I'm So Mad I Can't See Straight!
67
Google, I'm Coming!!
I'm so freakin' mad I could spit. And, that's saying something for me, the great hater of all saliva squirts.
FOUR YEARS!!! Google just destroyed FOUR YEARS of my hard labor. WHY???? How can they just de-rank you and take your work and de-value it with NOT ONE WORD from them as to why. WHY??? Cuz they're the only game in town and they know it.
They own the Internet, Hell, they own the air. They own us. I have done everything in my power, everything my lame brain knew to do, and the first 2 years of pouring out my soul on Partnership In Parenting, it grew to a 3. It stayed a 3 for one year. I was on a roll. I poured out more parenting advice, tips, and tricks. On New Year's Eve it went to a 4. I was proud. I deserved it. It was time.
I added a section on family meals, after all, lots of parenting goes on in the kitchen. Two weeks later PartnershipInParenting.com went to a 2. WHY???? I cried, ranted, hoped it was temporary. I took off the recipes and left the family meal advice and added sections on family health.
Today it went to a zero. WHAT NOW?
I tell you, Im going to find the little boogers. I'm going to reach into the computer and pull their little evil souls right out of the hard drive. Then, I'm going to wrap the computer cord around their little heartless, spineless monitors and choke the living fire out of every single mega byte that ever existed.
When I choke them dry I'm going to throw them in the wringer, squeezing the remaining energy from their hard heads. I'm going to bust up their keyboards, pry the letters off and throw them in the toilet, with all the other turds.
Hell, Fire and Damnation!
I'm so ticked my eyes are crossed, my lid is blown and my fingers are --- waving.
I might as well be yelling at a hurricane. They are not there. I could spend the rest of my life researching the why of the page de-ranking and still not have a clue.
Who am I? I'm just a little nobody, trying to make a buck on the net. Other people do it, some with very little writing ability I might add and yet they have ranking. I've seen blogs I'd throw in the trash. I've seen some blog websites that look like a 1st grader designed it with text that makes a person with a brain quiver. I'm sorry, but if you've surfed the net you know those sites exist. Whine, whimper, why me GOOGLE GOD!!! I tried to be good, what did I do to make you send me to Cyber Hell??
Burn Baby Burn!
Hungry?
I see blogs everywhere that write about more than one thing. It "ain't" that. I don't know what it is. Did they just pull my ISP out of the sucking black hole of google land?
What does one do? How do you talk to a Google Bot? How do you change the mind of a machine?
My heart is broken. I'm thinking of eating my computer. Want to come to the Barbeque?
You Can't Stop Me, Baby!!!
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Comments
I can't comment on the deranking as I think there are lots of seo experts here who can advise you better but I'm quite sure it's not due to your writing - you leave me mesmerized every time you write something. As in this hub, even when you are mad, I couldn't stop reading. :)
Hi linda, sigh. I succumbed to "victim-itis." I hate it when I do that. =))) thanks for answering my SOS! I'm open to advice....anyone? take a look at the site, what jumps out at ya? be gentle, tho' - I'm suckin' air, here.
Awwww, wandererh, I feel better already!!! What do the google gods know when there are people like you around!!@! forget 'em. eh?
sniffle.....
Ohh, I'm sure there are lots of others who enjoy your writing. Noboby's saying anything 'cause they are probably enjoying their Sunday afternoon. They should be out in force tonight. Maybe we can start a petition and demand an explanation from Google as to why our favorite writer deserves a PR0. :)
I know it's really frustrating. I'm sure it is nothing you wrote either. Your writing is really good and I enjoy it.
Marisue: Google is constantly tweaking their algorithm for page rank. Unfortunately, it is mechanistic and it doesn't really understand the difference between good and bad writing, It only knows if the keywords are consistent, if the page has certain things in the headers, if they can spider it if they have to wade through an ocean of javascript, blah blah blah. People are always trying to do things to game Google page rank and google is always tweaking their spider programs to defeat those guys. Sometimes something totally innocent in a well-ranked page that wasn't being flagged before looks to Google's new spider like an attempt to game them, then a site with a nice hard-won page rank suddenly drops to zero. It's sad, but a lot of completely innocent people get blown out of the water every single time Google rolls out a tweak. I'm so sorry this happened to you. Here's my shoulder to cry on, FWIW.
