate links? Affiliate links for the brands you advertise on your site? I didn't see many sites using no-follow for the brands they advertise, but I was thinking of it. Actually, I am thinking right now that all external links to your advertised sites should use rel no-follow.

Since we are ONLY talking about google here, I will say that google has made it very very clear that if you don't use no_follow on your paid and affiliate links, they are going to penalize you for not using it.

Matt Cutts has said several times that I know of that not using no_follow will hurt your site rankings.

Also, from the talk coming out of the google plex... if you got legitimately hit with this update, google is NOT going to consider any re-inclusion requests for your site, this time...
and that means... the spamming domain names that were penalized are dead and worthless in google from this point in time forward (just like google did to searchking)... of course I see a bunch of sites that google banned that have taken their blackhat SEO to BING and seem to be doing fine... for now... lol

I also got to say... I have been very happy to see some sites disappear and hopefully never to darken my google SERP again...

[Alain]

Something that I've noticed in a large number of cases where the rankings have had big drops (eg: gone from #2 - #36, or whatever) is that the page which used to rank is gone out of the rankings, and the new lower ranking is actually a completely different page on the same site. Smells a bit penalty esque.

Ye, got the same thing with many long tails. Just to add to the absurdity of the matter. I have now bingo pages ranking for slots kw, slots ranking for poker etc. Well done Google!!! I'd call that spot on algo update to provide people with the best results possible.
I think I'll wait another week before deciding on the best strategy to deal with this matter. I do wonder though why top inner pages that were ranked nicely got thrown to God knows where.
Although we all prefer calm SE waters for smoother sailing the way things are now put us in a void regarding SEO techniques and the best way to work on our sites. Therefore I do hope another bounce will happen soon so we can have a clearer idea of what and how.

Good luck to everybody

[justbookies]

Yes. Just wait a while for it all to settle. There are examples all over the place that show this update to be a mockery. Talk here of the requirement for nofollow links is off topic and not what people have lost ranking for. If links from sites are bad then links to sites are bad. As the internet is connected by links and google still decides a site's authority by it then it is nonsense to start saying you need to get rid of all external links. Talk about panic!

It is also too early to start crowing about getting rid of "spammy" sites and "spammy" domains. What is a spammy domain anyway? I guess you think bluesquare.com is not spammy while sportingbet.com is? Nonsense. There is no crime in a self-descriptive domain name and they certainly are not dead!

What it is worth remembering is that google hates and detests what it calls "aggregator" sites. That is what we call affiliate sites. It also calls them "bridging sites," that get between the user and the operator and lessen the user's experience. We are all in the same business. However good your copy, if you have an affiliate site then google doesn't like you much. That is why this update, supposedly affecting 3%-5% of searches has affected 100% of searches for the business we are in. Affiliates in glass houses should not throw stones.

[itsblitz]

spent 6 hours reading through variuos seo forums and the general feeling is google have messed up big time on this one, i noticed right away when i was checking for some terms the day after the update, loads of old content, thin sites, exact domain name match urls etc in the top 10, the seo experts are putting up examples every hour on the forums where this update has messed up. one of my sites got hit pretty hard, not the homepage for the keyword's i try to rank for but the internal post and pages, but still the older posts are ranking ok. On the plus side my main site has shot up and traffic has doubled over night but im not getting carried away, its sounds as though the next few weeks will be almost like a test faze to see how well these new results take, obviuosly bounce rates will come into play heavily in my opinion. I dont think this has huge amount to do with low quality inbound links (like many are saying on the forums) but more to do with over optimised on page elemants, ie..internal linking from homepage with anchor text, deeplinking your keywords to the homepage ie..linking every instance of 'online casino' found on every page of your site to your homepage.

[lots0]

...Talk here of the requirement for nofollow links is off topic and not what people have lost ranking for. If links from sites are bad then links to sites are bad. As the internet is connected by links and google still decides a site's authority by it then it is nonsense to start saying you need to get rid of all external links.

So your saying you KNOW what has caused the ranking change and it is not out bound links or not using no_follow... lol

I say talking about links is on topic... Your off base by trying to exclude an obvious cause of ranking problems for many sites.

.It is also too early to start crowing about getting rid of "spammy" sites and "spammy" domains...

I'll crow all I want... I see crap sites taking a dive in my SERP... but the strong and well designed and run sites(like the gpwa and many many others) are holding up just fine.

What it is worth remembering is that google hates and detests what it calls "aggregator" sites.

ROTFLMAO...

[justbookies]

The point I am making is that you (and I) may think your sites are better than all other affiliate sites. But to google all affiliate sites are the same - banner farms.

[lots0]

The point I am making is that you (and I) may think your sites are better than all other affiliate sites. But to google all affiliate sites are the same - banner farms.

From the mouth of google's head spam killer... "There are 'affiliate sites' and then there are sites that make money from affiliate programs...Sites that make money from affiliate programs are just fine..."

IMO, The real SEO trick is figuring out just where google draws the line between a banner farm and a legit site just trying to pay the overhead costs...

[thebookiesoffers]

well it ain't no follow outbound affiliate links that are the problem, otherwise some of the leading sites would be well gone, in all niches

[bboyspyder]

Your site will not be a banner farm if there is quality content in it.

And banner farms like are overdoing the amount of banners on their site. People visit your site to find relevant information, not to look at flashy, eye hurting, rotating, rainbowy thingy lurking them into clicking.

[lots0]

well it ain't no follow outbound affiliate links that are the problem, otherwise some of the leading sites would be well gone, in all niches

Most of the big sites block googlebot's access to affiliate urls, so they don't need to put a 'no_follow' in the onpage url.

[thebookiesoffers]

not sure how you know that tbh.....

[mike65]

"Google was pissed when it rolled out this update." Haha this made me laugh, Yes you're right here, now all hard work keyword rankings are lost, but at the same time how is that possible to rank for a high competitive keywords after the update? Each day since the hit I am seeing rankings for keywords I never expected to come so suddenly.