Hullo, thanks for asking.
It may be scant consolation, but the drop in Google rankings most
likely isn't "anything personal" -- your websites have been casualties
of long promised changes in Google's search indexing algorithm. These
changes have taken place during this month's (November, 2003) Google
Dance.
In June, 2003, Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch summarized
information about the direction of Google searches that had been
gleaned from ranking analysis of many individual websites, the
statements of Matt Cutts, a Google software engineer who deals with
webmaster issues, and "the Google Guy" - a Google employee who has
provided official Google Aid to the webmaster community at
WebmasterWorld. Sullivan stated: "Google is preparing new changes in
how it leverages links as part of its overall algorithm."
Matt Cutts added: "We definitely are looking at the next itineration
of algorithm improvements. I think that we're in fine shape now, but I
think looking toward the future that there's still are some easy wins
we've identified with link analysis that we're going to go ahead and
push into production."
The full article will provide additional insight into the changes that
were anticipated, and have been implemented in the last two Google
Dances (August and November).
Search Engine Watch
The Google Dance Syndrome
http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2216081
Resources
---------
Search Engine Watch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
WebmasterWorld Google News Forum
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/
The Florida Update
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This latest update has been named Florida: "Starting on the 16th of
November, a major shift in results was seen on Google. Veterans
recognised that Google appeared to be doing a major update, not seen
for many months, as reported first on WebMasterWorld who named it
?Florida", continuing the tradition of naming updates rather like
hurricanes."
Search Engine Journal
Google's Update Drop Your Site?
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=152
To best explain what has occurred, and offer appropriate suggestions
for regaining placement, let's start with how Google works.
Google Philosophy
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Google defines its primary goal in terms of its users, with all other
aspects of its business as contributors to that particular goal. They
state it thusly: "... Focus on the user and all else will follow.
From its inception, Google has focused on providing the best user
experience possible. While many companies claim to put their customers
first, few are able to resist the temptation to make small sacrifices
to increase shareholder value. Google has steadfastly refused to make
any change that does not offer a benefit to the users who come to the
site:
* The interface is clear and simple.
* Pages load instantly.
* Placement in search results is never sold to anyone.
* Advertising on the site must offer relevant content and not be a
distraction.
By always placing the interests of the user first, Google has built
the most loyal audience on the web. And that growth has come not
through TV ad campaigns, but through word of mouth from one satisfied
user to another."
Google Today
://www.google.com/corporate/today.html
Google explains their PageRank(TM) Technology:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"PageRank Technology - PageRank performs an objective measurement of
the importance of web pages by solving an equation of more than 500
million variables and 2 billion terms. Instead of counting direct
links, PageRank interprets a link from Page A to Page B as a vote for
Page B by Page A. PageRank then assesses a page's importance by the
number of votes it receives.
PageRank also considers the importance of each page that casts a vote,
as votes from some pages are considered to have greater value, thus
giving the linked page greater value. Important pages receive a higher
PageRank and appear at the top of the search results. Google's
technology uses the collective intelligence of the web to determine a
page's importance. There is no human involvement or manipulation of
results, which is why users have come to trust Google as a source of
objective information untainted by paid placement. "
Google Technology
://www.google.com/technology/index.html
Further Resources
-----------------
PageRank Explained (Phil Craven)
http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html
The Google PageRank Algorithm and How It Works (Ian Rogers)
http://www.iprcom.com/papers/pagerank/index.html
Search Engine Optimization
----------------------------------------------------------------------
As they've said in many different ways, Google places its users first,
and all refinements to their algorithms and the search results are
aimed at improving search, rather than positioning. This means that
site owners will have to adapt to what Google believes best serves the
search engine users.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was born as webmasters began to try
figure out what caused some sites to rise to the top of the listings.
By emulating the techniques, other sites could also achieve top
listings. Placement in the Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
could be achieved by following a website "forumla". This formula is
what most Search Engine Optimization specialists sell as their
business product.
Google has long stated that they want to offer their users the best
content from websites built for humans, rather than for the search
engines. From Google's "Quality Guidelines - Basic Principles:
-- Make pages for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your
users, or present different content to search engines than you
display to users.
-- Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good
rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what
you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful
test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if
search engines didn't exist?"
-- Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's
ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or
"bad neighborhoods" on the web as your own ranking may be affected
adversely by those links."
In summary of their philosophy Google states: "These quality
guidelines cover the most common forms of deceptive or manipulative
behavior, but Google may respond negatively to other misleading
practices not listed here, (e.g. tricking users by registering
misspellings of well-known web sites). It's not safe to assume that
just because a specific deceptive technique isn't included on this
page, Google approves of it. Webmasters who spend their energies
upholding the spirit of the basic principles listed above will provide
a much better user experience and subsequently enjoy better ranking
than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can
exploit."
Google Information for Webmasters - Guidelines
://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
Google also cautions website owners about SEO: "SEO is an abbreviation
for "search engine optimizer." Many SEOs provide useful services for
website owners, from writing copy to giving advice on site
architecture and helping to find relevant directories to which a site
can be submitted. However, there are a few unethical SEOs who have
given the industry a black eye through their overly aggressive
marketing efforts and their attempts to unfairly manipulate search
engine results."
Google Information for Webmasters - SEOs
://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html
It seems pretty clear from these excerpts that Google intends to
counteract all attempts to manipulate their results. This is the
ultimate purpose of all the refinements to their search rank algorithm
-- to "count out" or "down weight" any practices which are intended
solely for search engine visability instead of human visitors.
With specific regard to the Florida update: "It appeared to us and to
several other respected names (though hotly disputed by others) that
some sort of over-SEOd filter had been applied to check if overt SEO
had been done for that particular phrase. It was as if Google were
checking to see if external links to the site included the phrase,
on-page optimisation was being done for the phrase and even if the
domain included the phrase. If the density of the optimisation, both
on and off the page, appeared too artificial, then a filter was
tripped and down went the page - solely for that phrase."
