Google keeps messing with my Squidoo page

[hens00]

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Hi guys,

I have a question about Google I hope that you can help me with.

I use Squidoo to promote some affiliate products and Ive manged to get a top 3 google search result which is great. However - it never stays there.

Some days it's in the top 3 and then other days its NOWHERE to be seen. Even when I type in the title of my squidoo page as well as the word squidoo, google doesnt display the page.

This has happened on a number of occasions in the past 6 weeks and its driving me insane. One day Im in the top 3 results and the next day Im nowhere. A few days later and Im sure I will be back in the top 3 again. Why is this??

I understand that google likes fresh content when searching for relevant webpages to display, and I must admit, I have been guilty of neglecting my squidoo pages sometimes, but I dont understand the yo yo effect that my lense has.

If google doesnt deem my page relevant because I havent updated my page for a week or two, then surely they would just make my lense appear further down the search engine results - and not make it disappear completely.

On Tuesday, I updated the page and added more content. On Wednesday, I could'nt even find the page. Meanwhile, over at yahoo, it has been consistently sitting in the top 3 results ever since I published the page.

Why is this??? Anyone have similar experiences?

[ChristopherB]

Have you been logged into an account when searching google and then logged out other times, I've read that this can sometimes affect rankings.

If it's a keyword / keyphrase that is popular and has alot of SEO people gunning after it then it's likely BH experts will get their sites in the top three for short periods of time and then google will detect and rectify the problem.

This is just guess work as google does what it wants and we can't tell why really.

[hens00]

Have you been logged into an account when searching google and then logged out other times, I've read that this can sometimes affect rankings.

If it's a keyword / keyphrase that is popular and has alot of SEO people gunning after it then it's likely BH experts will get their sites in the top three for short periods of time and then google will detect and rectify the problem.

This is just guess work as google does what it wants and we can't tell why really.

No, I'm usually logged out of the Squidoo site when checking the keyword, although I dont understand how that can make a difference?

The keywords I use is not very competitive and is a long tail phrase which picks up a lot of other long tail phrases.

What I have noticed, is that Squidoo lenses which are in their top 100, and also rank high in the google results are consistently there in the google SERPS. Mine on the other hand which is rated around 2000 in Squidoo goes up and down like a yo yo.

Ive read a lot about the so called Squidoo Slap, where Google penalised Squidoo back in July for allowing the site to be spammed by a lot of black hatters. Although my page is not spam, I wonder if google is only consistently showing the top 100 squidoo pages as a result of this penalisation?

[hens00]

Ok, the Squidoo page is back in the top 3 again.

It disappeared from google on Wednesday and its Friday today. Thats two days worth of traffic and sales gone and I have no doubt that the same thingwill happen again in a few weeks time.

If I remember and for anyone who cares, I shall make a post when it happens again to see if any pattern emerges.

[tbp]

Google does costantly change its results, especially at the moment wth updates etc being pushed through. You will often find that sites drop down the rankings for a couple of days, and then reappear near the top. The process repeats a couple of times, and then things settle down.

I`m not sure about why it happens, but I wonder if its to discourage the "here today, gone tomorrow" sites that spring up and disappear to try and spam the rankings. By moving the sites up and down it effectively renders them useless. Once your site is proven to be one that is staying for the long term, they leave it alone. Have no idea if this is correct or not, its just my theory, based on whats happened to my own sites

Thankfully I was lucky enough that the flux stopped before christmas for me, and my sites ended up at number 1 in google and stayed there, was fantastic timing, but more to do with luck than anything else.

I do know google does have a bit of a problem with squidoo though. Squidoo has suffered from a lot of spam and useless pages, as its open to everyone, and google had a real problem with this. At one stage they removed all squidoo sites from the index, and I suspect that although they are reincluded, they are harsher on squidoo pages.

To be honest with you though, if you are relying on your pages to make sales, I would host them on something like squidoo thats beyond your control. What would happen if squidoo shut down tomorrow, or decided to wipe their pages and start again? (Ok, its unlikely to happen, but you are relying heavily on them). Its much better to have your own webspace and host your pages there. Gives you more control over everything, including page layouts and SEO.

Its so cheap now for webhosting, even a VPS is dirt cheap, so theres no excuse really for not getting your own hosting, and it would benefit you in many different ways.

[hens00]

Thanks for the tips.

Ive been reading up a bit more on Google and you have confirmed what I have read so far. Its a real pain in the ass.

Can I ask how long it took until Google left your sites alone ,and allowed them to remain at the top searches consistently?

Like you say, I am relying heavily with Squidoo at the moment, but that's because it has brought me some huge profits since I discovered the site. My lenses have earned me much more money in 7 weeks than my website which is 5 months old.

I hope that Squidoo wont be disappearing like you say might happen, I think for long tail phrases, Squidoo is a fantastic way of getting high Google SERPS in a short space of time. I would throughly recommend you explore Squidoo if you havent already.

[tbp]

I hope that Squidoo wont be disappearing like you say might happen, I think for long tail phrases,

I`m sure it won't dissapear to be honest, was just making a point that its not great to rely on 3rd party sites when your using them to make money. Much better to build up your own site, and then you are in total control. Although Squidoo won't dissapear, the case of Google banning them earlier in the year illustrates this point, other peoples spammy sites on squidoo made legitimate sites lose out.

I`ve found that it takes on average 3 - 4 months for Google to decide to "accept" a site, and to give it a ranking that pretty much stays as it is, without sending it rocketing up and down the index on a regular basis. It does depend on the area though, if the site is in a very competitive field it can take longer.

My first affiliate site created last christmas did really badly in the rankings when it was launched. It was my fault, I made a lot of mistakes because I didn't know any better at the time. In february, I gave up on it completely. As I learnt more, I made a few tweaks, and then from June left it alone completely. I was pleasantly suprised at the start of December to find it had risen to position 4 in google on an incredibly competitive term, and started doing a decent amount of commissions. As it has no new content all year, and was untouched since June, this was largely just based on the age of the site.

Just be patient, and you results will settle down. Unfortuantely theres nothing you can do to speed the process up, its just a case of waiting for Google. Once they have settled, unless there is a major algo change, they should stay there.