anyone figure out google's latest change?
 

I know alot of sites ranked on google took a hit last month and wondering if anyone may have found the key to the change?

I sure could use some advice...

To me it looked like some scripts got dinged for some obvious footprints. The majority of sites that were really hurt (from what I saw) were built on a recip foundation.

fortify

Alot more got affected then those using link exchanges man...

for me it seemed like only my sites with first page rankings were affected. i have my theories so what im going to do is change a different thing on each of my affected sites and see which ones get out of the penalty.

That's why I'm asking this question though... to divulge your theories...

My take is this... google redid the algorithm... sites with alot of links out got penalized. I am trying "no-follow" links now but not sure if that's it.

It seems like almost all of my sites improved. But I don't use any scripts other than wordpress and all the link trades are organic.

I wonder if they started trying to crack down on scripts and automation techniques.

No one going to figure it out, google doesn't share their secret with anyone.

its not nofollow, i already had done that, minimal outgoing links. my guess is the thin affiliate site theory

Google likes original sites with fresh content, proper CSS code, a nice sitemap and the longevity of your site.


Thats no secret....

Google goes by the KISS principle.

my theory is that smart thumbs for example has redirects in how it works. If your inbound links had links from those sites they became less quality (meaning they give you site less juice) so it was a basic shift. If that makes sense.

Nope. I have not figured it out.

However, most of my main sites are page 1-2 SERPS. So whatever I am doing is working.

:pimp

nice job bro...

I could use a little help on the "give me some traffic" dep't.

My sites are doing ok... actually vstrip is doing the best it's ever done... but need some more google lovin. that shit is like no google, 100k, with google right now, 400k... that's no shit man

Well I'll tell you honestly man...

I do everything that most board SEO 'gurus' tell you that you should not be doing. However, it has always worked for me so I have never changed from it. I do tweak some things here and there, but my basic concepts have always worked for the most part.

I do not go after 'foot fetish', but there are plenty of other, better, terms to go after IMHO. Same for some of the celebrity membership sites I run. While it could be because I am nichey, I am still getting long tail good results on SERPS. Even on some sites less than 6 months old already cracking the top 3-6 page SERPS for keywords I want.

As for traffic, my approach is different there as well. I do not go for volume. I want BUYING traffic. That means quality, niche, buyers. Traffic does not pay my bills. Paying customers do. I'll take 300/3000 UV of buyers over 3 million free loaders any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.

Rankings bounced back yesterday...

I'm still trying to figure it out - for example, I had three sites on page 1 for a very important term (for me). Two are on the same domain and are still on page one (in fact, one moved up a slot) - they both have tons of inbound links (organic) and change rarely - but aren't targetted at the term, they just refer to it several times. The third site is very specifically targetted at the term and has been #1, 2 or 3 for the term for years, and there's absolutely nothing "funny" about the site whatsoever. And it vanished completely. I haven't had the time to fully examine all the re-ranked sites that got the SERPS for this term out of nowhere yet, but in my first looks at them, I can't see anything that's a common thread. Usually the big changes are obvious; this one, so far, is baffling to me.

Not all of them :disgust

Did any site with *REAL CONTENT* take a hit or is it just sites with links to other content?

Yes. 8 char

Google are giving SEO advice on youtube btw.

If your sites took dump, that's great. Cause my sites went up again. My traffic's been on a rise month after month. The further down you go, the higher up I go. So for as long as you all keep complaining, I keep being happy.

There is no real secret to it, nothing everyone wouldn't know. It's in hard work. Write your own content. Make it original, write for people, not search engines. Everyone's known this and that's what works. None of my sites took any dump for years, they just keep growing and growing. But there are no shortcuts I took. I do appreciate everyone who sees their sites taking a dump. I still could use more of you to go.