Panda and Google Sandbox

1. 63

   ronaldohposted 12 years ago

   Google have blocked IP address (for last 7 weeks). What can I do?

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2. 84

   Rik Ravadoposted 12 years ago

   I'm not aware that Google are able to block IP addresses.  Do you mean that your hubs are relatvely low down in the Google search engine and you think some/all of your hubs are sandboxed?

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3. 63

   ronaldohposted 12 years ago

   It appears so Rik, I have started to delete hubs and re-writing to improve hubs. I have used http://www.searchenginegenie.com/sandbox-checker.htm  and it has indicated that my profile IP address is in the google sandbox. like I say trying to clean up my act and getting rid of some dead wood! Thanks for your interest.

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4. 98

   SmartAndFunposted 12 years ago

   I went to that sandbox checker tool, put in the url to my HP profile, and it's saying I'm in the sandbox, too. Is that tool accurate? On the one hand, that would explain my poor traffic. On the other hand, it seems like that site is trying to sell me something, so it's going to tell me I'm in the sandbox whether I really am or not. What do others think or know about this?

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      alexadryposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I just found out I am also in the sandbox, my earnings have slowed down considerably from Valentine's day. I still do not know what it means...trying to do some research on this, I wished I figured it out earlier!

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         Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         How did you find out this info?  Don't believe the sandbox checkers as they almost always say you're in the sandbox and offer to sell you their junk.
         
         
         
         
                                  

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      Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Like some other sandbox checkers, this may simply be an attempt to encourage you to buy their product. 
      
                                             

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5. 63

   ronaldohposted 12 years ago

   Like many others on hubpages my traffic has dropped dramatically  and google is not providing any of my traffic.I appreciate your point Randy and after my latest check  they have offered me to contact them  to remove my IP address from the sandbox.I just want to find out why my my traffic dropped so dramatically.

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   1. 75

      Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I've had that happen to me, and it lasted for maybe six weeks or so.
      
      It should pass, and you should return to normal levels if you'll just wait it out, and do what you do.
      
      Just avoid anything that seems fishy so far as promotion or backlinking is concerned.

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6. 98

   SmartAndFunposted 12 years ago

   Thanks, WTS. I hope 6 weeks or so is all it lasts. I don't have that many hubs, many of my hubs are new (published in the last 6-7 weeks), and I stink at SEO, so it's not like my income has been yanked away or anything like that. My goal this year is to increase my number of hubs, let them sit awhile and see what happens. But if I'm going to be forever sandboxed there is no point in investing my time. Six weeks I can handle, though.
   
   I still wish there was some way to know for sure if I'm in a sandbox. Sometimes I think I am, and sometimes I think it's just that over half of my hubs are new and no one gives a crap about the silly things I write about.
   
   Thanks for the input, everyone. Keep it coming.

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   1. 75

      Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      If you're interested in improving your on page SEO knowledge, then I can't think of any better advice to give than to tell you that you should pick whatever you think is your best hub, and submit that hub to the "Extreme Hub Makeover" forum here on Hubpages.
      
      I learned more there from folks the time I did that than I have anywhere else.

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      1. 98

         SmartAndFunposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, I will do that after I get over my disappointment at being sent to spend out the rest of my HP days in Limbo, lol.

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            Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Just imagine losing thousands of dollars while waiting in the box.  And there's no guarantee it won't happen again at any time.  Not very encouraging, eh? 
            
            
            
            
            
                                                     

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            1. 98

               SmartAndFunposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               You are so right about the money, Randy. I can't imagine what all you former money-makers are going through. My one consolation is that at least I am only losing a buck or two here and there. My condolences to you, Izzy and the others who were actually doing well income-wise.

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                  Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  It's the reality of anyone writing on the internet, SAF.  One is continuously having to adapt to new rules, chase thieves, and deal with the content sites themselves.  Not as much fun as it once was! 
                  
                  
                  
                                                         

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                     paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Agreed. I'm beginning to think that the best tactic is to just go after viral-longshot ideas.

