I've been online since 1999, my website (when I switched from free to own web host) has been building at a slow and steady pace since 2001. I had finally gotten to a point of over 1500 unique visitors per day, then on Sept. 21, 2005 my traffic dramatically dropped. Over the last week, I have received NO traffic from Google. I contacted Google to ask what's up but only received the standard form letter. I checked the webmaster guidelines in that format and I haven't broken any rules. I did a search online and came across a thread on webmaster world discussing the possibility of a Google glitch, but no one knows for sure.

Has anyone else experienced the same in the past and what did you do to resolve this issue?

I've been blogging about this fiasco if you need more details at: http://thedabblingmum.blogspot.com

Thanks for any advice.

Hi,

I've had a quick look at your site (presuming that it is thedabblingmum.com)

it is still indexed by Google, but on brief inspection, I couldn't find it for any obvious search terms.

What search terms have you been dropped for and where did you rank?

Also, on the search term 'parenting magazine' I had a look at the top 2 or 3 sites and almost without exception they have far greater link popularity than your site.

www.parent-talk.com - 805 inbound links on G, 12400 on Y
www.thedabblingmum.com 20 inbound links on G, 1200 on Y

I can't see any evidence of hijacking, but I may have been using the wrong search terms, you can tell if your site has been hijacked if the site snippet on the SERPs belong to your page, but the URL is different.

hope this helps

How do you check site snippets?

I have been dropped from every search term imagineable, I would assume, because I litterally have no traffic coming from google and have not had any traffic for nearly ten days.

I don't bother trying to get ranked under "parenting magazine terms" because that is too broad and generalized. Instead I concentrate more on terms for the sales pages, and let the article pages run natural seo based on the natural flow of the articles.

None of my e-book sales pages are showing up in the serps, for example, under any of the original terms where I was number one or on the first page. Same with several other pages that I purposely wrote specifically for the search engines because those pages link to the sales pages.

Also, I have far more than a mere 20 inbound links for my publication. And when I checked Google it only showed 189 linking to thedabblingmum.com which tells me something is screwy because it used to show thousands. And I know I have far more than 500 inbound links.

I did see Google tried to crawl my website but it must have gotten stuck because while the cache for the main page shows Oct. 3, 2005, several of the other pages (including those that have been recently updated this past week) show caches from weeks and months ago. And new pages were not cached at all. In fact, this problem started on Sept. 21, 2005, and on September 27, I had a new cache of the home page and again on October 1 and October 2. (By that I mean which I do the cache:thedabblingmum.com search, I see this date at the tope: This is G o o g l e's cache of http://thedabblingmum.com/ as retrieved on Oct 3, 2005 02:46:41 GMT.)

A great number of sites were dropped on 9/22/2005.

Yeah, I read about that on Webmaster's world, but no one knows why. And they're frustrated because Google isn't giving them answers. I emailed Google to ask what is wrong with my website but I haven't heard back.

I was hoping someone in the search engine optimization world would have a clue.

Do you think it's just a glitch in Google? And I (err we) should just wait and ride it out? Or do you think Google is implementing some new policies? And even if they were, I have to wonder why a site with no spam is simply gone, while sites with tons of spam and no real value have now taken over my spots.

Thanks

And even if they were, I have to wonder why a site with no spam is simply gone, while sites with tons of spam and no real value have now taken over my spots.



:)
That's because "Google is not Evil". :)
Do some spam and you'll be up there. Just kidding...

Yes, I definitely "hope" it's a glitch. I had a great number of content pages drop from the SERPS and the replacements have not been pretty. I'm pretty sure this is not how Google intends to conduct its' search business so I expect the results to improve.

Tried to hit your site on and off for the last 15 minutes. Maybe a rare morning fluke, but if it is a chronic thing, might explain some Google issues on your site.

Sorry about that.

I had been having problems with my webhost for awhile. I use frontpage 2003 to upload my website and when the web host was bought over by another company, uploads keep stalling--causing me to have to do that thing where you move one page at a time to the host.

