Lost 50% google traffic in one day - panic?

[Dr-Pete]

The so-called "over-optimization" penalty definitely hit hard, sometime between 4/24-4/25. It is possible to see Google make a correction, but it doesn't appear that there were major changes between 4/25-4/26. Of course, this just happened, so we don't have much data.

Given the large scale of the drop and that this is a confirmed algorithm change, I think you have to start there. This is the official post from Google and I see that someone has already linked to Rand's post:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2012/04/another-step-to-reward-high-quality.html

Look specifically at the terms that dropped. Are you aggressively targeting those terms (with keyword stuff, inbound anchor text, etc.)? I think the "Don't Panic" advice has some merit - if you over-optimize to reverse over-optimize, you've just made even more of a mess. I'm not saying to sit on your hands, but dig deep into the analysis and put together a reasonable plan of attack - don't just start changing things at random.

[AlanMosley]

I wonder if anyone noticed this update http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/another-step-to-reward-high-quality.html

should be hitting now

[dean1986]

already mentioned on the post Alan

[AlanMosley]

Yes just noticed, i thought we were all talking of the last over-op update

[SherWeb]

Your websiteis not de-indexed from google , it simply fell down in SERP as you still show for your branded keywords..

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=off&sclient=psy-ab&q=site:eseyo.com+%22seo+in+brentwood%22&oq=site:eseyo.com+%22seo+in+brentwood%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=hp.3...18169.25075.1.25530.25.24.0.0.0.0.243.4049.1j17j6.24.0.GLBZBoFXI_c&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=160a46efcf63646c&biw=1454&bih=762

Did You recieve any sort of notice in Google Webmasters Tools ?

Regards ,

Yan Desjardins

[dean1986]

"simply fell down in the SERP"

you say it like it means nothing....

[SherWeb]

Dear Dean, i know it mean a lot and its a pain in the A**, i hope my comment didnt offended you.

However , u might want to take advantage of that time to review your linking neighboor , your on-site optimisation and all your website agnosic features.

It happenned to me too , but after some long hours , i was able to get back where i was before the BOOM. Good luck , im sure you can do it too !

A little wink wink that i can give , is that on my side , i moved away from html 4 to html 5 to better segment my website with

<header>,

<footer>,

<hgroup>and so on.

Best regards,

Yan Desjardins

</hgroup>

</footer>

</header>

[GeorgFranz]

Damn, it's the penguin update...

http://searchengineland.com/the-penguin-update-googles-webspam-algorithm-gets-official-name-119623

[GeorgFranz]

Google provides a form where you can them that your site was hit by error: http://searchengineland.com/penguin-update-peck-your-site-by-mistake-googles-got-a-form-for-that-119698

[GeorgFranz]

After a very hard night and a lot of thinking, I've an idea.

We are using a lot of "keyword links" on our site.

It's - by the way - http://www.schicksal.com - an astrology site. We have lost 72% visibility - according to figures of sistrix.com.

So, we are doing this:

Zodiacs

Description of Zodiacs

Now a list with zodiacs

Aries (longer, descriptive title

short description of aries

In that case the "aries" keyword in the description is getting the link to the article.

I think, google doesn't like this after pengiun.

So, what is better:

a)

Aries

description

b)

Aries

description ... read more

What do you think?

Best wishes,

Georg.

link-spam.png

[AlanMosley]

i dont think what you have is wrong at all. nor do i think the google example affects you.

Do not use read more, as you want to pass relevant link text to the page.

I think Bobs advice is need edhere, dont panic.

[activitysuper]

I wouldn't be surprised Alan looking at his website that a lot of links were built naturally by people linking to his site as it looks like a good resource.

I've got a website were I built some links to gain a good position and left it, over a few months that exposure built tons of new links without me knowing from all over the web.

Now if those little sites have been hit, lets say a fair amount had been wiped out then I can see how rankings could be lost.

[activitysuper]

no one has actually said to do anything but wait, I will go against the fold and say strip out all those adsense units down the left and maybe even dump that sharing tool bar at the bottom of the page, you already have a load of social sharing buttons on each page and that bar at the bottom looks like its holding up load times.

Go into webmaster tools and request a crawl.

[GeorgFranz]

More info about penguin at search engine land - Google Penguin Update Recovery Tips & Advice

[Guest]

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[AlanMosley]

The update he is refereing to is for un-natural text, keyword stuffing, i dont think he has anything to worry about there, un-natural in-links is another story

[GeorgFranz]

Hi Josh,

it's www.schicksal.com

I've altered the source code meanwhile, I've removed some keyword links. I will report this later on.

Best wishes,

Georg.

[Guest]

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[GeorgFranz]

Hi Josh,

have a look here:

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/schicksal.com

Best wishes,

Georg.

[GeorgFranz]

Hi,

now I've removed a lot of seo onpage tweaks. We will see if this would help something. I will write a detailled report later on.

Best wishes,
Georg.