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                        Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        Good luck with that!  Someone will probably outrank you using your own work and the only thing viral you end up with will be a virus on your computer. 
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        
                                                         

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         2. 84

            rebekahELLEposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Hi, your dog avatar is adorable, btw. I just took a quick look at a few of your hubs and have a couple of suggestions. I noticed on the bikini and silverware hubs that you added, 'click on the blue link for more information or to purchase' to a number of your Amazon capsules. That might have raised a red flag. I would delete those words, as most viewers know to click on the link if they're interested, and it won't sound as 'salesy'.
            Something else that I read post Panda is to move images or video's, polls, etc. (something to engage the reader) above the fold. When someone lands on your hub, they may be seeing too many ads at first glance, which ironically Google says is not search friendly.  I would try moving your silverware image up to the top right and it will move ads down a bit.
            A bikini image or video at the top might do the trick. The image you have at the bottom could be a great attention grabber at the top, even if you move it to the side. (You could put an Amazon capsule with that bikini only underneath it.)  Or you can always slide the video to the right if you want text at the top also.
            Try playing around with layout on a few of your hubs and eliminate the 'click on blue link' words and see if it helps.

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            1. 98

               SmartAndFunposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks so much RebekahElle, I really appreciate you taking the time to look at a couple of my hubs and giving me some feedback. I will get busy on those changes right away. LOL, I had no idea about the mistakes you mention and in fact thought I thought I was calling readers to action by telling them to click on the links. I would love to make a few bucks here but the last thing I want to do is be smarmy and sales-y, (or make Google mad) so THANK YOU very much for your time and help.

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                  rebekahELLEposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  You're welcome, glad to help if I can.
                  I don't know if I would call them mistakes, it's more that Google has made changes to their algorithms and sites or pages that ask viewers to click off the page or purchase may appear too spammy. Our task is to give the viewer what they came for, or to give them enough reason/info to take action. I'll tell you, that bikini image has inspired me to get busy in the 'shape up' department, and it could most definitely be it's own call to action with a nice little amazon link underneath it with the same suit. I want that bikini!
                  
                  

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                     SmartAndFunposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Thanks, great idea! Isn't that just the cutest little suit ever? Of course the model is gorgeous, so that doesn't hurt, either!

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                  2. 98

                     SmartAndFunposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Last night I was able to correct at least the Amazon wording in about half my hubs, and already this morning my stats are showing 4 google referrals, which isn't many, but it's an encouraging improvement over that big fat ZERO. I will try to carve out some time to get to the rest of them today, but first have to meet some deadlines on my freelance work. I hate to wait, but deadlines are deadlines. So, thanks again, it seems to be helping already!

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7. 88

   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   Considering the sandbox doesn't actually exist, how can someone write a tool to say you are in it or not??
   
   They are all junk - pay no attention whatsoever.
   
   The sandbox effect, however, does exist.
   
   It is something Google does and is known only to Google, how their algorithm decides to put you there.
   
   You know when you are in the sandbox when
   
   - suddenly Google is sending you next to no traffic
   - all your well ranking hubs drop out of view on the SERPS (while still being       indexed)
   - your hubs still continue to do well in all the other search engines.
   
   The sandbox effect is ONLY applied to new domains, or in our case subdomains, and can last up to a year.
   
   It was thought Google looked for certain criteria to stop spammers starting new sites, black-hat promoting (serious backlinking)them to the top of the SERPS with nothing but rubbish on them, then when Google managed to track them down and de-index them, they just started a new domain and repeated the same technique, making a fortune along the way.
   
   Unfortunately for us, the set up at HP ensures we all have thousands of inbound links almost from day 1, and google can't tell the difference in some cases, so applies the sandbox effect.
   
   It shouldn't last more than a year.

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      CMHypnoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      So only another 6 months for you, me and the snake to be kicking sand into each others faces then?  I think I'll take up fishing or something LOL!

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      1. 88

         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I've started moving my under-performing hubs to blogs, and tonight I took off my medical hubs that had ads disabled and put them on a new blog of their own.
         