So I decided since my site isn't showing up in the serps, it is the perfect time to change web hosts. Plus the new host allows me to host multiple websites, with own domain name (not redirect or subfolder) on the same account.

Anway.... it's up and running now. The propaganda or whatever it's called finally took place.

But you are right, in one thing, I was thinking maybe the old host was the problem or a contributing factor because another thing it was doing was automaticall changing my index.htm homge page to an index.html page and I had to keep switching it back.

When I did a search for "dabbling mum keyword" I came across a search result that appeared to be my website listing, but with another website's domain address. And when I check the cache, it shows my site with someone else's web address as the cached website.

The Dabbling Mum.com Home | Business | Contests | Parenting ...The Dabbling Mum Staff ...Where BUSY Parents Unite! ... Mobile Notary Public Earn $50 in two hours without selling A single thing! ...
www.notmywebsite.com=127 - 15k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

Who do I contact to resolve this?

I cannot say without a domain name listed, but it sounds like your site and all it's content has been hijacked, and this is may also be why you aren't showing up in the results.

If your site is showing up under another domain name, then you are the victim of theft. Do a whois lookup, determine who is hosting the site, and send them a request to immediately terminate the other website. You might also have to follow it up with an attorney's cease and desist letter.

What I found out this past week, also is that some websites have linked to my website but the way they linked to me, Google has taken the link and cached my website as being on their website. Instead of just following the link and caching my site. I am beginning to think that is why my site isn't showing up in the serps. How is that possible?

Here is my website: http://thedabblingmum.com
(I changed the introduction message last night and the metas hoping Google will see the difference and spider my site and put it back in the serps)

Here is the cachse of another website that is not my website:
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:LrpoU-7gJykJ:www.internettips.com/resources.php%3Fa%3Dgo%26id%3D127+dabbling+mum+not ary+public&hl=en

and another

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:E95K6aKkc-UJ:www.thebubbler.com/modules.php%3Fname%3Dlinker%26l_op%3Dvisit%26lid%3 D3015+dabbling+mum+notary+book&hl=en

There are several more like this as well.

Could this be the problem and how do I get Google to take notice? Because I have emailed them and maybe I worded it wrong, but I didn't get a response, not even a form letter response.

Since people would still get to YOUR site if those links showed up at the engines instead of yours, you'd still be getting traffic.

So I wouldn't think that is the problem.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the whole "work at home" theme. Someone posted on my forum that they were having the same problems, and they had a site in the same genre.

Are you networked with a lot of other sites with that same basic theme?

That is completely weird! The cache gave a URL for those domains up in the Google header is http://www.internettips.com/resources.php?a=go&id=127 and it is also what shows in the status bar when hovering over it. Yet when either I click on it or copy it and put it in the address bar, it resolves to your custom 404 page, not the 404 page for internettips.com.

Same thing with http://www.thebubbler.com/modules.php?name=linker&l_op=visit&lid=3015

Different domain, but no matter what, even if it's copied and put into a new window, it resolves to your site, almost like a redirect. If anything, I should get the 404 page for those sites.

So if I can put that into a browser and see your content with my browser, then Google is getting bad info from somewhere. I don't think this is a Google problem.

That made me think there was a DNS issue perhaps with your host. I've had that before where they recycled an IP address on me and didn't remove the old domain info. Therefore, the site came up under two domain names. However, this is not the case here. Both thebubbler.com and internettips.com have different hosts and they don't share either.

I have to wonder if it is still a DNS issue, but at a higher level than your small host. If for instance, they all share a common supplier, there could be some cross over in IP registration info.

You probably aren't going to get much from Google. However, I'd take all this over to your host and have them investigate. If the supplier has some screwed up records, it could affect a lot of their domains and they'd be on it in a heart attack minute. You might also contact the owners of both of these domains and see if they are having problems. They don't need anything resolving to your site and they don't their traffic being siphoned off elsewhere either. With several of you going to your hosts, it might get to someone who's seen this before and can do something with it.

