Looking for a few other opinions on why my site no longer ranks.
It was getting 6-7,000 visits a day and ranked for 10,000's of terms.
Yet yesterday over the course of 2 hours all traffic from Google
stopped. It was like someone just turned the lights out.
I am still fully indexed and rank No.1 for my site name or domain name
and a few other non competitive terms so I don't appear to be banned
or manually penalized.
Webmaster tools reported around 1,000 duplicate meta and title tags a
few days back due to a bad upgrade of the vbseo forum software which
has already been fixed. I can't see this as a cause for a whole site
being dropped because of a few duplicate tags.
Other than that I have tweaked a few things like on page optimization,
sitemap, allowing outgoing links, few blocks in robots.txt to stop the
bot wasting time and removing loads of poor quality threads/pages/
content.
I have been reading online Google has been chucking some good sites
out for no real reason lately and may be having some issues but
thought I'd ask if anything stands out to anyone all the same.
Maybe even Google staff could comment, I feel my site is ultra clean
and a good example of a quality site the deserves to rank, many others
have told me the same.
Probably nothing to do with your immediate problem, but in your
position I'd take all the "no-cache" stuff out and replace the 302
redirect with a 301.
> Probably nothing to do with your immediate problem, but in your
> position I'd take all the "no-cache" stuff out and replace the 302
> redirect with a 301.
No cache stuff? Can you explain.
And the root is 302'd to /forums/on advice from people here.
> Probably nothing to do with your immediate problem, but in your
> position I'd take all the "no-cache" stuff out and replace the 302
> redirect with a 301.
Ah I see now, the no-cache stuff has nothing to do with Google, it is
to stop browsers and proxys caching my site so it always shows the
user the most recent content/changes.
> Ah I see now, the no-cache stuff has nothing to do with Google, it is
> to stop browsers and proxys caching my site so it always shows the
> user the most recent content/changes.
Have you thought it through?
a) It _is_ for Google - it will cause Google not to display the cached
version of your page. So if Google is assembling the SERPs for a
given query and has two candidate pages with roughly equal weights -
one is yours with no cached version and the other is someone else's
_with_ a cached version - which one will it show the user?
My bet is on the one with a cached version, because the user can still
get at the page if the server is down.
b) Have you thought about mobile users? Having to reload a page every
time you navigate can send an iPhone's charges through the roof. I
use:
The tag is ONLY on the home page so I really don't see the problem for
mobile uses whom are browsing 99% other pages and as for Google my
homepage ranking is not the issue it is the threads that are the
proble, so, I don't see how any of this is relevant. Thanks all the
same.
> > Ah I see now, the no-cache stuff has nothing to do with Google, it is
> > to stop browsers and proxys caching my site so it always shows the
> > user the most recent content/changes.
> Have you thought it through?
> a) It _is_ for Google - it will cause Google not to display the cached
> version of your page. So if Google is assembling the SERPs for a
> given query and has two candidate pages with roughly equal weights -
> one is yours with no cached version and the other is someone else's
> _with_ a cached version - which one will it show the user?
> My bet is on the one with a cached version, because the user can still
> get at the page if the server is down.
> b) Have you thought about mobile users? Having to reload a page every
> time you navigate can send an iPhone's charges through the roof. I
> use:
> The tag is ONLY on the home page so I really don't see the problem for
> mobile uses whom are browsing 99% other pages and as for Google my
> homepage ranking is not the issue it is the threads that are the
> proble, so, I don't see how any of this is relevant. Thanks all the
> same.
I agree. Like I said at the beginning - it probably has nothing to do
with your real problem.
> > The tag is ONLY on the home page so I really don't see the problem for
> > mobile uses whom are browsing 99% other pages and as for Google my
> > homepage ranking is not the issue it is the threads that are the
> > proble, so, I don't see how any of this is relevant. Thanks all the
> > same.
> I agree. Like I said at the beginning - it probably has nothing to do
> with your real problem.
> Which I'm still looking for and coming up empty.
> Other than that I have tweaked a few things like on page optimization,
> sitemap, allowing outgoing links, few blocks in robots.txt to stop the
> bot wasting time and removing loads of poor quality threads/pages/
> content.
Your robots.txt is broken.
A blank line terminates a User-agent record. You may not have blank
lines between successive Disallow: statements.
This may well be your problem. Google seems, of late, reluctant to
crawl sites when it finds a robots.txt file that doesn't conform.
> > Other than that I have tweaked a few things like on page optimization,
> > sitemap, allowing outgoing links, few blocks in robots.txt to stop the
> > bot wasting time and removing loads of poor quality threads/pages/
> > content.
> Your robots.txt is broken.
> A blank line terminates a User-agent record. You may not have blank
> lines between successive Disallow: statements.
> This may well be your problem. Google seems, of late, reluctant to
> crawl sites when it finds a robots.txt file that doesn't conform.