         Tomorrow my stats are going to drop about 20,000 or so. Eeeek!
         
         I took a chance and put ads on them on their new blog, because they are nothing to do with sex and everything to do with sexual health and I see ads on plenty sexual health sites.
         
         Even if they don't get any views where they are (and they had already been copied all over the web, but if anyone ever sends me a DMCA saying that they had it first, well that lookback or whatever it's called site should still have my originals on them), they at least have a chance of earning something now.

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            CMHypnoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I've moved quite a few of mine onto my blogs, where some of them are doing a lot better than they were on HP.  I keep hoping that I'll remove the 'one' that for reasons I cannot see is causing the Google hate on my account, but it hasn't happened yet!
            
            Good luck with moving your medical stuff Izzy, and if any mongrel dares to send you a DMCA after they copied your stuff in the first place just tell them to p**s off!

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               IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I've been a busy bee, between tonight and last night, I've taken off about 40 hubs (some were lying unpublished) and rehomed them. I started 4 new blogs for niche topics, while adding the others to existing blogs - these hubs were all far superior to anything I had written on any of my blogs up to now!
               
               I make an extra effort when writing here, whereas my blogs tend to get the first thing that comes into my head LOL
               
               So of course I had to set up analytics and adsense and all those things. I'll wait till the hubs have cleared the cache before I bother promoting the new blogs.
               
               They haven't had any views for months so a few more won't matter.
               
               I'm just going to do it bit by bit, and if my traffic comes back, well and good, I'm moving stuff that never saw traffic here anyway, or had ads disabled.

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            mistyhorizon2003posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Why don't you use the Firefox Scrapbook Add On to do a Scrapbook of all your hubs as they are now Izzy? Then if in the future anyone comes to you with a DMCA for copied content, or you find copies of your original hubs out there and need to prove you were the first to publish them, you will still have the original list of all your hubs, their publish dates and content, exactly as they appeared on HP right down to the images etc. I used Scrapbook to back up all my hubs just in case HP ever went out of business and our stuff vanished overnight or something. Periodically I do it again because I have written more hubs, but I can keep the new file as well as the original so it doesn't lose the hubs I moved from the list.

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            1. 88

               IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks for the reminder. I 'scrapbooked' all my hubs once before and those hubs are on it!
               
               Good idea!

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   2. 98

      SmartAndFunposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      So Izzy, if sandboxing is only done to new domains, does that mean I should have started losing traffic back when HP switched us over to subdomains? I wasn't active back then, so I don't know what kind of traffic I had back then. I was inactive when Panda hit, too. I only had 13 hubs for most of 2011 and I just let them sit without ever checking on them.
      
      Hopefully if I am sandboxed I have already served out 6 months of it along with everyone else, since my account is not new.
      
      My hubs combined have 9616 referrals ever from google, which over 20 months works out to about 480 google visitors a month. In the last 24 hours I have zero, in the last 7 days I have 11, and in the last 30 days 100. My daily google visitors has been about 2 or 3 the last week or so. This is the first time I've seen it at 0 for a 24-hour period.

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         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         No, it probably happened when you got more active on the site. Nearly everyone here, even the success stories, have seen swings in traffic.Some people were only down for a few days, other for a few weeks, yet others for months.
         
         It all seems very random and strange.
         
         If you Google traffic has disappeared, then you are almost certainly experiencing the sandbox effect, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.
         
         The best advice is to keep building hubs (and links if you backlink), and one day it will lift for good.

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            ronaldohposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks Izzy, I now understand the "sandbox effect".
            I had started to delete hubs(more than 50), as well as rewriting some. My improvements have started to see traffic increase, only a week after I started.

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8. 98

   SmartAndFunposted 12 years ago

   Yes, it is all so very strange. Ugh. Well, thanks, Izzy for confirming what I was suspecting. I will continue writing hubs but boy am I discouraged. Talk about a motivation killer. I don't know how many I will actually write, now.
   
