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Lost Status on Google

  1. nickstips
    Member

    Hey,

    Last week when I searched for topics related to my blog, my posts would come up on the first page of Google results. Similarly if I searched for my name, my blog appeared third in the list. Today, if I try and search for topics related to my blog or my name, my blog doesn't show up anywhere! I tried going deeper into the search results and sometimes on th umpteenth page one of my posts shows up but often not. If I do a search for site:nickstips.wordpress.com all my posts come up so I know they haven't been completely dropped from the index. As expected, I haven't received any traffic from google.com in the last couple of days.

    Now, I understand that Google changes their algorithms, updates their page rankings, and they have full rights to decide whether or not my blog is actually relevant to the entered search terms. They can do what they want. But, it just seems weird that one day I was so high up and now I'm nowhere to be found. Is there something I could have done to cause this? Is there something I can check to see why it has happened? I haven't participated in any blackhat listings or done any sneaking things to increase my page rank. Any ideas?

    Thanks

    Nick

    The blog I need help with is nickstips.wordpress.com.

  2. raincoaster
    Member

    I've been experiencing this since May. As far as I can see, it's that they've put your blog and mine OFF Safe Search: in other words, they're classified as obscene. That's just a theory on my part, because the only official response I got from Google was Matt Cutts saying "If I google 'raincoaster' the blog comes up as the first hit, so obviously nothing is wrong." That is incorrect, as you can see from the graph on my blog. If you google the exact title of that post, this is what you get:

    http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=CST&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=%22Soundtrack+for+Losers%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

    #
    Soundtrack for sfw
    Operation Global Media Domination: Soundtrack for Losers; Quiz: what kind of scientist would. about the same time as beautiful with bobby brown; ...
    bemox.jesais.fr/uqakz.html - Cached
    #
    Thee USCHI DIGGERS on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s ...
    A raw and sophisticated soundtrack for losers , bums & morons … » (Rolling Stunned) ------------------------- « the Uschi Diggers bring back danger to the ...
    http://www.myspace.com/theeuschidiggers - Cached
    #
    Operation Global Media Domination: Soundtrack for Losers ...
    29 Aug 2010 ... Trying to clean up the code in a popular page you copied bodily from Facebook because you are dutiful and political and committed to freedom ...
    worldmedia-info.com/?p=34369 - Cached
    #
    [Official MLB 10 THE SHOW HYPE Thread] - IGN Boards
    The Official MLB 10 THE SHOW Soundtrack for losers who don't import their own music using the custom soundtrack feature. Band of Skulls – “I Know What I Am” ...
    boards.ign.com/teh_vestibule/b5296/187778725/r189037605/ - Cached
    #
    raincoaster
    ... a new tradition which is destined to continue at least until Google has seen the error of its ways and reversed The Soundtrack for Losers Situation. ...
    raincoaster.com/ - Cached - Similar
    #
    Kulturblog » Open Arms or Faithfully?
    13 Aug 2008 ... In my San Diego school district in the 80s mainstream American rock was considered the soundtrack for losers and “heshers” who hung out in ...
    http://www.kulturblog.com/2008/08/open-arms-or-faithfully/ - Cached
    #
    Operation Global Media Domination: Soundtrack for Losers
    Comments close. Share it Comments Vote Tweet it, Viewing: http://raincoaster.com/2010/08/28/ope...
    networkedblogs.com/7jgoT - Cached
    #
    Operation Global Media Domination — Blogs, Pictures, and more on ...
    Operation Global Media Domination: Soundtrack for Losers — 7 comments · raincoaster wrote 4 weeks ago : that door had to be carted away and burnt later, ...
    en.wordpress.com/tags/operation-global-media-domination/ - Cached
    #
    Dionne Bromfield - Zimbio
    Operation Global Media Domination: Soundtrack for Losers. Remember that old-timey singer Amy Winehouse, back when she was still alive? ...
    http://www.zimbio.com/Dionne+Bromfield - Cached - Similar
    #
    Soundtrack for losers - Windows Live
    Just thought to put together a Soundtrack for Losers... just a bunch of songs to listen to when ur in the mood... Man, i feel like Sven Goran Eriksson ...
    chicabona.spaces.live.com/.../cns!1pgVDc4zJXnBotTcx54QG-XQ!608.entry - Cached

    In other words, NONE of the responses are my blog. They are my blog on Networked Blogs, WordPress.com tags, and numerous blog scrapers, but NOT my actual blog.

    Google is blocking certain WordPress.com websites, and I don't know why. My pagerank is a quite respectable 4.

  3. nickstips
    Member

    Interesting theory. The weird thing for me is that for a day or two I came back up in Google search results and then again yesterday I got dropped again (well not completely dropped, just not showing up anywhere near the top like it used to).

    I turned SafeSearch off and searched for various posts using the exact title and same thing, my posts were nowhere to be found. Interestingly enough I was able to find links to my posts, but not the actual post.

    Do you have any suggestions?

    Thanks

  4. raincoaster
    Member

    I saw a referral from Google day before yesterday for the first time in literally months. It appears to be indexing my old posts, but nothing from this year.

    Looks like it goes deeper than I thought; we're going to have to contact google and find out why. There's nothing wrong with your blog or mine that I can see.

  5. thesacredpath
    Staff

    There are a lot out there having this issue. Several of my clients, but not all and not all on WP, are seeing their referrals from Google drop like a stone. It happened to my own blog as well, which used to get a lot of hits from Google. No one's page rank has dropped, but hits are down by about 40%.

    Google has changed something and I can't find anyone with a clue as to what that is.

  6. nickstips
    Member

    Understandably they can't explain everything about their ranking algorithms but I'd love to hear a reason for a change that causes such drastic side effects. Unfortunately, again again understandably, I haven't found anyway to contact them and ask...nor do I think they would have time to respond to such inquiries.

  7. nickstips
    Member

    Strange. I just searched again for topics on my blog and the results are back and now I'm ranked even higher than I was before....but who knows how long this is going to last.

  8. raincoaster
    Member

    Well, if nothing else, every time you post in this forum, that's a "Follow" link that google counts. So that should help.

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