Why has Google search results changed?
12-03-03

I would welcome any comments and discussion on the following article (all URLs and specific keywords have been removed) that analyzes the current state of the Google update and suggests certain steps to take for both webmasters and Google...
Thank you,
Ryan A

On November 15, 2003, the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) in Google were dramatically altered. Although Google has been known to go through a reshuffling (appropriately named a Google Dance) every 2 months or so, this 'Dance' seems to be more like a drunken Mexican salsa that its usual conservative fox-trot.

Most likely, you will already know if your web site has been affected. You may have seen a significant drop-off in traffic around Nov. 15. Three of my sites have been hit. While one could understand dropping down a few positions, since November 15, the sites that previously held these rankings are nowhere to be found in the top 10,000 rankings. Such radical repositionings have left many mom-and-pop and small businesses devastated and out of luck for the holiday season. With Google controlling approximately 85% of Internet searches, many businesses are finding a need to lay off workers or rapidly cancel inventory orders. This situation deserves a closer look.

What the Early Research is Showing

From what early research shows, it seems that Google has put into place what has been quickly termed in the industry as an 'Over Optimization Penalty' (OOP) that takes into account the incoming link text and the on-site keyword frequency. If too many sites that link to your site use link text containing a word that is repeated more than a certain number of times on your home page, that page will be assessed the penalty and either demoted to oblivion or removed entirely from the rankings. In a sense Google is penalizing sites for being optimized for the search engines--without any forewarning of a change in policy.

Here is what else we know:

- The OOP is keyword specific, not site specific. Google has selected only certain keywords to apply the OOP for.

- Certain highly competitive keywords have lost many of the listings.

How to Know if Your Site Has Been Penalized

There are a few ways to know if your site has been penalized. The first, mentioned earlier, is if you noticed a significant drop in traffic around the 15th of November you've likely been hit. Here are ways to be sure:

1. Go to google.com. Type in any search term you recall being well-ranked for. See you site logs to see which terms you received search engine traffic from. If your site is nowhere to be found it's likely been penalized.

2. Type in the search term you suspect being penalized for, followed by "-dkjsahfdsaf" (or any other similar gibberish, without the quotes). This will remove the OOP and you should see what your results should be.

3. Or, simply go to www.**** to have this automated for you. Just type in the search term and see quickly what the search engine results would be if the OOP was not in effect. This site, put up less than a week ago, has quickly gained in popularity, becoming one of the 5000 most visited web sites on the Internet in a matter of days.

The Basics of SEO Redefined. Should One De-Optimize?

Search engine optimization consultants such as myself have known for years that the basics of SEO are:

- put your target keyword or keyphrase in your title, meta-tags, and alt-tags
- put your target keyword or keyphrase in an H1 tag near the top of your page
- repeat your keyword or keyphrase 5-10 times throughout the page
- create quality content on your site and update it regularly
- use a site map (linked to from every page) that links to all of your pages
- build lots of relevant links to your site
- ensure that your target keyword or keyphrase is in the link text of your incoming links

Now, however, the best practices for keyword frequency and link text will likely trigger the Google OOP. There is surely no denying that there are many low quality sites have used link farms and spammed blog comments in order to increase their PageRank (Google's measure of site quality) and link popularity. However, a differentiation must be made from these sites and quality sites with dozens or hundreds of pages of informational well-written content that have taken the time to properly build links.

So if you have been affected, what can you do? Should one de-optimize their site, or wait it out? Should one create one site for Google and one for the 'normal engines?' Is this a case of a filter been turned on too tight that Google will fix in a matter of days or something much more?

These are all serious questions that no one seems to have answers to. At this point we recommend making the following changes to your site if, and only if, your rankings seem to have been affected:

1. Contact a few of your link partners via email. Ask them to change the link text so that the keyword you have been penalized for is not in the link text or the keyphrase is in a different order than the order you are penalized for.

2. Open up the page that has been penalized (usually your home page) and reduce the number of times that you have the keyword on your site. Keep the number under 5 times for every 100 words you have on your page.

3. If you are targeting a keyphrase (a multiple-word keyword) reduce the number of times that your page has the target keyphrase in the exact order you are targeting. Mix up the order. For example, if you are targeting "Florida web designer" change this text on your site to "web site designer in florida" and "florida-based web site design services."

It is important to note that these 'de-optimization' steps should only be taken if you know that you have been affected by the Google OOP.

Why did Google do this? There are two possible answers. First, it is possible that Google has simply made an honest (yet very poor) attempt at removing many of the low-quality web sites in their results that had little quality content and received their positions from link farms and spamdexing. The evidence and the search engine results point to another potential answer.

A second theory, which has gained credence in the past days within the industry, is that in preparation for its Initial Public Offering (possibly this Spring), Google has developed a way to increase its revenue. How? By removing many of the sites that are optimized for the search engines on major commerical search terms, thereby increasing the use of its AdWords paid search results (cost-per-click) system. Is this the case? Maybe, maybe not.

