Viral SlideShare = Google Penalty?
-
We recently published a slideshow on SlideShare.net and it ended up doing pretty well. It was featured on their homepage for 3 days, and we got quite a few embeds.
Unfortunately, a few days later, our rankings in Google tumbled. I'm wondering if this killed our link velocity, which I suppose would have potentially got us a temporary, automated penalty?
If you look at slide #4 and beyond, you'll notice that the logo links back to our homepage, and there's also a "View Quote" button that navigates to that specific quote, so users can find out more information, share it, or view any associated pictures. So, in total, there are quite a few backlinks in that slideshow (88 to be exact).
Is this what likely caused our drop in rankings? Or is it more likely to be a coincidence? We haven't done anything else in the past couple of months, other than publish an infographic and a press release.
And if this is a problem, how would we fix it? I can edit the slideshare and remove some of the links... but it seems sort of silly considering we haven't done anything blackhat. And, it would actually devalue our slideshow, because users would no longer be able to click through to the quotes.
Thoughts?
-
We saw some similar ranking movement, in which sites rose very high, then settled towards the bottom of the page. This could possibly be due to the update getting implemented, then being finalized. I am all for the proactive approach, but I think you should wait about a week before making any changes on your site. While you are waiting to see if anything shifts again, do some competitor analysis. Take a look and see who replaced your spot. See if there is anything they do better. This way, if nothing changes you have a better plan of action of what areas need "fixing"
-
Well, it's not necessarily SlideShare linking to me that I'm worried about. It's the sites that have embedded the slide, in combination with the amount of backlinks in that slide.
While we did see our rankings fall with the 4.0 update, we rebounded a few days later. And even more mysterious... we actually started to rank #1 for many "current event" keywords such as "memorial day quotes".... even though we had zero backlinks to the article... and the article didn't rank 1 until the holiday actually rolled around, which makes me wonder if it could have potentially been a manual boost in rankings. Same exact thing happened with "father's day quotes". As soon as it rolled around, we jumped to #2 in the rankings.
Everything seemed to be going very well, right up until about 3 days ago, which is when our rankings crashed.
-
It's highly doubful. Just having a site like slideshare link back to you would not single-handedly cause your ranking to plummet. My guess is there were already some underlying factors that existed, and you got slapped by Google's Panda 4.0 update.
Take a closer look at any competitors that ranked higher during this time period, and analyze their backlink profile in Moz's OSE. I would look for clues as to what is working well in your industry for both users, and search engines.
-
Hi,
It would be good to check your backlink profile. I am unable to view the slideshare so cant really say much in that regards. However, if you pay close attention to the backlink profile and also the newly acquired links, it would tell you a lot about the penalization (if its a penalization.
Go through all the links and see how many of those websites are not decent quality websites.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Changing / editing street view picture of premiss without drop in Google places ranking
Ive finally got a site quite high in the relevant Google places listings, after a year or so of trying. What ive noticed is that the auto generated street view image of the business is showing a row of garages round the back of the building, rather than the building entrance. Is there a way i can update the auto generated street view images of the business without risking the google places ranking / need to submit a move of address. Has any one had any experience with doing this in the past ?
Image & Video Optimization | | Sam-P0 -
Sat in a York Based Office but I get a Google Lincoln local listing :-(
Buongiorno from 27 degrees C Wetherby UK 🙂 Imagine this scenario... I'm sat in a York Based HQ law office and Google term Langleys and the Local listing is for Lincoln is rendered 😞 The lincoln office is the smaller sister site 75 miles south of where I'm sitting as illustrated here appears (this is wrong) -
Image & Video Optimization | | Nightwing
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc53/zymurgy_bucket/langleys-local-listing-jinxcopy_zps26e3492a.jpg I then do the same thing in a wetherby based office and get the York based local listing appears. So my question is please" what is influencing which local listing is rendered?" Confused,
David0 -
Google places - We currently do not support the location
Hi My Google places listing has vanished from the local search results, and when clicking on the 'see your listing on Google' link from the Google Places dashboard I am getting the message We currently do not support the location What is causing this is it due to another listing with the same address? I have now deleted this extra listing which is now showing as suspended until I enter the pin which will remove it. But what other steps do I need to take to get the listing back on google places search results?
Image & Video Optimization | | ocelot0 -
Local SEO Issue: Google Places Listing on Page 8
Hello, I'm having an issue with a client's Google Places listing. It's showing on page 8 for one of the main keyword terms but their main site is on page 1. Having looked into competitors' places listings ranking above, I've ruled out the following; lack of citations inconsistent citations incomplete profile incorrect category listing details not matching places landing page incorrect location and any form of keyword stuffing Other places listings ranking above have fewer citations, incomplete profiles, details inconsistent with their main site, one is no longer trading as a business and one has no website! In the past, our client had had two listings simultaneously but we addressed this waaaay back. Is it possible we could still be getting punished? I'm at a bit of a loss otherwise. Any thoughts would be hugely appreciated. Thankyou!
Image & Video Optimization | | jasarrow0 -
Google Local Result - wrong decription
A client's description in their Google Places result is incorrect. It looks as though it may have been cached several months ago with incorrect data. Note: By description I am referring to the text that appears directly under the URL and directly above the "places page" link on a results page, not the local listing "description". Any suggestions as to how this can be fixed? All the information on their local page is correct. The website's meta-description is correct. The organic results listing has the correct description. Any tips would be awesome. Thanks,
Image & Video Optimization | | OptioPublishing
Jason0 -
[local seo] How to compete against e.g. yellowpages on Google Rank 1 - 4?
Hi Folks, How to compete against the big SEO-powered pages like Yellowpages in the SERPs? I mean, they have thousands of Rd -> Rd Links as well as super Page and Domain Authority. How has a let's say Dentist or Electrician a decent chance to compete against those? Does Google give credit to them because of the Content they have on their page? These yellowpages totally take the fun out of it for my clients. Answeres would really much appreciated. Thank you. For me it feels like Don Quijote.
Image & Video Optimization | | gooddy1 -
Optimizing for Google Hotel Finder
Hi! As the Google Hotel Finder was also launched in Europe some days ago I was wondering if there is already some best practices for optimizing the entries. I guess that most of the information is directly integrated from the respective Google Places Page... Any insights or views on this topic?
Image & Video Optimization | | adwordize0 -
How to get my forum to be listed on Google in the Discussions section?
I'm running several community sites with forums (for example http:// www.finalstitch.co.uk). All of those sites have a forum section like http://http://www.finalstitch.co.uk/forum/ So far Google didn't recognize the forum. When I search for the site and click the Discussions filter on the left, no forum topics from my site show up. What should I do to change that? Thank you. 20110616-gu1beph7p673x1jkgahy1q63r.jpg
Image & Video Optimization | | asmirasro0