Rankings dramatically dropped on Google....

[spartiums]

Hi

I have mentioned this before and was given advice, re-optimized my page - I used to rank in the top 10 on google for most of my pages - now i'm no where to be seen - for example my page
Coffee Gift Baskets is No. 386 on Google now - but if you look on MSN - I am No.1 - and I am No.1 on MSN for most of my pages - can anyone shed any more light on this - I don't know whether something on another one of my pages could affect my rank...??? Can I contact Google - will they tell me???

Thanks in advance for your time, Tina

 

[jstreich]

You could try to contact google, but they probably won't respond -- keep in mind how many sites they are currently indexing.

[plug=shameless]

http://game-master.us/phpx-3.4.0/

[/plug]

 

[ChrisHunt]

Here we go again. I'll try to take it from first principles this time...

Google's search results concentrate on the needs of the searcher. They really don't care about the interests of site owners. It's a bit different with adwords and paid placements, but for the main results the searcher is King. That's what got them to number 1 - when you type in a keyword, they return really good matches for it. If that stops happening we'll go elsewhere.

Now, suppose you're looking to buy a widget. You enter "widget sales" in Google and it returns ten likely looking sites. However when you visit each site, you find that they're all affiliate schemes and all pointing to the same original dealer. Google have wasted your time effectively giving you ten circuitous links to the same site - you're not happy, and your unhappiness is bad for Google's business.

So for that reason, Google tends not to like affiliate dealers. They're continually sharpening their algorithms to push such sites further down the results. Fighting that downward pressure is not going to be easy, I can see two possible approaches...

One is to use various tricks to hide the fact that you're an affiliate. I do NOT recommend doing this, as Google'll find out sooner or later and may penalise you even more seriously for using such techniques.

The other is to add lots of content to your site, to make it a useful site about coffee gift baskets et al, that sells them as an aside, rather than just another affiliate storefront. Making such a site would be a lot of work, possibly more work than its worth, but it should enable you to climb back up the rankings.



-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[spartiums]

Thanks for that...

Do you know the URL for me to contact Google?

Thanks again... Tina

 

[DanT07]

How old is your site spartiums?

 

[spartiums]

Hi Dan

Sorry for not replying sooner - My site was established in 2000!!!!

 

[DanT07]

No problem

Unfortunately i cant really say anything more than what Chris has already said. They must have performed a recent update to their algorithm which has had dramatic results for your site.

I would suggest more content also.

Dan