Actually, I am linked with all kinds of websites from parenting themes, to writing themes, and some work at home websites. My website covers parenting articles, writing related articles, small business articles, and recipes.

I don't focus on getting linked from work at home websites because sadly, most of them are bogus websites and the really good content websites don't seem to link back to other websites unless you provide a high quality article.

I have so many articles with links back to my website ranging from movie and book reviews to writing articles to parenting essays to a small business articles and those links don't even appear in the links back thing now.

"That made me think there was a DNS issue perhaps with your host."

Would switching web hosts solve this problem? I had been having lots of problems with my old webhost and since I've been dropped from Google, I took it as the perfect opportunity to switch hosts.

I don't think my web host would've cared, because the problem I had been having was uploading my website was on their end, and they kept saying it was on my end, but when I switched webhosts this week, everything upload hassle-free.

Keep a close eye on your indexed pages to note any Url only/supplemental results increases.
IMO, apart from being affiliated/AdSensed to the max, there may also be a duplicate content issue....

What does "apart from being affiliated/AdSensed to the max" mean? I only have one adsense ad per article page.

Does that affect content quality?

As for duplicate content, are you meaning articles I've written for other websites? As I pay for original content for the website.

Thanks.

Alyice

Okay I have a question. Could Google be having a problem spidering my website? I notice that they cached my homepage today, but I had made some changes to the index pages of each center (i.e. http://thedabblingmum.com/writing/index.htm), and none of them have been cached since back in Sept.

I am not sure what the problem would be to prevent them from crawling my website, though.

THanks.

*Does that affect content quality?*

It very well may, as it could be argued much of your content is aimed specifically at promoting your affiliate links, and if you've also got AdSense on those pages, it might well reinforce that POV.

the problem I had been having was uploading my website was on their end, and they kept saying it was on my end, but when I switched webhosts this week, everything upload hassle-free.
Haven't you heard? It's always the customer's fault.

Got the same attitude from TimeWarner when I lost SMTP but not POP, on 15 different email addresses on 4 different machines running 3 different OS, 3 different client apps, and not networked together. The assumption they made is that all my email accounts got corrupted simultaneously and I should delete and then recreate them all, because their mail server wouldn't screw up. Turned out to be a rogue IP address accidentally deleted from their range after spending 3 hours arguing with them.

Since you just changed hosts, I'd let it settle for a few days and see what happens. Changing hosts again might throw a monkeywrench into it, and if it's an upstream issue, your new host could be using the same upstream. If it hasn't straightened out by Monday morning, I'd give them a call. Obviously you don't have anything to do with how a domain name resolves so they should jump on it.

You are all so great to answer my queries. I have always lurked and am so glad I finally posted. Thank you so much for your time!

I have one more question. I was thinking about the duplicate content issue and realized that I had distributed some of my articles to free content groups, as I was doing a search to remember which ones they were (which I've now tagged so I dont waste that time again) I found something strange.

About a year ago, I restructered my site map, deleted several subfolders since I went a new direction with my website.

At any rate, every single subfolder that had finally left Google's index is now back. For instance, thedabblingmum.com/writing/articlearchive.htm and thedabblingmum.com/christian/index.htm and when I put in the title of an old article that is no longer on my website, it shows up in the serps under "title dabbling mum", on a web page that has been gone for about a year.

Would this be a Google issue or my old web host issue? Is there something I need to do to resolve this, or just wait it out?

Thanks again guys and gals, you are so great!

I have so many articles with links back to my website ranging from movie and book reviews to writing articles to parenting essays to a small business articles and those links don't even appear in the links back thing now.

I was talking more about who YOUR site links to, not who links to you.

Have you checked those lately? You want to make sure any links you have out are still the same high quality sites you were originally recommending to your site visitors and not now some sort of icky junk.

I only link to websites through the author's bylines. I don't have a link swap page. But I hear what you are saying, I will check to see if the author's somehow lost their websites and someone else took them over.