Perhaps both of these reasons came into play. Perhaps Google execs thought they could

1) improve the quality of their rankings,
2) remove many of the 'spammy' low-quality sites
3) because of #2, increase AdWords revenues and
4) because of better results and more revenue have a better chance at a successful IPO.

Sadly, for Google, this plan had a detrimental flaw.

What Google Should Do

While there are positives that have come from this OOP filter, the filter needs to be adjusted. Here is what Google should do:

1. Post a communiqué on its web site explaining in as much detail as they are able what they have done and what they are doing to fix it;

2. Reduce the weight of OOP;

3. If the OOP is indeed a static penalty that can only be removed by a human, change it to a dynamic penalty that is analyzed and assessed with each major update; and

4. Establish an appeal process through which site owners which feel they are following all rules and have quality content can have a human (or enlightened spider) review their site and remove the OOP if appropriate.

When this recent update broke on November 15, webmasters clamored in the thousands to the industry forums such as webmasterworld.com. The mis-update was quickly titled "Florida Update 2003" and the initial common wisdom was that Google had made a serious mistake that would be fixed within 3-4 days and everyone should just stay put and wait for Google to 'fix itself.' While the rankings are still dancing, this fix has yet to come. High quality sites with lots of good content that have done everything right are being severely penalized.

If Google does not act quickly, it will soon lose market share and its reputation as the provider of the best search results. With Yahoo's recent acquisition of Inktomi, Alltheweb/FAST, and Altavista, it most likely will soon renege on its deal to serve Google results and may, in the process, create the future "best search engine on the 'net." Google, for now, has gone bananas in its recent meringue, and it may soon be spoiled rotten.

Google's 'Florida' Update:
How I Learned to Love the Dance
11-29-03

Over the past two weeks, many of you may have noticed your Google ranking for some keywords jumping up and down faster than a frog on hot asphalt. Google is 'dancing' - these periodic updates let the massive search engine adjust rankings, and the algorithms used to obtain those rankings, across its many worldwide data centers.

This Google Dance, which started around November 15, has been particularly trying for folks. Legitimate, content-rich sites previously ranked in the top 10 have completely disappeared or are ranked so poorly they may as well have, while seemingly irrelevant pages are leaping to the top spots.

So what's going on? Is Google broken? Is this a plot by the alleged SEO-haters at Google to undermine the search engine marketing industry? I don't think so. The Google Dance and the ranking algorithm changes that often accompany it is a fact of life, not a conspiracy or a keyword-driven apacolypse. I do believe that the search engine is changing the way it ranks web sites, though. So a coping strategy, not an arcane sacrifice, is in order.

Here are four rules to survive the latest Google Dance with sanity and site rank relatively intact:

Stick to the basics. We know that certain things always help your site's Google rank: Clean, well-written HTML code, good content, and a good internal and external linking structure. Read more about SEO strategies in this article. If you emphasize HTML code optimization and good content, you can't go wrong. If you try to improve a slipping site rank by resorting to content cloaking or other sleazy SEO tactics, you can't go right.

Optimize first, keywords second. One thing that's definitely true of the Florida update - sites that heavily optimize towards a single keyword or phrase are losing ground to sites with larger bodies of useful, relevant content that include naturally occuring instances of the same phrase. Focus on clean, optimal HTML code first, and let the search engines figure out where you fit into their indices, keyword-wise. Then add good, well-written content that focuses on the keyphrases for which you want to improve your rank. If neither of these strategies work, then consider tweaking existing content, just a little, to improve keyword-richness. I wrote a bit about optimization vs. keywords last month.

Diversify. 20/20 hindsight, I know, but never rely 100% on search engine placement for traffic. Make sure you employ a complete Internet marketing strategy, including true opt-in e-mail marketing and all the tenets of Conversation Marketing. That way, when one area doesn't deliver for a few weeks, you can maintain solid traffic.

Don't Panic. Finally, don't start checking Google every day, grinding your teeth down to nubs as you wait to reappear in the rankings. That's our job! Seriously, Google has 'danced' before, and the rankings typically return to normal after several weeks. And remember that change is a constant in the world of search engines - if your site does lose ground after the Florida update is complete, all you (or we) can do is work to regain your previous rank. Either way, if you've stuck with an ethical, sensible SEO strategy, your site will come out OK in the long run.

I'm not trying to be glib - I know how stressful it can be to watch your site go from #1 to #99, believe me. But Google has changed its algorithms before, and rankings have been jostled many times in the past. Over the long haul, sites that rely on a diverse strategy, good content, good HTML and solid link popularity always come out ahead.

Ian Lurie is an Internet marketer in Seattle, WA. He started his web design and marketing firm, Portent Interactive, in 1995. Portent offers complete Internet marketing support, including search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, and web site design and development. Recent projects include SEO and production for www.princesslodges.com, SEO, marketing strategy, design and production for www.dessy.com, and, on the more whimsical side, frida.filmateria.com. Ian has a law degree from UCLA and has successfully avoided practicing law for almost ten years.

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