I saw a couple of sites early last week where the robots.txt was pure
garbage - an HTML site in one case, and a byte-order-mark starting the
file in another. One of the Googlebods then admited that the
Googlebot had become more careful with robots.txt and sometimes
avoided the site rather than behaving in an unwanted manner.
> I saw a couple of sites early last week where the robots.txt was pure
> garbage - an HTML site in one case, and a byte-order-mark starting the
> file in another. One of the Googlebods then admited that the
> Googlebot had become more careful with robots.txt and sometimes
> avoided the site rather than behaving in an unwanted manner.
OK - keep us updated. If Google has tightened its robots.txt handling
to be more compliant with the pseudo-standard (there's no formal basis
for the whole deal) then it's something we should all know about and
watch for in the coming weeks.
Take a look at your pages that have external and internal links in
google webmaster tools.
pay very close attention to those links, look for "bad' links, both
incoming and out going.
Also go over your entire site with a fine tooth comb, you could have
been dropped for having your site hacked. That is what I usually see
when traffic drops like you describe and your not cloaking or doing
anything against the google webmaster guidelines and your site has not
gone down for any length of time in the recent past.
Beware - Don't hire any so called SEO from this forum. There is a
group of incompetent wannabe SEOs that hang out on this forum pimping
for work... If you hire one of them you'll be sorry.
> Looking for a few other opinions on why my site no longer ranks.
> It was getting 6-7,000 visits a day and ranked for 10,000's of terms.
> Yet yesterday over the course of 2 hours all traffic from Google
> stopped. It was like someone just turned the lights out.
> I am still fully indexed and rank No.1 for my site name or domain name
> and a few other non competitive terms so I don't appear to be banned
> or manually penalized.
> Webmaster tools reported around 1,000 duplicate meta and title tags a
> few days back due to a bad upgrade of the vbseo forum software which
> has already been fixed. I can't see this as a cause for a whole site
> being dropped because of a few duplicate tags.
> Other than that I have tweaked a few things like on page optimization,
> sitemap, allowing outgoing links, few blocks in robots.txt to stop the
> bot wasting time and removing loads of poor quality threads/pages/
> content.
> I have been reading online Google has been chucking some good sites
> out for no real reason lately and may be having some issues but
> thought I'd ask if anything stands out to anyone all the same.
> Maybe even Google staff could comment, I feel my site is ultra clean
> and a good example of a quality site the deserves to rank, many others
> have told me the same.
> Take a look at your pages that have external and internal links in
> google webmaster tools.
> pay very close attention to those links, look for "bad' links, both
> incoming and out going.
> Also go over your entire site with a fine tooth comb, you could have
> been dropped for having your site hacked. That is what I usually see
> when traffic drops like you describe and your not cloaking or doing
> anything against the google webmaster guidelines and your site has not
> gone down for any length of time in the recent past.
> Beware - Don't hire any so called SEO from this forum. There is a
> group of incompetent wannabe SEOs that hang out on this forum pimping
> for work... If you hire one of them you'll be sorry.
> On Jul 13, 6:40 am, Dave Hybrid wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > Looking for a few other opinions on why my site no longer ranks.
> > It was getting 6-7,000 visits a day and ranked for 10,000's of terms.
> > Yet yesterday over the course of 2 hours all traffic from Google
> > stopped. It was like someone just turned the lights out.
> > I am still fully indexed and rank No.1 for my site name or domain name
> > and a few other non competitive terms so I don't appear to be banned
> > or manually penalized.
> > Webmaster tools reported around 1,000 duplicate meta and title tags a
> > few days back due to a bad upgrade of the vbseo forum software which
> > has already been fixed. I can't see this as a cause for a whole site
> > being dropped because of a few duplicate tags.
> > Other than that I have tweaked a few things like on page optimization,
> > sitemap, allowing outgoing links, few blocks in robots.txt to stop the
> > bot wasting time and removing loads of poor quality threads/pages/
> > content.
> > I have been reading online Google has been chucking some good sites
> > out for no real reason lately and may be having some issues but
> > thought I'd ask if anything stands out to anyone all the same.
> > Maybe even Google staff could comment, I feel my site is ultra clean
> > and a good example of a quality site the deserves to rank, many others
> > have told me the same.
Okay... falling to last resorts...
Do you have backups of your site pre-ranking drop?
If no one can spotr the issue... then it may be a case of having to go
back a Month or so before?
(make a backup of the current site though so you can switch back if
needs be ;))
Alternatively, it could be a case of having a little faith and praying
it's nothing more than a google glitch, and waitign for it to clear?
.
I know it's not wonderful...
but if no one is able to see the problem...
> Okay... falling to last resorts...
> Do you have backups of your site pre-ranking drop?
> If no one can spotr the issue... then it may be a case of having to go
> back a Month or so before?
> (make a backup of the current site though so you can switch back if
> needs be ;))
> Alternatively, it could be a case of having a little faith and praying
> it's nothing more than a google glitch, and waitign for it to clear?
> .
> I know it's not wonderful...