Google Maps sent me on a wild Prom Party chase yesterday, directing me 30 minutes out of my way. They need some tweaking! Hang in there. I enjoy your articles.
an excellent rant.
I really enjoyed reading your hub and chuckled all the way through even though I don't have a clue what the Google ranking is all about, why it's important and how it works. So, not knowing what you were on about but still enjoying reading it regardless, means your writing must be good. Tell Google to pick a finger.
Aaaaw, giving you a hug while you are bugged eyed and such ((((((MarieSue)))). I enjoyed reading your rant, and since I am also into websites and blogs, I can understand your fustration!
Mariesue,
From what I hear page rank is all about relevancy. Google is constantly trying to make sure the website matches the search, that is when someone lands on your site, they find what they were expecting. As you probably know it has nothing to do with they style or quality (as writers would judge it) of writing.
To me a more important question would be the traffic. How is your traffic? And how are you driving traffic? SEO - natural search or PPC - paid search. I notice you have lots of Adsense ads on your site. If you are getting enough traffic then it does not matter what your page rank is.
Work on making the experience the easiest and best you can for your reader. Do not be concerned with Google. Keep focusing on making the experience as valuable as you can for your reader. If you have people signed up and are driving traffic there by email or getting enough natural traffic, page rank should be of little concern.
Tell the average person what your page rank is and you will get a blank stare.
Ask yourself the question. "So What?" If it drives up the cost of your PPC, then do something about it.
The best advice I can give is constant, fresh content. Update the site at least 2 to 3 times per week with fresh, relevant content. You should see your page rank improve.
wandererh, you do my ego proud. I bow humble with your loyalty! thank you!!!
John, as always, your comments make me think; i've done a few things differently, I wonder if that affected my ranking? I always used SEO for traffic, but recently bought into a program that would give me some back links....would that affect it? sigh. so much to learn.
VioletSun, hugs back and thank you...sniffle, I'm so mad cuz it's hard to get page ranking and when you do, it's such a high, and then you do something out of ignorace perhaps and boom, what was yours, is gone. Any suggestions since you know about websites....I'm learning the hard way I think!!
Geesh! I hear you! I hate that Google holds our future on a seeming whim. I have a Mac and I'm too scared to log into my PC to see what my PR is on a number of sites.
Cindyvine...we do seem to live or die by Google...it's always the elephant in the room. thanks for chuckling...I did try to be funny in spite of frustrations!! I worked on that ranking by writing and writing, and as John says, fresh content does it and he's right. I just have to keep going on. Google does what Google does, kind of like Wall Street and politicians. LOL nice to see you and welcome to hubs and all that jazzzzzz!
thank you Bob!! We need Google and google needs us but you wouldn't know it by the way they treat us sniffle whine. However, as hot dorkage said, it's mechanical so no use arguing or fretting really, just move on!! After I byte them.
Ah, I have faith in you, Google will see it's made a mistake and you'll be out on top again!
Hot dorkage, you seem to know much more than I...any suggestions as to what I could do? You did make me think it MIGHT be a temporary glich, or maybe they don't like my keywords here and there...I could try to refresh some things. sigh...its such a guessing game. I need to take a course or something. I WILL not be defeated I say as I byte back.
Hi Storytellerus, we should start a Byte Google Club. LOL It's so hard to wade thru the reasons things happen. That would keep a Philadelphia Lawyer busy. haahha thanks for the support!! I'll get over it I know...but tonight, I lick my wounds.
Sorry to hear that - hope it gets sorted ASAP!
Hi LondonGirl...I'm so much in the dark. What I think I know, I end up having to re-think. I want to learn about it...and I can't be scared to do things to the site, or write about what's on my heart and mind. I really think as I bounce it around, that it's related to something their spiders picked up and "spit" back at me. Like Hot Dorkage and John and others have said...something to do with their new system and my current keywords.