Thanks for the clarification.

Alyice

Yup, our site was suddenly dropped from Google on September 22, 2005 (I'm writing the date, so maybe Google could index this!) for no known reason. We are a content site, with some affiliate links, were in the top categories or #1 for all revelant niche key words for each content page- as you described for your site. Then, nothing!!!

From talking to others and looking in forums, the Sept. 22 Google drop seems to be widespread but no one has a good reason as to what or why.

Same story, different site.

I am really sorry to hear your site got tanked too. I'm praying we all get back in the serps by the end of October 2005.

I have given up trying to figure out why our sites got tanked, I think it's all speculation and was driving me to the point of depression. But I do believe it has to be a Google glitch because crappy websites are reigning right now, while quality is out the door. Sure, I have one Adsense link per content page and yes, I have a couple of affiliate link pages, but the bulk of my website is content driven. I simply added the affiliate links and adsense as a way to pay for the writers and hosting costs, plus try to pay for the hours I put in doing everything to maintain the website and publicize it.

There are so many websites filled with nothing but advertising, affiliates links, and three Google Adsense campaigns per web page, and they are ranking at the top now.

One website that took over my top space has about 200 words of content, underneath that is about 150 repetitive keyword word phrases, phrased differently (ending in ed, ing, s or rearranged buy now, now buy, etc.). I would report it, but at this point, I doubt Google would do anything about it because they've yet to reply to my emails (unless my spam filter ate them).

If anyone has a way to create an online income outside of advertising links, I'd love to hear it. I think we could all benefit from it, while we try to sort out this Google mess.

I used to make decent money from e-book sales without affiliates, but thanks to the drop, no one can find them. :(

God bless, and here's to wishing and praying and hoping and dreaming that our websites (with all our hard work) will reign supreme again, real soon.

Alyice

Hey Alyice-

Your page cache looks fresh (oct 13) and a few terms I tried brought your pages up on the first page. Are your issues fixed?

I am noticing some similar things with me website addonsworld.co.uk. We used to have 504 backlinks and now it has only gone to 12. This started happening about 10-14 days ago. I have no idea why.

Thanks Scottie for the heads up. I had gotten so depressed with losing my rankings that I actually stopped looking at my stats.

I was on webmasters world where this guy had a similar situation, only most of his product pages were the same becuase the product was only slightly different, with a different product number. One of the seo guys told him that Google may think it is too much duplicate content on his website and to modify each web page so it's different and unique.

Well, that got me to thinking. In my small business center, which was a little less than 1/3 of my website, I had received some free content articles, not through the conten groups, but through the writers themselves. It didn't dawn on me that they were about 3 years old and probably all over the Internet now. So I did a search, and sure enough they were. So I started concentrating on taking off those articles and any paid articles that were now sold as reprints on more than five publications.

Then I began writing content to replace them.

Thanks to your heads up, I went back into Google right now and I am happy to say I am starting to see some searches come through from Google this past week. Not as much traffic as it used to be, but better than no traffic at all.

I don't know if taking those web pages off before the 13th's crawl helped or not, but I'd like to think it did. That or Google is working out it's kinks!

I also tweaked some of the web pages that were number one in the past and no longer are and it looks like at least two of those pages are back to number one spots.

Any idea if I am on the right track?

Alyice

I think it probably isn't anything you did, Google just fixed some issues.

I have articles reprinted as many as 50 times around the Internet and it really hasn't affected rankings for me at all.

It just goes back to the fact that you can't control the search engines and if you count on free results from Google, sooner or later you will get burned, just because they are constantly making changes. Basing a marketing plan 100% on search listings is dangerous.

I hear you on the basising marketing plan on search engines being dangerous. The irony is that I had other forms of advertising in place, but I sadly never paid attention to whether they were working or not because I was so busy just running the publication and something had to give. This experience has taught me that I need to keep an eye on other advertising campaigns because I could be wasting valuable money, time, and resources on things that don't work...which was my case.