   LOL, it's actually funny they would pick on little old me, who hardly ever got any google traffic to begin with. It's like they squished one tiny ant out of a million who is the farthest thing from the queen there could be.

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9. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   No usual Sunday afternoon/evening upswing for me this week. I didn't know that other countries celebrated Presidents day...

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   1. 80

      Sally's Troveposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      My Sunday traffic is usually the best. But for the last 6 weeks or so, everything's tanking. Just commiserating with all of you. I have no idea what's going on. Going from 1400 views on Sundays in November and December to 600 views on Sundays in January and February.

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         Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Since being sandboxed on Aug. 10th, my traffic is slowly rising as if I had started all over again. I don't expect to ever get my previous traffic back unless I gain it as I did when first joining HP.  I do hope I'm wrong though!
         
         
         
         
                                        

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      2. 82

         shibashakeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah, I also experienced a drop since end of January. Here are some of the search algorithm changes according to Google-
         http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2012/0 … nuary.html
         
         From looking at Quantcast, it seems that there may also be a sitewide drop in traffic since after Valentine's Day. A few days do not yet make a trend, but it is probably something worth watching.

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            alexadryposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Same here... all my hubs have been earning considerably less since Valentine's Day..I can't figure out why...

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               alexadryposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Ok, went on Quantcast, looks like a record low since 2008! that's really odd!

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                  IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  I went look see, and they had a worse days Christmas and early January, just a month ago. I wouldn't worry about it.

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               wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I've seen a huge drop in HPads CPM numbers lately - nearly 50%.  Coupled with a small decrease in visits it has really cut the income numbers.
               
               Yesterday's CPM was back up to near normal, though, so hopefully it was a short period when HP couldn't find decent paying ads.

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               1. 89

                  Will Apseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  HP and Adsense have been well down for me since Xmas, which is a long time. Maybe this is the new norm.
                  
                  Amazon pays the bills these days.

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                     Lisa HWposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     I've seen  big traffic/earnings decreases too...     I don't have HP ads,but in the time frame you mentioned I've seem substantial decreases in traffic averages.  I'd seen mostly a slow decline in averages from week to week.    My Hubs have never been aimed at either Christmas sales or the subject of Christmas, so I haven't been thinking in terms of "people aren't looking as much after Christmas".  I've got my own theories about both my own kind of writing and some of the direction things on this site have taken.   Maybe my "theories" are wrong, though. 

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                     1. 89

                        Will Apseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        I've seen a few big traffic pages losing out but the rest are holding up. It is the income that is slipping for me, well beyond the traffic loss. I'm not too worried just yet but I hate downward trends.

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                     2. 82

                        shibashakeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        What concerns me is that there seems to be more uncertainty in my HP traffic, than on other domains.
                        
                        I wonder if Google puts a higher bar on certain sites,and puts them through more rigorous testing.

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                           Greekgeekposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           Yes and no. Google's Panda algorithm doesn't set out with the intention of punishing or favoring certain sites. But it does evaluate entire domains and give them some kind of quality rating which it then uses as one factor for evaluating all pages found on that domain.
                           
                           So, for example, Site A has no spam filters or content requirements, and its archive is full of spam, duplicate content, and poorly-written articles. Its Panda rating would be poor.
                           
                           Site B has an editorial review board, and when you sign up as a member, you have to get your first few articles reviewed before publication. Spam filters, flags, and a duplicate content warning system are in place, and users/visitors can report poor content and get it removed. This site's Panda rating would be a strong one.
                           
                           If you published the exact same article on Site A, Google would rank it worse than if you published it on site B. Backlinks and other factors can overcome the Panda Effect, but it puts you at an advantage or disadvantage.
                           
                           Last spring, Hubpages got hit pretty hard by Panda and has been trying to clean up in order to bounce back. Looking at other, comparable article sites, I'd say that what happened is that Hubpages' Panda rating dropped it down so that it's now rated about the same as similar user-generated-content sites.
                           
                           One of the things Hubpages did to try to fix this is to give each user their own subdomain. Google recognizes subdomains, and may rate them somewhat apart from content on other subdomains, so you may be impacted less by other writers' Panda rating.