I'll just have to go back at what I've done recently and see if I can change things. It's truly the needle in the hatstack and may just have to be forgotten if I can't figure it out. It would be nice if they had an automated letter "You're keywords stink, re-do them" or something.
New Day, and doesn't that make you mad that we hold our breath trying not to make Google Boat's rock. dang them. =)) thanks so much for yelling with me. LOL
Readabook, you make me smile!! thanks for helping my bruised ego make it thru the night. 4 years of fresh content and they drop my ranking to a zero. I had a friend who's ranking dropped and then came back up to a 2 point higher than before...so maybe they're in the process of doing things???? naaaaa not in my Karma. sigh. well back to the drawing board, right?
oMG WE AREN'T EVEN SAFE HERE...g-mA :o) hUGS
I know...it's so sad and I'm just trying to learn the net and thought I undestood things and since New Year's Even when I went to a 4 its been downhill ever since. I have to think it's something I've done, but which thing? It's such a mystery which would take 40 lifetimes to figure out. THAT's what makes me upset...if they would just tell us. Guess they could never hire THAT many people hahaha love ya!!!=)))
Marisue: I am so sorry. I was reading the comments and skipped down because I read you say you were using a program for backlinks. This sounds bad to me. I have just finished studying a great deal about SEO, and know that doing some of these things to excess can adversely affect your page rank and search engine results. I don't know about the specific program you are using or what it does, but that sounds like it could very well be the culprit. I'm not an expert, but am knowledgeable.
Backlinks need to be earned the old fashioned way, and Google is fighting against these tricks and lots of links that are not valuable.
Hi Christoph!! I think you might have hit the bull's eye. I'm going to make that correction and see if the rank gradually comes back. For 4 years I did it the hardway and then impulsively did something else and I think I've just been spanked by Google. Ouch!! =)) thanks!!
Hang in there Marisue, it's worth the rant and it's worth the fight. Don't let it beat you.
Hi Jewels...thank you for your encouragement...I will just have to work hard to figure it out...I appreciate all the tips and info and loyalty --- woooo I might sleep tonight after all. =))) You all are awesomely wonderful and so cute too!!!
Marisue, thanks for the reference to the spit Hub. I know how disgusting that is to you, but it does sum it up in your thoughts about Google. Ahem.
I'm with Cindy, John, and Christoph...flip them the bird, keep going with the fresh content (as you always have), and get rid of the backlink software.
Hi Sallys Trove...yep, I think you are right and thanks!!! I will remember that mistake!! I "knew" but now I reallllly know!!! A day late and a dollar short....that's me! haha =)))
(((Big Hugs))) I feel your pain and I don't understand how it all works when it comes to their ranking myself. I had a few articles that stayed at number one and then slowly , silently they moved. Let's go get them Marisue and let our voices be heard.:)
Hi AEvans, You know I don't mind learning and being told "hey, that's wrong, don't do that" but they don't tell you. I'm going to have to go to Google School, right after I melt their hard drives and sick the cat on their little mice.
That is weird. It's bizarre. I think it has to be something mechanical because your site's real and has good content -- but not everything Google rates goes through human beings checking it for whether it's content or spam. If some of the recipe pages didn't have much on them besides recipes then that might have been the problem, since a spider can't tell when a site is just a page that's secondary to another page like an essay on nutrition.
Did you open an account with Google webmaster tools and check if they say anything on there. Sometimes if it's bad hosting or dead outgoing links, they will tell you the problem on there, other times they won't.
www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
I too think it's the backlink software, since that's the only major thing you've done differently in 4 years.
Hhi robertsloan2, I think it's a combination, backlinks I added thru a paid system, and recipes that diluted the sites main purpose of advice narratives. Dang it!!! thanks for your ideas, you're probably right!!
This is all very new to me, so I cannot give any advice. I just want to say I love how you write and I agree, it can't be you. Best of luck!!
awww k@ri, I do appreciate your loyalty, everyone is making me feel so much better. I'm sure I'll figure it out, the google tools link is a possible choice for some help, jGaunt was so kind to provide. Thank you all for boosting my morale!!