> but if no one is able to see the problem...
Theey reported me because I was warning you NOT to hire anyone form
this forum to do SEO work or "Website repair" there are several
incompetant wannabe SEOs here that are more than willing to sell you
sub-par services, in other words basically rip you off... Please don't
buy into the "your site is so bad, you need me to rescue it" routine
that gets pulled here by several of the wanna be incompetant SEOs
here.
Take the free advice... Because it's free and you can find the exact
same information in google webmaster help, that you will find here.
But like I said, if you hire anyone form this forum for SEO or website
repair you'll be sorry.
> The stuff I listed I changed I did after the traffic loss.
> The pages removed had no links. Mostly anyway.
> On Jul 13, 5:58 pm, Autocrat wrote:
> > No you ...Dave Hybrid...
> > reported ...lots0... for the various offensive/abusive posts.
> > .
> > You mentioned that you cut out a load of duff pages...
> > what happens to links to those pages?
> > a 404 resposne or a redirect etc. ?- Hide quoted text -
> Theey reported me because I was warning you NOT to hire anyone form
> this forum to do SEO work or "Website repair" there are several
> incompetant wannabe SEOs here that are more than willing to sell you
> sub-par services, in other words basically rip you off... Please don't
> buy into the "your site is so bad, you need me to rescue it" routine
> that gets pulled here by several of the wanna be incompetant SEOs
> here.
> Take the free advice... Because it's free and you can find the exact
> same information in google webmaster help, that you will find here.
> But like I said, if you hire anyone form this forum for SEO or website
> repair you'll be sorry.
> On Jul 13, 11:00 am, Dave Hybrid wrote:
> > The stuff I listed I changed I did after the traffic loss.
> > The pages removed had no links. Mostly anyway.
> > On Jul 13, 5:58 pm, Autocrat wrote:
> > > No you ...Dave Hybrid...
> > > reported ...lots0... for the various offensive/abusive posts.
> > > .
> > > You mentioned that you cut out a load of duff pages...
> > > what happens to links to those pages?
> > > a 404 resposne or a redirect etc. ?- Hide quoted text -
> > Theey reported me because I was warning you NOT to hire anyone form
> > this forum to do SEO work or "Website repair" there are several
> > incompetant wannabe SEOs here that are more than willing to sell you
> > sub-par services, in other words basically rip you off... Please don't
> > buy into the "your site is so bad, you need me to rescue it" routine
> > that gets pulled here by several of the wanna be incompetant SEOs
> > here.
> > Take the free advice... Because it's free and you can find the exact
> > same information in google webmaster help, that you will find here.
> > But like I said, if you hire anyone form this forum for SEO or website
> > repair you'll be sorry.
> > On Jul 13, 11:00 am, Dave Hybrid wrote:
> > > The stuff I listed I changed I did after the traffic loss.
> > > The pages removed had no links. Mostly anyway.
> > > On Jul 13, 5:58 pm, Autocrat wrote:
> > > > No you ...Dave Hybrid...
> > > > reported ...lots0... for the various offensive/abusive posts.
> > > > .
> > > > You mentioned that you cut out a load of duff pages...
> > > > what happens to links to those pages?
> > > > a 404 resposne or a redirect etc. ?- Hide quoted text -
Normally it's wonderful here.
Unfortunately, as you can see, there is an issue occuring... and I'm
probably not handling it the best method (pleading and begging
failed... so it's now by the book).
Just hang on in and ignore the gammut that is occuring if you can.
I'm sure someone will beable to see a problem (if there is one).
With any luck, one of the G Team will pop in too.
It shows the links Yahoo has found that point toward your forums (nice
forum by the way lots of good info). I see there is over 59,000
inbound links and the few I looked at apear to be fine.
It does look somewhat funny that your forum has over 59,000 inbound
links but your main page has around three hundred... Not sayting that
is the problem, just saying it looks odd.
Be sure to take a look at the difference between what yahoo shows and
what google shows in back links... note the differences.
The updates could well be the problem, but it is really difficult to
tell. I took a quick look at your site and could not see anything
obvious. This could well just be a google 'hickup', they happen from
time to time and usually resolve themselves in a short time.
Maybe the google rep will take pitty on you monday and get involved if
this does not correct its self by then.
> I only upgraded vbulletin and vbseo prior to the drop and that has
> already been reversed.
> I will just sit and wait I guess, it has only been 2 days.
> Thanks.
> On Jul 13, 6:14 pm, Autocrat wrote:
> > Okay... falling to last resorts...
> > Do you have backups of your site pre-ranking drop?
> > If no one can spotr the issue... then it may be a case of having to go
> > back a Month or so before?
> > (make a backup of the current site though so you can switch back if
> > needs be ;))
> > Alternatively, it could be a case of having a little faith and praying
> > it's nothing more than a google glitch, and waitign for it to clear?
> > .
> > I know it's not wonderful...
> > but if no one is able to see the problem...- Hide quoted text -
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