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                              shibashakeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                              Dear Greekgeek,
                              
                              I understand what Panda is and have followed the whole sage since the beginning. I also understand the whole sub-domain fix.
                              
                              What I am wondering about is whether certain sites are put on a higher bar now (more testing, etc.), based on past "transgressions". This may explain why my HP traffic goes through a lot more swings than traffic from other domains. Others have reported similar trends.
                              
                              Anyway, it is just speculation on my part.

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            Sally's Troveposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for the info!

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    formosangirlposted 12 years ago

    I don't know what being in the sandbox means because I am in the sandbox (profile page), too. However, I noticed that people come to my site based on "organic" searches of very particular terms. So, does it matter whether or not we are in a sandbox? Once, there was a voluminous amount of unknown traffic the day after Halloween for no apparent reason. It was not even from Google, and I just assume that it was one browser's testing.

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       Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       If you normally have thousands of views from google and lose them overnight, it matters. 
       
       
       
                                            

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11. 78

    kirstenblogposted 12 years ago

    I find google to be acting bi-polar at the moment. My traffic tanks, then recovers, then tanks, then recovers, then tanks again. I think google needs to get back on its meds
    Either they like me or they don't, just figure it out for petes sake!

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       sofsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       that is the best description of the big G I have heard thus far

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          kirstenblogposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          It is so frustrating, I stopped writing here. If when I get the need to write, I have an ebook in the works and figure its more worth my time

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             sofsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             That is wonderful, it is surely worth your time because  it is all yours.. and no one else has a share in it..
             I remember the rate at which your wrote when you joined here...

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                kirstenblogposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                Sadly I am not writing at that rate these days. I have my zazzle store and frankly, I have no energy lately. I knew getting pregnant was going to have side effects but I did not expect to be tired all the time! My brain is mud these days
                I hear that the second trimester will see things improve and I do hope so cause I would like to feel productive again

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                   sofsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   Congrats! Oh wow! I know what you are talking about...I used to drag myself around... Yes, I guess it  does get better in the second trimester for most...Best wishes to you! Keep smiling!

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                      kirstenblogposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                      At least I do get to sleep now, I hear when there is a new born in the house a good nights sleep will be a distant memory! Even with me getting up 5 times a night to pee (already?!?!) its still better then no sleep and a crying baby

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                         sofsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                         Hey, you won't think of it that way.. when you see your baby the whole equation of life changes... at least for me it did!  Yeah but the truth is you do get very little sleep ... but we survive  Take care

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                   IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   Congratulations, Kirsten
                   
                   Hope everything goes well for you, and yes the second trimester is a lot better (third not so good, but hey why worry!)

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12. 57

    andromidaposted 12 years ago

    I've checked this tool.Its showing  "Google Is Blocked your IP" for my personal sites too, which are ranking high in Google for some high traffic keywords.This sandbox tool has no credibility.

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       IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Absolutely, and thanks for posting!
       
       I personally don't think any of them work, because the sandbox does not exist- only the 'sandbox effect' which you can see for yourself without using a tool.
       
       They can't possibly know your previous traffic levels.

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       Greekgeekposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Ditto. I was just coming here to point out that tool is broken.
       
       I just tested the URLs for my articles that are on page 1 of Google and have pagerank of 5 or 6, some of them with over 100 Google visitors a day, and it still claims they're sandboxed.

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    SmartAndFunposted 12 years ago

    Yes, thanks to everyone who responded to the questions here, and thanks to Ronaldoh for starting the thread. The explanations and advice have helped me tremendously, and I'm sure this thread has helped many others, too.

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       rebekahELLEposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Hey, I just looked at your bikini hub and I like the change. The image looks great up there at the top. The video is good, it might inspire some clicks with those ads underneath it!  If those are 2012 styles, you might want to add 2012 after the word, 'newest' in your title. It can always be deleted or changed if you update the hub for 2013, etc.
       I'm glad to hear you saw some progress today! And that 99 looks nice on your avatar.

