Google Results Very Odd?

[critter]

Hey All..

Has anyone noticed the search results on Google lately to be terrible?

Try a real estate term and you will see alot of directory listings and crappy results.

Whats all this about?

Cheers

Critter

[krisval]

YES! I actually made a post about a week ago to see if anyone else thought that Google might have changed their algo, but there were not takers.

I have absolutely noticed a big difference. Especially in the serps where a couple of my sites have been on page 1 for about a year. They are now on Page 5. I have constantly updated these sites and made sure they have quality links.

I have noticed that I am having a really hard time finding information as a user. Not quite as bad as after FLORIDA, but I definitely now have to go to Yahoo, ASK, and Clusty a lot more within the last week or so to find a relevant page.

I am seeing some totally unrelated sites pop up for certain queries.

Please someone else confirm this!

[critter]

I agree

I have not lost rankings, more not understand why Google's SERPS are so bad lately.

I agree when I look for something, most of the SERPS are fraught with unrelated, crappy results...

ANyone else have any ideas?

CLIFF

[I, Brian]

Google appears to been having problems with it's SERPs since around December 15th:

Shift in Google Algorithm?
December Google changes?
Only 31 results shown for Yahoo

GoogleGuy suggested that the way that the index removes multiple returns from the same site is a principle change.

However, it does seem that this is an overly-aggressive. Pages - even site index pages - are being wiped out.

I figure that this cannot be entirely due to penalties, because my business site keeps disappearing from Google.com results, yet remains constant at the top of Google.co.uk UK results for a very competitive search term.

This suggests to me that there's a very real algo issue at work.

[shor]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

Google appears to been having problems with it's SERPs since around December 15th:
Only 31 results shown for Yahoo

Thanks for digging up that specific link Brian (even though the URL was missing the domain name). Had to show that to a few programmers who thought that google's 'site: mydomain.com' was broken. Daresay they were quite relieved to find that it was due to G's result-crowding - they initially thought G had lost +2M indexed pages

[Dugger]

As for GoogleGuys remark about changes in how sitecrowding is presented, I am seeing changes but not for the better. Often the same domain will have 2 or 3 results in the top 20. These are from exactly the same domain and not from subdomains - just different pages within the same site. Results like this are usually suppressed but not always since the December "update". This certainly does lead to the perception of lousy results.

[I, Brian]

Sorry about that - links fixed:

Shift in Google Algorithm?
December Google changes?
Only 31 results shown for Yahoo

[jerseyjak]

Well, isn't this interesting. I just posted my rant about Google dropping my real estate sites from Page 1 to nowhere to be found.

Have they just decided "OK it's time to give someone else a chance?"

[Dugger]

I think they are just screwed up. Aside from the broken cache: command, the broken sitecrowding issue - I also have a bunch of sites that were dropped. Sites that were at or near the top since "Florida". Funny thing is that other sites of mine that are exactly the same but service other cities continue to do fine - the only difference is the age of the sites. The newer ones were all dropped or had a big decline in rank.

I have been hoping since Dec. 15 for the next update in the belief that they will fix it - sure hope I am right

[krisval]

I hope they are just screwed up, but my ranking keeps going down.

I have owned the #2 spot for a search term for the past year in google. Yes, fresh content, Yes, continued link build, Yes, white hat. Last month I dropped to page 5. Still # 2 Yahoo and #1 MSN.

I thought might be due to PR drop from IBLs. I have added a number of IBLs. Unique IPs, relevant and guess what I am sinking further. Now page 6. Anyone think this is odd? Spam filter on IBLs?

[I, Brian]

Remember it can take a while for links info to be updated - they do have a few billion pages to set up relationships for.

[Serp]

Hi!

However, it does seem that this is an overly-aggressive. Pages - even site index pages - are being wiped out.

Overly-aggressive? what do you meen?