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    Please help me with your advice

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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    • Dr-Pete
      Dr-Pete last edited by

      If this is really related to the EMD update, then I'd agree with Charles - starting over is a bad idea. My best guess is that the EMD update wasn't a penalty, per se - it was more like Google lowered the volume on EMDs. In other words, having one isn't bad now - it's just that it's not as good as it used to be. There's no way to fix that really (you can't turn the volume back up), but the risks of switching domains would probably far outweigh the benefits.

      To back up Marie, though, a lot happened right around the EMD update, and it's really tough to diagnose. I'd definitely look at Panda factors, like "thin" content. Try to look at the site from Google's POV - what you view as unique doesn't matter, frankly. You could be spinning out URL-based duplicates, for example, and not realize it - that's more of a technical SEO issue (you're not doing anything devious, but the site may still be giving Google problems).

      The other issue to consider is whether your EMD has caused you to really pile on exact-match anchor text, especially keyword-loaded anchor text. This could trigger Penguin or similar problems. This is often correlated with EMDs, even though it wouldn't necessarily be a result of the EMD update.

      If they've really just turned down the "volume", then you have to get other ranking factors in play - build more relevant, authoritative links, increase your social signals, etc. In other words, focus on aspects of SEO beyond simple on-page ranking factors.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • MarieHaynes
        MarieHaynes @Webdeal last edited by

        The number of unique pages doesn't really matter when it comes to Panda.  You could have 300 unique pages, but if there are also 50 pages of copied content then this can trigger Panda.

        But the other question I had was about thin content.  An example of thin content would be a page that has say, a product photo, a bunch of template text that is the same from page to page a few ads and then only 1 or 2 lines of text.

        Another example of a thin page would be if you had a section of definitions and each one had its own page.  They could possibly be considered thin.

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        • Webdeal
          Webdeal @Webdeal last edited by

          I really appreciate your knowledge , but the site has nothing to do with Panda as it got 300 pages with unique and  well written content

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • Dr-Pete
            Dr-Pete @Webdeal last edited by

            Keep in mind, too, that a lot of duplicate content is accidental. Google doesn't care about pages, per se - they care about unique URLs. So, if you have 300 unique pages, but something about your CMS translates that into 5,000 crawlable URLs, then you could definitely have problems.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • Webdeal
              Webdeal @Webdeal last edited by

              I will appreciate if you will explain it bit more in details....

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Webdeal
                Webdeal @Webdeal last edited by

                the site got only unique urls, by pages i meant urls too

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • MarieHaynes
                  MarieHaynes @Webdeal last edited by

                  The thing is that if you lost 90% of your traffic at the end of September (i.e. Sept 27/28) then the issue is very likely either EMD or Panda.  If you have a good site with 300 well written unique pages then in my mind EMD is almost impossible.  So, I would go investigating Panda issues. Duplicate and thin content are the top culprits but there can be other factors.

                  There are other possibilities though including a change in urls, DNS problems, hosting problems, malware issues, robots.txt problems, accidentally noindexing, a competitor ramping up their SEO etc. etc.

                  If the traffic drop was a little later, like October 5 then Penguin is a possibility.  Penguin is related to overoptimized anchor text in your backlinks among other things.

                  Sometimes when a site is affected on a Panda date but doesn't seem to have Panda issues it is possible that sites linking to your site were affected by Panda and as such you have lost some of your link juice.  But it is unlikely that 90% of your traffic would go because of this.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Webdeal
                    Webdeal @Webdeal last edited by

                    all top 10 positions were dropped in mid of november 2012.
                    I said 90 % ...i think the statment has been exaggerated....but  65% for sure

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                    • MarieHaynes
                      MarieHaynes @Webdeal last edited by

                      Ah!  I was thinking it was end of September because you said you were a casualty of EMD.  If this happened mid November then it's definitely not EMD.

                      There were Panda updates November 5 and November 21.  If the drop doesn't coincide with those dates then it is not due to a major algorithm change.  (By major I mean Panda/Penguin as Google is constantly tweaking the algorithm.)

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • Webdeal
                        Webdeal @Webdeal last edited by

                        But Panda...as far as know looking for duplicate content....and we are very careful with that for all our sites....Content is 100 unique and never been spinned, written by humans....

                        so i am confused more...

                        This is the article by M.Cutts I remeber i read it

                        http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2214115/Google-Warns-of-Upcoming-Exact-Match-Domain-Algorithm-Change

                        date 3 october 2012....

                        after that day our site started to loose the trafic...not in 1 night but slowly..slowly...than
                        up to mid nov 2012 it lost about 65% ..this is why i have concluded from the begging that it was EMD

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • Dr-Pete
                          Dr-Pete @Webdeal last edited by

                          I have a post on the subject here - it's very long, because it's a complex subject:

                          http://www.seomoz.org/blog/duplicate-content-in-a-post-panda-world

                          We're not saying this is definitely the problem - just that you should be aware of how complicated it can get. Unfortunately, it's hard to tell without really looking at the site. A lot can happen to hurt a site's rankings, and the EMD update was just one piece of the puzzle.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • Webdeal
                            Webdeal @Webdeal last edited by

                            Thank you...I will appreciate if you will give me 10 mins of your time....i sent site to your PM

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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