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14. 61

    HauteWindowTrendsposted 12 years ago

    If you're in the the Google index, you're not sandboxed. To see if your domain is indexed, enter this into Google:
    
    site:myhubdomain.hubpages.com and of course rename myhubdomain with your own domain.
    
    I'm not in the index yet because I just started, though smartandfun certainly is.

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       IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I would beg to differ.
       You are still indexed when you are in the sandbox, just well down in the serps.
       Sandboxing is not the same as de-indexing.

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          HauteWindowTrendsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one then!

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       Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       That's what I thought, too.  I just did some Googling to check the definition - but since Google doesn't admit the sandbox exists, there are differences of opinion. Some say the sandbox means large portions of your site get de-indexed, some say the site is just penalized.
       
       The much bigger question people should be asking is - is this the Sandbox or Panda?  There are important differences.
       
       If it's the sandbox, you'll see a difference in six months to a year.  You could go on adding content to your website or sub-domain in anticipation of earning from it when you get out.
       
       If it's Panda, there's no time limit - until you identify and remove the offending content, your Panda score will never change and you'll never recover.  Adding more content to a Panda'd site is futile, because you'll still be penalized for the offending content, no matter how much good stuff you add.

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          Lisa HWposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          Marisa, do you happen to know if there are characteristic "indicators" of Panda (versus the sandbox effect we've all heard about).  For example, do you know if it would be a drastic and sudden drop in traffic (as with a  sandbox), or whether it might be a gradual decline in averages (with the usual patterns that go up and down over the course of a week/weekend)?
          
          Another question, if a person's subdomain has been around for awhile without apparently having been sandboxed, is it safe to assume that Panda looks the same as sandboxing, only would show up on older sites/subdomains?
          
          In other words, is it always a sudden, drastic, drop followed by a long-term lack of traffic (regardless of whether it's sandboxing or Panda)  - or is there a situation when a non-sandboxed subdomain might continue to get traffic unless/until Google starts picking up stuff it doesn't "like", a little at a time (at least, maybe, until the percentage of "bad" stuff gets high enough to cause an overall "dumping" of the site)?
          
          Basically, I'm wondering if later Panda runs are more refined than earlier ones, and are now screening out stuff for smaller infractions than before.

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             Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             Panda is a sudden drop.  That's the trouble - there's no way to tell the difference.
             
             
             
             As IzzyM says, it's believed the Sandbox is only applied to newer sub-domains, so if you get a sudden drop in traffic on an established site, it's Panda.
             
             
             
             The algorithm is being refined all the time.  I wouldn't say it's necessary for "smaller infractions", more for different problems.

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                Lisa HWposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                Thank you.   Good to know.

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                   Will Apseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                   I have pages get de-indexed from time to time- in fact I always seem to have one or two pages that Google has disapeared. For me, they are always pages with affiliate ads, generally Amazon.
                   
                   I don't see that this has anything to do with new domains.
                   
                   It is worth keeping an eye on this kind of page because I reckon it puts you at risk of Panda.
                   
                   I usually remove the amazon ads and if that doesn't get them re-indexed, I delete them.
                   
                   I check all my low performers from time to time. Are they indexed? Is the read time OK? Does the page have a bunch of really terrible typos? Are there a hundred other pages with exactly the same title? Has it been scraped?

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                      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                      I guess we all have our pet theories, Will.  I know plenty of people with tons of Amazon or eBay ads on their sites, and no sign of Panda, so I'm not buying the idea that Google hates them. 
                      
                      My own pet theory is accidental keyword stuffing. If you write an article naturally (i.e. not keyword-stuffed), then add Amazon ads, images with captions, related Hubs, you can easily end up with over 5% for your chosen keywords, and Google will regard that as stuffing.  Take out the Amazon ads, you've reduced your keyword density, so it will recover - but that doesn't mean the Amazon ads were the problem.
                      
                      I've checked a few Amazon Hubs by Izzy and others who've been hit, and many of them have a keyword density that's too high, thanks to the ads.

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