Google getting tougher

Jack_Rouse · Jun 20, 2013

If you have been using link farms and link spam in the past, then Google has more bad news for you, the latest roll out of Penguin, (Penguin2) is now complete, and it has hit sites that use black hat linking methods even harder, this time about 2.3% of English-US sites were affected, as well as more language sites globally. This was the fourth run of the Penguin bot in Googles bid to outlaw link farms and link spam.
Sites that use these methods will have noticed a reduction in PR.
http://www.forumdoctor.com/blog/archives/239

eldritch1969 · Jun 20, 2013

Not anything to complain about Google, but I wish it still had competitors.
When you see the ever-present Google bot in your visitors real-time stats, I can't help wondering which is the real bad bot and I really think one company assuming such a domination of the internet at large can lead it to impose its rules on it.
In fact it already has.
When there's one set of rules because it is imposed, how can you believe it to be necessarily the best?....

Jack_Rouse · Jun 20, 2013

There are other search engines, but they are not as popular, Google have done a great job at creating the idea it is a single market, who do you blame, Google for advertising, or the other search engines for not advertising.

Then you have the case of Yahoo, where getting a listing is like trying to find rocking horse poo, unless you pay them, however they still send bots out to you.

Bing are second best in a lot of ways, but even they follow Google.

Hayek · Jun 20, 2013

Bing has challenged Google more recently that in the past thanks to Microsoft's vast resources and that is good for pretty much everyone.

As for Penguin, this forum still largely does not understand it from what I have seen- too many people are stuck in "discovering" the methods of 2006 which have long been defunct. They also don't realize that black hat techniques are what drives much change in Google and that is because the latest and "greatest" innovations in that sphere DO work. But when you try to replicate the black hat techniques of yesteryear, you see no results (like when you replicate the white hat techniques of yesteryear) but also get burned because the search engines are aware of them.

Alex. · Jun 20, 2013

What astonishes me is people actually believe they won't get hit using grey-hat and black-hat techniques to artificially boost their web presence.

Jack_Rouse · Jun 20, 2013

Alex. said:
What astonishes me is people actually believe they won't get hit using grey-hat and black-hat techniques to artificially boost their web presence.

As long as people keep buying backlinks, people will keep selling them, I go on promotion forums and try to tell them not to, but they don't bother to read the SEO or watch what Matt says on his blog, all they want is a quick easy fix.

Hayek · Jun 20, 2013

Alex. said:
What astonishes me is people actually believe they won't get hit using grey-hat and black-hat techniques to artificially boost their web presence.

The smart ones realize that they will eventually get busted, but in the meantime they just have to make enough money to make it worth their while. Once they are busted, they just move on to the next project. Either that, or they are so ahead of the curve that they evolve to evade Google's latest counter.

Fact of the matter is that buying certain sorts of links or doing automated linkbuilding in certain ways still works. That is why you can Google so many valuable keywords and still find spam results in the first few pages despite Penguin and all.

It is a tough place Google is in given that when you devalue anything that can be abused, you pretty much devalue everything. It is all about weighing the ups and downs for Google's crackdowns.

Alex. · Jun 21, 2013

It's just akin to an old anti-smoking ad I saw in the mid-1990s using a revolver with the barrel twisted toward the shooter. I just hope Google kills those operations because it's becoming increasingly difficult to find stuff on Google that isn't just a dump of keywords. I'm sure Google will develop the tech to differentiate between real sites and the ones that are laden with spam. I just hope Google doesn't have to go through the entire kingdom to do so.

Hayek · Jun 21, 2013

Alex. said:
It's just akin to an old anti-smoking ad I saw in the mid-1990s using a revolver with the barrel twisted toward the shooter. I just hope Google kills those operations because it's becoming increasingly difficult to find stuff on Google that isn't just a dump of keywords. I'm sure Google will develop the tech to differentiate between real sites and the ones that are laden with spam. I just hope Google doesn't have to go through the entire kingdom to do so.

There are people who suggest that the worse rankings are due to Penguin itself- I am not sure which way I feel about it.

I am not so convinced on Google's ability to clean everything up any time soon though. I think more likely is a move towards more direct info which they have really ramped up lately (you know when it answers a question you have or puts relevant info above the actual SERPs?)- not what webmasters want to see, but it is happening.

Alex. · Jun 21, 2013

Direct info in relation to SEO best practices or my example of finding information related to the query?

The wonderful thing about digital mediums such as sites is that it's easy to correct mistakes and let time heal the "wounds" of a [insert some animal] process Google runs to knock down spam sites.

Hayek · Jun 21, 2013

Alex. said:
Direct info in relation to SEO best practices or my example of finding information related to the query?

Direct info as in when you type "weather" into Google, it gives you the weather right there without having to leave Google. That pushes the SERPs down.

MonsterMMORPG · Jul 22, 2013

well google newest algorithms sucks so bad

search results keep getting worse each day

User37935 · Jul 23, 2013

MonsterMMORPG said:
well google newest algorithms sucks so bad

search results keep getting worse each day

If you mean your own site then you need to look at why. Google is telling you that either your content sucks, or your SEO practices do.

EddieC · Jul 23, 2013

Alex. said:
What astonishes me is people actually believe they won't get hit using grey-hat and black-hat techniques to artificially boost their web presence.

To get technical, any SEO work is black hat as it's all an attempt to artificially boost your web presence.

mfadel · Jul 29, 2013

EddieC said:
To get technical, any SEO work is black hat as it's all an attempt to artificially boost your web presence.

So what are the alternatives? in case all the competitors are using SEO especially bulk and back linking to anywebsite!!!!
?? I wonder

BlackSpot · Jul 29, 2013

Well I'm loving it. Recently I'm getting companies emailing me in a panic as google has found their spam back links on my forum. They lead me straight to any stuff I've missed. Fun times are ahead.

dvduval · Jul 29, 2013

Jack_Rouse said:
As long as people keep buying backlinks, people will keep selling them, I go on promotion forums and try to tell them not to, but they don't bother to read the SEO or watch what Matt says on his blog, all they want is a quick easy fix.

And Google helped create the pricing scheme with PageRank. It is a fiasco now. I know a directory network with 100+ PR 6-9 links that is making thousands PER DAY right now. They were reported months ago.

Jack_Rouse · Jul 29, 2013

What will dramatically SERPS and sites is when Google starts to implement the planned authorship alogoritms, and start to rank site authors as well as the site.

This from what I've gleaned is already in the mix, and due to be slowly rolled out, all content you submit will be linked to your Google + account, so beware !!

Jack_Rouse · Jul 29, 2013

EddieC said:
To get technical, any SEO work is black hat as it's all an attempt to artificially boost your web presence.

VERY controversial Eddie, especially as Matt Cutts is now telling webmasters what is and isn't acceptable SEO wise, and s actively encouraging site owners to drop what that call blackhat and follow Googles rules.

Alex. · Jul 29, 2013

That's an absurd statement.

Google getting tougher

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