Hi JamaGenee, I'm thinking you're right, its a good procedure to think back "What was the last thing or things I did?" and I am doing that. I should have followed "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
I had that intuition when I hit 4 ranking, and I thought, "gee, now I'm afraid to do anything in case itll be wrong." and sure enough, it was - LOL I'm my own worse enemy.
learning is s0o painful!!!
jGaunt, thank you for the link, I'll definitely go take a look!!! =)) I appreciate it...the power of many is greater than my small knowledge about Google...
robertsloan2, I'll have to go back and examine every article added that was different than my normal articles since the great new year's eve ranking of 4. sigh. me and my fingers may have done some damage. Grrrr....I'm mad at myself, really. Google is what Google is....I'm such a drama queen.....hahaha
To cool off some hot heads a bit - try to contemplate for a moment how things work. If BigG(or any other SE for that matter) would penalize for any kind of a back link, I could easily go and bring my competitor site down just but placing a few paid backlinks to them. Because of that the worst thing that could possibly happen to your paid backlinks is that BigG does not count them at all - but it can't penalize you for them without inflicting a total chaos.
That said Marisue, as I told you already I've been heavily hit last week, too - and so far I have no idea what happened...
I understand Misha...and my common sense says it's a dumb thing for BigG to penalize anyone for...and perhaps it's something else, I know they've been doing some internal re-arranging of their coding and ranking system. sigh. I hate goofing when I don't know the rules. geeeeeze!!!
Yep, looks like yet another major change in the algo. And now we have to figure out how to live with it - and the only rule is that the rules keep changing without notice :)
Amen to that. for sure. I'd really like to byte 'em. They make making money too hard!!
Marisue-- for what it's worth, I just went and looked at your site and I think it looks great--nice design, easy to navigate, clear what it's about and a nice friendly feel. What's not to like? The writing reaches right through to you and grabs you--a good site gets good traffic no matter what the googlebot says. SEO is important, but content is still, and always will be King. Dry your tears and keep on truckin-- things are gonna be fine:-)
I'm with K@ri, new and learning. Haven't even looked at page ranking yet! All I know is that I like your articles and others obviously do also. So chin up girl! Keep writing. It should sort itself out in the end. If you figure it out.......please let us know, OK?
Thank you Robie2 -- I really appreciate your taking the time to do that!!! It's good to get all this help, I'm sure it'll settle down, maybe it's a temporary thing. I can hope. And, in the meantime, I'll take your advice and just keep on clickin' the fingers on the keys. =)) google is safe after all. hahaha
Hi Peggy W, boy in this Internet business...one is always learning. Google doesn't let us catch up!! Robie2 is right, content rules. So, we do what we do....and I know the best backlinks are those from press release sites with 6+ rankings....and I just need to not take short cuts and write those pr's. =))
Is Google ranking really that important? I honestly don't know. I find that when I go to Google to check on what's going on with my writing I get confused so fast I can't think. It seems to me that writing and marketing one's writing on the internet are two very different things, and unfortunately I only have a little skill at one of them.
You're a fine writer marisue. I don't know why Google is spanking you today, but you have loyal fans here. Hope you get it untangled soon. Hang in there!
Hi Pam, unfortunately, Google is important. Not everything but important. Here's why: Picture yourself just arriving in New York. You need to find a pink office in a pink buiildng and as you look around there are a million pink buildings. They all look alike at a glance. You ask a person in a pink hat if she can help you find your pink building. Turns out, she's the manager of your building and takes you right to it. Let's say you can't find anyone in a pink hat so you ask someone else, they look at you blankly, and have no clue. Google is the lady in the pink hat...and they're the ones with directions to your site. ONLY if you play by the rules, can you find your own pink building in the sea of many.
another example: You write a paper and put it in a stack on the table and walk out of the room. When you come back, your table now has 50 million pieces of paper on it and yours is no longer in the spot you put it. No one in the middle of the room saw where your paper went. However, a man in the corner said "I built those stacks, what are you looking for?" You describe your paper and he reaches into the middle of the fourth stack from the right and pulls out your paper. Google is the man in the corner.
