When is Google going to sort their act out?
-
I work with a couple of clients in the finance and debt area. I've been doing loads of work examining the link profiles of the commercial sites at the top of the rankings and 70% of the links I am seeing are low value directories and sites obviously built for links with multiple outgoing links to completely unrelated sources! When I examine the other links their isn't enough value in them to outweigh what looks to me like very obvious and spammy low quality link building.
Why can't Google see what I'm seeing - it's so obvious? I know there are multiple factors at play but links like these should offer no value or get a site penalised (isn't that what Google tell us) but these sites still seem to be ranking because of them rather than despite them!
-
OK. Thanks for your time.
-
Above my pay grade I think.
-
Yes I agree. They certainly have a size issue. Balancing the value of things across that many web pages is only going to throw up more issues than solutions. So are they facing a losing battle with the growing size and complexity of the web and with balancing commercialness and neutrality in a way that makes it impossible to implement changes that will clean the results but jeopardise relationships with paying customers?
-
I think Google has an almost impossible task, that being to determine the quality of over a trillion web pages (and of course growing) using technology to do it, which is the only possible tactic they could use.
Looking at their recent moves, I think they are trying to get the user communities to help determine the quality of sites through the 1 + button, and the move to recognize social media signals ( and the Chrome browser changes).
I think that Google would like to reflect a non capitalistic, democratic ranking system, with safe guards for the new and smaller pages. Like our government was set up to do. And I think they are moving that direction.
The problems with this goes to the human condition. There are many who will always try and take advantage of a system (because we are capitalists at heart and that brings out the best and the worst in entities) and that Google is trying to find the balance between a capitalistic approach and a democratic approach. I don't think they can.
Ultimately the rankings are, in general today, controlled by money. Those entities that have money to spend on SEO and Internet Marketing are rewarded based on how wisely they spend that money. The results are not all that different than the old world Yellow page model. Big money, big advertisement,. first page. Limited budget,and you better find other ways to promote your service/product.
Even with the new changes, the 1+ and all that, lots of smart people will still be looking for ways to take advantage of them, and will undoubtedly find a few ways.
So all we can do, is decide what we are individually, and what tactics we will use to
to represent the side of the fence we choose to stand on.
( Bring in theme music here)
-
Thanks for your response.
I know there are multiple factors at play and for these clients we are doing social media work, PPC and email campaigns.
I'm really just surprised at often I'm seeing sites with spammy link profiles appear in the top ten when better quality sites with better (but maybe fewer) links appear further down. I starting to suspect that Google are finding it impossible to write in parameters to the algorithm which deal with sites like these without devaluing legitimate sites.
What do you think?
-
We all get to "deal" with these type situations from time to time. Your question is of course impossible to answer, but I would say you are putting all your eggs in the back link basket. If you are faced with a competitor who has a zillion low quality links, you may need to look for other traffic opportunities. SEO is ultimately about getting quality traffic to your clients site. If your client see's it as nothing more than a rankings competition, you are in deep trouble.
Using the new opportunities in Social media , as well as searching out and finding the best quality links, and building highly creative on site content ( Tips, Calculators, Cartoons, Educational video, Forums , contests) may go alot further than building links 24 hours a day.
I feel your frustration, we all do.
-
We all get to "deal" with these type situations from time to time. Your question is of course impossible to answer, but I would say you are putting all your eggs in the back link basket. If you are faced with a competitor who has a zillion low quality links, you may need to look for other traffic opportunities. SEO is ultimately about getting quality traffic to your clients site. If your client see's it as nothing more than a rankings competition, you are in deep trouble.
Using the new opportunities in Social media , as well as searching out and finding the best quality links, and building highly creative on site content ( Tips, Calculators, Cartoons, Educational video, Forums , contests) may go alot further than building links 24 hours a day.
I feel your frustration, we all do.
-
Google definitely has opportunities for improvement. They acknowledge their weaknesses and adjust their algorithms on a regular basis.
Often the sites we see at the top are only there for a short time period. The majority of the spam sites I have been looking at lately disappear in 4-6 weeks.
Also, there are widely varying definitions as to what is spam, and what sites should rank. Earlier today another member felt a site should not rank as #1 and was spam. When I reviewed the site it seems to me the page earned it's ranking and it appropriately placed in SERP based on the competition. http://www.seomoz.org/q/fishy-rank-1-google-algorithm-bug
The best we can do is learn as much as possible about how Google works, then use that knowledge to improve rankings for our sites and those of our clients. We can also report spam sites, but be careful about reporting sites as spam which are not. Matt Cutts shared the reporting account is given a sort of credit rating when they report spam. Those accounts which make false spam reports are discounted on future reports.
-
I know. Finance and debt are really difficult areas to compete.
I would try to attack it with content that professors and university departments would be willing to link to.... but the problem with that is that they don't want to link to a site with an obvious commercial purpose.
-
Hi EGOL
Yes I agree and you would think that is the case but they are ranking at the top for reasonably competitive terms and better sites are already finding it hard to compete with them.
I'm totally up for the challenge but that's not really my point. This is not an isolated example I see sites using these practices ranking high for a range of keywords in Google. I can't write algorithms but I know the things I would be looking for if I did and these sites would be obvious to me. I can't believe that Google don't know and can't do anything - so what's happening then?
Thanks.
-
If these sites have such spammy link profiles then they should be really easy to beat!
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
-
Do i have too many 'follow' backlinks and am i being penalised by Google for it?
Hi all. I read on Moz recently that if a website has too large a percentage of 'follow' backlinks, that Google penalise the website because that is unnatural. IS this correct please? I ask because i have recently found that our own website, according to Moz, has 16,500 inbound links and they are ALL 'follow' links. These are all from independent 3rd parties and we havent commissioned any of them, so it is completely natural. URL if anyone cares is www.themosquito.co.uk Any advice would be appreciated. Cheers
Link Building | | TheMozzy0 -
What does google think about legit link exchanges where one is follow and one is no follow?
Hi Experts! Here is my Question for you. I am doing a link exchange in a legit way to increase sales for my site and my associate's site. My associate just wants a sales increase and no link juice. He has a very low DA so I want to give him a no follow link. Is it suspicious of fishy that I give a no follow link and receive a followed link in return? Please let me know how to proceed, I don't want to take any changes. Can you tell me the best way to proceed with this link exchange? Thanks
Link Building | | Ruchy0 -
How to increase search engine visibility on google , any new ideas ??
Hello friends , I have a shopping site how can i increase google ranking in google serp. Now my page is in 700 . Thanks
Link Building | | BiswaM220 -
Penguin,No warning message from Google
I'm losing traffic & I have been since April. I'm pretty sure it's Penguin but I have not received any messages from Google. Should I proceed with the disavowal tool to remove some of the spammy directory links? PS Submit Edge is owned by the Devil
Link Building | | KrisPhoto0 -
How long does it take for google see my new backlins and take an effect on my rank?
how long does it take for google see my new backlins and take an effect on my rank?
Link Building | | ctam0 -
Google Cache Date
The Google Cache date for my website: This is Google's cache of http://www.petmedicalcenter.com/. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on Aug 28, 2011 03:19:05 GMT. Does this date coorelate to the last time Google reevaluated their rankings for my site? So if I had done 15 or so backlinks after the August 28 date, will those start to affect rankings (once they are discovered) after the next time the site is updated?
Link Building | | PMC-3120870 -
Google penalizing sites because of press release pages?
Does anyone know of situations i can look up where Google penalized a site because of press release pages (hosted on a non owned major site like prweb or whatever), where the prweb page obtained back links from a group of sites that Google felt was part of a "farm"?
Link Building | | joemas990