Search Engine Journal
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=152
Search Engine Guide (Barry Lloyd)
http://www.searchengineguide.com/lloyd/2003/1125_bl1.html
Site Specifics
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Monitorbloodpressure.com and tanitascales.com are subsidiary domains
of Quick Medical (quickmedical.com). A backlink analysis shows that
almost all current links to those sites are from the Quick Medical
site itself. Any other previous linkage was apparently lost in the
Google Dance, i.e. links from sites that may have also dropped out, or
disappeared in the update. This definitely contributes to a domino
effect.
Linking practices have been significantly impacted by this and the
previous update. PageRank is elegant in concept, however, when the
practice of buying and selling links and link text began to
proliferate, Google began to downgrade the importance of links and
link text as a PageRank component, and began to look for other methods
to determine "how important" each web page might be.
The sites which have been hardest hit by the Florida update are those
sites that have most closely pushed the limits of the SEO "formula"
for Google ranking. Typically these sites have some or most of the
following characteristics:
MBP TS
-- Domain Name: Keyword1Keyword2Keyword3.tld x x
-- Does not use www as a Domain identifier x x
-- Page Titles: Keyword1 Keyword2 Keyword3 x x
-- Duplicate <H1> with all keywords
-- Index Keyword Density approaching/exceeding 15% 19.05% 15.46%
-- (Almost exclusively) Keyword Text in Back Links x x
-- Home links point to a different domain x x
Your two websites, monitorbloodpressure.com and tanitascales.com match
the profile of sites that have lost results ranking due to
internal/external optimization density.
In the case of these two websites, it's certainly regrettable, because
despite closely following the SEO formula, the sites also offer
product information in a visitor useful fashion.
Getting Back in the Groove
----------------------------------------------------------------------
As with any business or marketing plan or strategy, flexibility is the
key to success. Adapting to changes in clientele or the business
climate is nothing really earthshakingly new. I also know, however,
that it can be trying to have to react to outside forces, rather than
initiate changes yourself, on your own timetable.
One factor that'll make it easier to adapt to Google's updates are the
changes that Google has made to its method of spidering the web over
the past year. Rather than monthly updates, Google's Freshbot is out
there all the time, and new content is detected and added to the index
within days, rather than weeks.
You'll want to reduce the optimization density of your pages and
sites. Gather all the subdomain sites under the Quick Medical umbrella
for the moment. Use keyword phrases only in the filenames and page
titles. Substitute BOLD instead of <H1> for keywords. Reduce text
keyword density to under 10%. You can retain keyword text in your
internal anchor text but it's currently going to push the optimization
threshold. You might want to create a secondary image navigation menu
for the bottom of the page, that uses exact keywords only in
filenames, and adds additional descriptive text (i.e. more than just
keywords) in ALT attribute tags.
Make changes singly, watch your logs for visits by the Googlebot, and
watch your rankings.
You'll need to obtain outside links from completely independent sites
with higher PageRank. Although this doesn't count as heavily as
before, it's still a factor in determining which pages are most
important. Beware of link farms, however. Google declared those
persona non grata many, many moons ago.
Listings in the ODP Directory and Yahoo help establish your site's
importance, but with the listing as QuickMedical the "votes" from
these links don't go to your individual subdomains like
monitorbloodpressure, or tanitascales.com, another reason to
reconsider a single umbrella site. Listings or pointers (but not
advertising) from any regional or specialty health "authority" sites
will also increase importance. WebMD, medical directors, your client's
websites in the health field, local medical suppliers associations, an
"official" list of Tanita dealers or your other suppliers, etc. -- all
professional affiliations.
Add new content daily. This attracts the Freshbot. Sale prices,
featured item, new product release, whatever. This adds to your total
content, and is seen by the search engines as a good indicator of a
site that exists for the benefit of its visitors and customers, rather
than one that just uses the search engines in order to attract new
customers. The more often the Freshbot visits, the more likely it is
that changes will be quickly reflected in the SERPs.
Make sure your sites are findable under both domainname.com and
www.domainname.com. This has become a critical element in site
identification. Several methods are outlined in detail in this
Webmaster World discussion:
Http:// widgets.com VS http:// www.widgets.com
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/18318.htm
Trends
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking beyond this season to the future can be difficult. We are
seeing that customer-centric content is becoming the most reliable
long-term search engine optimization strategy. Works with every search
engine. Content designed especially to assist human visitors.
Navigation that makes sense to humans, not just search engine spiders.
Google's algorithms are finally becoming "astute" enough to recognize
these differences, and there's little doubt that they'll follow their
stated objectives of improving search for the user. Staying ahead of
this trend by de-optimizing will probably be the site optimization
challenge of the next year or two.
I highly recommend both these WebmasterWorld discussions about
long-term SEO. I've found them to be accurate from my own long time
siteowner/webmaster perspective, as well as an eCommerce website
designer.
Google SEO Longterm - Especially Posts #11, #22
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/18388.htm
Successful Site With Google Alone in 12 Months
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2010.htm
Additional Resources
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What is the Google Dance?
http://www.google-dance-tool.com/what_is_google_dance.html
Search Engine Forums
http://www.jimworld.com/apps/webmaster.forums/
Search Engine Watch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
WebmasterWorld - Google News Forum
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/
Search Strategy
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I prepared this answer from personal bookmarks, and well known SEO
expert sites. The information provided is based upon personal and
professional experience as a web designer, working in tandem with
search engine optimization specialists.
Should you have questions about the information or links provided,
please, feel free to ask. I'll be happy to clarify.
---larre |
