Frustration at Google

1. 89

   SimeyCposted 12 years ago

   Google are claiming that their Panda change has been done to ensure quality is listed top of search engine rankings.
   
   Now id I search for Long Tail in Google I get a Squidoo site ranked 10 in the results. This is nothing more than a list of links and has no quality or detail within it.
   
   My own personal article on Long Tail on Hubpages which has over 1800 words and I feel is 'quality' doesn't appear in the first ten pages.
   
   Even when I narrow it down to Long Tail Phrases my hub only appears on page 6 - now I know there's a lot of competition BUT:
   
   My Blog entry on Blogspot that is a feeder entry into my Hubpage ranks on page one for both searches.
   
   My Squidoo Lens - created after my Hubpage - ranks on page one when searching for Long Tail Phrase.
   
   So Hubpages are getting slapped as a content farm while Blogger and Squidoo are not.....

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   1. 81

      Mark Ewbieposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Your article may be fine.  Probably is.  But the slap applies partly because of the whole content picture at HP.  Too much spam, thin and copied content across too many categories.  Something like that.
      
      So Google takes a picture of all of us and even though there's a few pretty ones at the back it's the ugly monsters all around that we're judged by.

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      1. 94

         wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I think you've hit the nail on the head, Mark.  Although I don't really understand just why squidoo hasn't been hit hard as well - maybe they've done a better job over the years of limiting the junk.
         
         Whatever it is, it seems that HP has a massive job of cleanup and that it will probably take a long time after it is cleaned up to actually see any results from the effort.

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      2. 89

         SimeyCposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I agree - the point is though that SQuidoo has just as much junk as does Blogger - but they are still ranking highly - seems to me that it's one rule for HP and one rule for others...

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   2. 0

      Amie Warrenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Have no doubt...Panda has nothing to do with quality. Panda has to do with what every other algorithm change has been for in the last few years...advertising dollars. Adsense advertisers were getting sick of having to pay for clicks from people who didn't buy anything...millions of clicks a day from "friends of friends of friends" of article writers.  Have you seen any of the adsense advertisers complaining about Panda? He!! no, because they are happy. They only get real visitors now who are more likely to purchase a product.
      
      Google doesn't give a rat's behind about quality as long as it's  making them money. Having all their advertisers threaten to pull out is what made Panda happen. Remember, Google makes most of its money off of adsense advertisers, so any and all changes to search are because of that, not quality or anything else.

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      1. 94

         wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         To a point I agree with you.  Advertisers are certainly important to Google and play a large part in any decision.
         
         At the same time, though, if searchers can't find what they want with Google they'll end up in time using Bing or something else.  Google must also take care that that doesn't happen and that means quality.  Although small at this point, google does have competition and doesn't want to lose market share.

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      2. 87

         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Now, I really don't like this reply because it has more than a ring of truth about it.
         <sigh>
         
         If this is the way the internet is going, we may as well take up knitting, or hope that some advertiser will read our stuff and see the potential...but that ain't going to happen.
         
         When someone needs a writer, they employ a professional.
         
         And YET, I still think there is a place for us out there. People love reading how other people cope with situations, what other people think of products, or they just like looking at Indian aunties!
         
         There has got to be room for us too - else why do so many individual sites continue to do well, just because they have their keyword in their URL and title?
         
         Some sites on the front page of Google are nothing short of a disgrace.

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2. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 12 years ago

   Blogger doesn't really have the centralized management to count as a site, it is a host.  As for who has more crap, Squidoo or Hubpages--I don't know.  Possibly Google is right.

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3. 87

   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   I don't know about anyone else, but I am seeing the hubs that held up pretty well after Panda slipping further down the SERPS now, so it looks like whatever HP are doing to clean up the site is not working.

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   1. 94

      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I've seen a slow but progressive slide in traffic ever since panda.  An occasional day or week that blips up, but it always resumes the slide.  In addition, as you say, my top hubs are slowly falling in the SERPs.

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      1. 87

         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yes its as you say, a very gentle decline overall. I am feeling very sad for Hubpages. Obviously I am feeling sad for all of us, but this is just one platform out there, and I don't know about anyone else, but I haven't yet taken full advantage of the others. I just wish their method of implementing the new standards hadn't pissed off so many of the good hubbers this site had. And it seems they are continuing to do so. Come on staffers, cut us a bit of slack. We are all suffering.

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         1. 78

            Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Thumbs up, +1 to this comment.

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            1. 87

               IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks

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         2. 64

            Mutiny92posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            yup- the slide hasn't stopped for me either.  Income continues to drop as well.  I don't see anything changing for HP.
            
            Composite copying is still prevalent, although ~400 hubs from one copier have been unpublished - OUT OF 2,400 -
            
            Thin content with insincere website "review" hubs are still out there.  Funny, as the HP staff even acknowledged that most of these were "lame" - but they added the magical word "review" to the title, which appears to make lame content ok to be published. 
            
            My older hubs have held up better - my more recent ones have not.
            
            Something's got to give!  I know I am not publishing nearly as much as I used to, and judging by my morning emails, not many other people are either.
            
            I hope they have done enough to get out of the google doghouse, and they can attract new authors.

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            1. 87

               IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I do not understand their mentality, really. The hubs we all find offensive, which the public finds offensive, which damages the site's reputation overall, are allowed to stay by simply adding the word 'review'.
               
               What really bugs me about this, is that the readers who thought those were genuine sites were obviously the intellectually challenged amongst us, or perhaps not native English speakers.
               
               I live in foreign language speaking country. I know how easy it is to become confused with a language that isn't your first.
               
               If I desperately needed to contact the Embassy or someone, and all the writing was in Spanish and I am struggling, am I going to notice the word 'review' at the end of the title?
               
               Probably not.
               
               I will see comments from others and think I have arrived at the right place.
               
               I am failing to see why they have come down with a heavy hand on the genuine writers of this site, and continue to do so, while leaving this 'fluff' intact.
               
               I would like to continue publishing, but am finding it harder day by day to get motivated.

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               1. 94

                  wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Ditto, Izzy.  I had set a goal of 2 hubs per week this year, and was doing OK until Panda.  I haven't done any since then and doubt I will.  I just can't see putting the time and effort in it to see them languish in the "lost hubs of googleville" section.
                  
                  I did put a few hundred backlinks out there, but they don't seem to have done anything and they, too, are slipping in the SERPs.  I've thought of flooding the 'net with a backlinking tool, but it goes against the grain to me.  No one wants that kind of junk on their site - they'll just see their own work turn into another HP.

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               2. 64

                  Mutiny92posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Izzy, you are spot on.  There is no qualification for "deceptive" hubs.  The rule doesn't specify whether they are intentionally or unintentionally deceptive...simply "deceptive."
                  
                  If the comments on those hubs don't support the fact that these "lame" hubs ARE, in fact, deceptive, I don't know what will.  When readers ask "customer support" to contact them, or give account numbers in the comments, it should be indicative that these types of hubs are, by their very design, deceiving people.
                  
                  These authors were given a blueprint on how to keep this content published by adding "review" or "information" - but it still doesn't make it right.

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