Google serps results behaving oddly

[Dazza30]

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For a few months now ive been in the google top 10 for various keywords,
on saturday i noticed that for the majority of them my site had dissapeared.

The strange thing is though later on in that day i checked again and to my suprise there was my site.

Ive seen this with many keywords now, what could cause it?

[Brendon]

That behaviour is caused by you seeing data from different DCs when you search. There is no longer any such thing as "the Google index", rather there are several different flavours, covering different data sets, and ranking parameters.

Rankings per se are more and more becoming worthless as an absolute measure of SEO performance, since doing a like for like comparison is becoming harder and harder (and I haven't even mentioned Universal yet) - don't focus on rankings, look at traffic. It was always good advice, but it's becoming the only good option now

[Dazza30]

Thanks for the advice Brendon, i had considered the results could be displayed from different data centers.
Also im currently weeding out all my link partners who dont send traffic and replacing them with new ones.

I have read somewhere on the forum though, it can be detrimental to add to many links to a page at once, is this true?

[Brendon]

>> it can be detrimental to add to many links to a page at once, is this true?

It can be, yes. Much depends on Googles statistical analysis of your link data over time - if you've got the maths to cope with it, think in terms of standard deviations, and smooth S curves.

If not, the rule to follow is "little and often"

[mtuffin]

Also im currently weeding out all my link partners who dont send traffic and replacing them with new ones.

Don't forget link partners are there helping your SERPS through the backlink not just sending you traffic.

The way this reads is even if you had a high value link you would be removing it because they haven't sent you any traffic. This in itself will be damaging your SERPS.

Mike

[Dazza30]

Don't forget link partners are there helping your SERPS through the backlink not just sending you traffic.

The way this reads is even if you had a high value link you would be removing it because they haven't sent you any traffic. This in itself will be damaging your SERPS.

Mike

Am i correct in saying a high value link isnt just a link to a site with a good page rank but a site that has quality relevant traffic.

What is your definition of a high value link?

[Dazza30]

>> think in terms of standard deviations, and smooth S curves.

Could you elaborate on the above?

[Brendon]

>> What is your definition of a high value link?

>> Could you elaborate on the above?

Hey, now you're asking for serious advice...

[Dazza30]

>> What is your definition of a high value link?

>> Could you elaborate on the above?

Hey, now you're asking for serious advice...

What i meant was what are, standard deviations and smooth S curves?

And i was asking for mtuffin's opinion on what he thinks a high value link is?

[Brendon]

>> what are, standard deviations and smooth S curves?

If that doesn't mean anything to you, forget about it. It's the horrors of statistics, a branch of mathematics devised by sadists to twist data into lies

[mtuffin]

And i was asking for mtuffin's opinion on what he thinks a high value link is?

My personal opinion is any on topic link is a good link.

If you wanted to weigh up which are better than others you might want to have a look around and sift through what you consider to be a good or a bad link factor and go from there.

Mike

[lauriebred]

G results are yo-yoing for a lot of sites at the moment. I've got secondary sites producing tons of business one day, for search terms they've never ranked for in the past, then they disappear from the SERPs for a few hours or days before coming back again. Primary sites (well established, lots of good backlinks) are much more stable. This seems to happen around this time every year so perhaps it's G's pre-Xmas testing?

[Dazza30]

G results are yo-yoing for a lot of sites at the moment. I've got secondary sites producing tons of business one day, for search terms they've never ranked for in the past, then they disappear from the SERPs for a few hours or days before coming back again. Primary sites (well established, lots of good backlinks) are much more stable. This seems to happen around this time every year so perhaps it's G's pre-Xmas testing?

Thanks for your input lauriebred, i wasnt aware google did that.

[mobillica]

Basically, do a search for your keyword in google and try and get a link back to your site (from an indexed page) from the top 100 results. Dont worry about Page Rank.

Of course this is much easier if your site is high quality and has some good unique content.

You wont go far wrong. Although bear in mind that the google index is always in a state of 'flux'