LOLOLOLOL
That's the extent of my knowledge, which is only a piece of a piece of a piece. ahahhha
God, it's a mess, eh? BUT, you're right, in the end, some people might accidentally find my paper and or the pink building among all the other pink buildings and bookmark me so they could find me again. I hope.
Content is good, but it's a drop in a very big ocean. The only thing that makes my drop different than another's drop is someone who knows where my drop is located and google is that someone. oops. I ticked the wrong ones off. I need lessons in google 101.
thanks to all my loyal hubbers cuz you all put my broken heart back together. =))
Google was planning on an update to the PR system sometime soon. I guess it's in affect now... For the past few months they've been tweaking it once a month. It's thought that they're actually going to make it a regular schedule to update once a month.
Ohhh thanks...and I do have a lot to learn about their page ranking...Im trying to dig up articles on schools of thought regarding google 's PR rules. =)) big lessons ahead of me...lots of burning of the midnight oil..
I went and checked my blogs, and one of them that I was so excited to get to a PR 3, is back down to 2.
Hi Whitney....crap. I hate that! Guess I'm not the only one they hit, but still -- you have to think "Why???" sorry, we can sniffle together. Misery does love company...
Google rankings are always changing for various reasons.
sometimes they'll drop down for a while, then bounce back up.
I've given up trying to find outthe reason for every change, and it;s a good idea not to get too stressed out about Page Rank.
One of my sites which I haven't touched for a couple of years has had a PR5 for a long time (So much for needing fresh, updated content continually) but has dropped to a 4 in the past week. Why? Don't know.
There's also been a change in Google's privacy suggestions, because they are implementing something called a doubleclick DART cookie.
This needs some changes to your privacy policy. Google won't tell you exactly what you need to do, but there's a hint on this forum post.
See https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.
I'd suggest you do a search for doubleclick dart cookie privacy policy, and update your privacy policy accordingly. Apparently this comes in on 8th April 2009.
(And if you don't have a privacy policy on your site, ferchrissakes put one on. I understand that Google are slapping sites that do not have one.)
Mariesue - Don't know whether this has anything to do with your sites PR drop.
Cheers, Eric G.
Hi Eric Graudins....that's good to know...I appreciate all the info I can get. I do have a privacy policy, but I'm sure it needs to be updated.!!! Evidently - it's hard to predict Google. I have no clue what a double click dart cookie is. Is it edible? =))))
Don't know , Can't help. All of you have helped me though, as far as I can see, backtracking seems to be the answer.
Hi Hawk, My only problem is that anyone can read your article, and put a link to it on their site. Their site might be ranked 0. Backlinks cannot be punished by Google, because you have no control over them. The backlinks I've provided for myself look like anyone else's backlinks, as they are on other people's website.
I know Google punishes for outgoing links we put on our own site, because they like to be the one to direct people somewhere else. That's why reciprocal links do your site harm.
Soo, not that I know much, but I've read that. Sooo, I'm thinking they've re-arranged their scoring system, and everyone got slapped. And, I need to re-focus some of my content, probably, and then I'm back in the dark as I don't know even why content variations is wrong, as that's why we have categories on our blogs. I write about various things, but on that site, it's mainly anything that has to do with Family.
Soo, I'm debating myself, probably as I try to figure this out.....LMAO It beats, me!!!
=)) I agree, much help here with all the great comments...we're all learning from each other. PIP is down today....having been hacked or something. Will be back up soon. GOD!!!
Can you not put a code under the url to stop the backlinks from working unless of course you want them too. just a thought
Well, normally we want back links...for traffic and rankings. Google thinks you're somebody when somebody loves you. LOL I don't know about the code...
Hang in there, man. They aren't the only game in town anymore now that Yahoo is using MS search engine.
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lindagoffigan says:
7 months ago
Your SOS got through. Maybe the Hubpage tekkies can help. Google is bigger than them. I heard that Google just got bigger giving venure capital to budding companies. Ready to move up or move out. Just let it go. There are other places in blogsphere that wants to hear about family topics. Good Luck!