Google Algo changes last night (4/10)

[bunstar]

Looks like some big changes to Google Serps last night (for me anyway).
Has anyone else noticed?

Edit:
OK it's a Penguin update.
http://searchengineland.com/penguin-2-1-and-5-live-173632
Goodluck all!

 

[James]

Yeah I noticed this one on SEL. Yet still tracking ranks and traffics will report back.

 

[Shane]

My sites weren't affected, but one of my biggest competitors got completely smashed. They might as well not exist on Google now.

Happy days...

 

[James]

Actually from data just in one of my bigger clients is up 26% day on day organic only after 2.1 roll out

 

[mjonezy]

Here is the presentation i gave months ago around recovering from Panda and Penguin:
http://www.slideshare.net/holidaypointau/my-panda-penguin-algorithm-recovery-story-cheers-tears-and-jeers

A couple of my sites got hit on the weekend because of crap links i built at the start of last year, so I have changed 3 of their domains names and only 301'd URLs with natural links (the rest i 301'd to an affiliate link) and all 3 domains have been spidered within 2 days.

The other 5 domains that i feature in the preso still hold strong and are probably at the highest they have been at, feeling no effects of any recently algorithm changes.

Oddly enough i consulted my own preso to remind me what i needed to do.

 

[petermeadit]

So looks like improved rankings for my clients on Google too. However, oddly some Bing results seem to have fallen on average.

 

[zhenjie]

One thing I've noticed is the great number of international sites (.com, .net, etc) that are ranking page one in google.com.au searches. These sites are not specifically targeting Australia either.

 

[James]

One thing I've noticed is the great number of international sites (.com, .net, etc) that are ranking page one in google.com.au searches. These sites are not specifically targeting Australia either.

Yeah I noticed this recently as well, It would just be common sense to give .com.au sites preference. Yet I notice all these dodgy .com scraper sites winning. That been said it could be a CTR test or any thing on a large scale and in a month or two things could be back to normal.

 

[Alex]

Been looking at this for a few weeks. Was beginning to rank for a few keywords, but now nothing.

All of research indicates Panda just smashed me. Am guessing it's all the affiliate links on homepage / rest of site.

Is there any recovery from this? or is Hipster.com.au dead?

Kind Regards
Alex

 

[petermeadit]

Been looking at this for a few weeks. Was beginning to rank for a few keywords, but now nothing.

All of research indicates Panda just smashed me. Am guessing it's all the affiliate links on homepage / rest of site.

Is there any recovery from this? or is Hipster.com.au dead?

Kind Regards
Alex

What makes you certain it is Panda? I tooked at your backlinks and your anchor texts and they dont look too bad. Not terrific, but not something you should be pinged for IMO.

I did however notice a problem with the autoloading images on the homepage slowing navigation as they load and sometimes jamming up the page. I tried it on FF and Chrome, and was very slow to render, especially as it got near the footer. Also, if people want to access the footer they cant, because more image start to load.

Also the site is taking about about 10 seconds to complete loading when tested.

This factors can result in a high bounce rate, which can affect your rankings.

As far as why you have lost rankings for certain keywords, there are a lot of factors that could affect this, ranging from all kinds of onsite and offsite factors.

HTH

 

[zhenjie]

Been looking at this for a few weeks. Was beginning to rank for a few keywords, but now nothing.

All of research indicates Panda just smashed me. Am guessing it's all the affiliate links on homepage / rest of site.

Is there any recovery from this? or is Hipster.com.au dead?

Kind Regards
Alex

What date did you see rankings drop? That's probably the best initial indicator of what Google update hit you

ALmost anything can be recovered. It's just a matter of how much time and resources are required to recover.

 

[Alex]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for reply. Did some research and site actually seems to be recovering.

Sorry meant to say Penguin.

Am planning to change the auto upload to requiring user to click view more rather than auto upload. Trying to get things to load in under 5 seconds.

Another thing I am thinking of doing is adding no index tags to reduce ebay links on homepage.

Kind Regards,
Alex

 

[Alex]

Hello Zhenjie,

Thank you for reply.

Saw ranking drop in October. Sorry meant to say Penguin. After a night of digging things are much better than I thought.

First time I have experienced this possibly over reacted a bit.

Kind Regards,
Alex

 

[Alex]

Also sorry I haven't been posting on here much. Just been very busy!

 

[petermeadit]

Good to hear. Perhaps some nofollow links could help a little.

Also, do source the items manually and then list each one individually on your site? Just wondering, if you do then you could also consider crafting the item descriptions to be more search friendly too.

HTH

 

[James]

ALmost anything can be recovered. It's just a matter of how much time and resources are required to recover.

It is true that most things can be recovered, the issue is if you have been hit by an Algorithmic penalty it may be very hard to come back for head terms which have been hit. It can take months if not years, sure you may come back but you will be on page 3 or 2 never back to number 1 I have noticed this in specific niches.

Very good article here to explain it all -

http://sugarrae.com/online-marketing/seo/understand-about-google-penguin-recovery/

 

[petermeadit]

If you have been given a manual penalty, probably the best thing you can do is swap over to a fresh domain.

Michael Jones gives a good example of how he recovered here: http://www.slideshare.net/holidaypointau/my-panda-penguin-algorithm-recovery-story-cheers-tears-and-jeers

 

[Alex]

Thank you for info James. Regards, Alex

 

[mjonezy]

If you have been given a manual penalty, probably the best thing you can do is swap over to a fresh domain.

Michael Jones gives a good example of how he recovered here: http://www.slideshare.net/holidaypointau/my-panda-penguin-algorithm-recovery-story-cheers-tears-and-jeers

Thanks for the mention Peter. Having done that that entire process in the past and possibly up to my14th link removal campaign, I am somewhat now experienced when it comes to recovery.

Have you tried these tools below?
http://www.delegator.com/algosleuth/
http://fruition.net/sem/user/login

Additional to seeing if you have any manual action in GWT, these tools overlay your traffic with the dates the algorithm updated and then you can make some informed decisions on what you could have been affected by and the action to take.

Adding ranking data to all this can help too. The common issue always seem to be dodgy links - a lot of people keep saying that Panda is onsite based, which is BS. I got hit back in Oct 2011 before penguin was released.. so spun content and mass article distribution does fall under Panda.