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Google dependence and being thrown in the trash
I had my first website lose 90% of it’s traffic last night and it gets me thinking about my dependence on Google. The site helped pay for daycare, if I was to lose rankings in Google for the website which sells my product we might not be able to pay our mortgage. I have to admit that it doesn’t feel good when you have played by the rules to the point of losing friends in the SEO community because of your relentless defense of a search engine. I have been the biggest Google fan and Cuttlet for years because their success brought my success as a stay home dad with an online “mom and pop” shop.
People will say, use alternative channels to make money online but to this day I do not see anything of value other than Google’s organic search. For those of us who work alone and do not have a “staff” organic search is the last refuge which is now threatened by “personalization” and other Googly things.
The really strange part is that I have been writing a glowing story about how Google changed my life but now my mood has darkened as the clouds roll over one of my sites and maybe others? I now wonder if my belief that Google is a righteous engine who looks out for the little guy is actually a fantasy. Is Google actually buttering us all up as they shift to consume all like a borg? Are they building our dependence by taking over our email, our feed readers and now shifting to make search more personal? I am not the same person I was when I went to sleep last night and I want answers!
With personalization and the trapping of users Google could now become a lame portal like AOL. They could even be ruthless and just do away with organic search stating that it is too easily gamed by SEOs and that the structure is just not any good. Wait? Didn’t Matt Cutts already say something along these lines in an interview?
Organic search has worked for me, without it I will either pack our bags or become Google’s worst critic because it hurts being thrown in the trash without knowledge of why. It would also be nice having the rules clearly stated, “Build your site for the user” is not an easily followed example for most.
Update: My site got it’s rankings back as if a switch was turned back on, I am leaving this post to refer back to it if Google goes too far with my or your white hat sites. Got something you feel is being thrown in the trash without good reason, contact me, would enjoy taking a look.
Things of interest: Google appears to have a way to make sites not show up on multiple datacenters with the flick of a switch. This is scary stuff and should not be taken lightly.
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April 6th, 2007 at 6:04 am
So Aaron Wall is right - everyone writes with bias…
I’ve been in your shoes Aaron. I know its not fun looking at the SERPs 10 times a day across 20-30 DCs hoping to see positive change.
Doing the right thing doesn’t guarantee success. It does increase your odds of success, but so does doing the wrong thing - just the risks are greater.
April 6th, 2007 at 7:20 am
“I now wonder if my belief that Google is a righteous engine who looks out for the little guy is actually a fantasy.”
Why in the world would you ever believe that? Google is out for Google, but that also means providing the user “quality” results. Someone will always be disappointed by the algorithm and what ultimately appears at the top of the results. It’s not about the big guy or little guy.
April 6th, 2007 at 7:40 am
Stoney - I see examples every day of sites that have few links and little content outranking those who understand SEO. Google does in fact look out for “little guys” in organic search, I have a site that weathers all updates and algorithms.
I am talking about losing all traffic from Google on a site that is about as white hat as they get when it comes to relationships with affiliate content.
Pretty hard to explain but believe me, Google still is the better engine and they do just as you say, rank more “quality” results.
It’s the introduction of personalized search and other things that trap users that bothers me.
Don’t worry, I will get over it and darken my SEO if that is what it takes, I am no fool but have been a little foolish indeed.
April 7th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Sorry, Aaron. I like you, you know that. But I can’t take your side on this one.
You made one major (but common) mistake: you put all your eggs in one basket, and it’s a basket you have absolutely no control over whatsoever.
What happens if Google changes their algorithm drastically tomorrow?
What happens if people stop using it as an engine?
What if it get swallowed up by MSN in a hostile takeover?
What if, what if, what if…?
There are too many variables to tie your can to one provider of service such as Google, especially a free one.
This is actually one of the major problems with the whole SEO concept in general: too many people go all or nothing. You can’t do that anymore.
April 7th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Hence the reason for this post Adam. :)
I will be looking for other channels but so far I see a bunch of crap out here, Google is gettin’ er’ done.
Looks above for updates to this post, my site is back with the flick of a switch.
April 7th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Aaron, are you using Google analytics? I had a hunch that my data was funny, and then sure enough on the Analytics blog they reported delays. I’m not sure if the timing really works out.
But yeah, I agree with adding some more marketing approaches, including exploring traditional ones such as print, radio or tv (depending on budget).
April 7th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Nathiana - I am not using it. I build sites really slow and they may even appear lifeless in the beginning but their is a method to the madness. =P
April 7th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I wonder if the downtime in ranking was them re-indexing your site or something of that nature. It wouldn’t make sense for them to just switch it off and on for fun =P
April 9th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
“Now my mood has darkened as the clouds roll over one of my sites and maybe others? I now wonder if my belief that Google is a righteous engine who looks out for the little guy is actually a fantasy.”
Isn’t it amazing that as long as it happens to the other guy; It is all a matter of calm cool logic. But, let it happen to your own site and then suddenly our mood darkens and our outlook on Google immediately gets paranoid. We all must remind ourself that Google responds rather slowly. So should we.
We all must resist the urge to overreact to bad news. And, just maintain a big enough bank account to get us through the down turns. If you wont constantly looking at your site stats, you might have overlooked the entire affair.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Hi ..
I had the same experience like you right now, my site disappeared for most the main keyword search in G..
How could you get back in there, please advise me here..
my business the only one that I had to feed my family, and black could moody comes over me since there.
Thanks
April 13th, 2007 at 6:55 am
agung - I see you ranking for several things like “Canggu Villas” for example, this post was about disappearing for all over a short period time. If you rank for something it could just be competition in your crowded niche?
I am getting lots of emails from people in the “hotel” areas, not sure if it is the same thing my site went through.
The hotel industries competitive algo. shuffling of rankings could make a good future post, seems like many of you own hotel sites that are either thriving or doing absolutely nothing.
April 13th, 2007 at 8:57 am
thank you Aaron for your concerning about my case.
I am still got my confusing since this happen, I already followed all the white hat guidelines from G and now get the result like this.