Re: Google dance

From: Eric J. Aafedt <eric2003_at_investmenthouse.com>
Date: Wed 03 Dec 2003 11:03:49 -0600

Cliff ... check out this email I rec'd ... it may be worthy of
discussion ... I don't know if this information is "true"... Eric

[Moderator's Note: I don't know if it is true either, but it is worth
discussing. Even if it is true, there is nothing to say that Google
won't decide to put things back to they way they were. Danny Sullivan
of Search Engine Watch has promised to publish a story this Friday
regarding the changes, and he may have more definitive information.
--Cliff]

----- Original Message ----
>From: Hills Capital Management 1.800.474.1532
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 11:30 AM
Subject: Webmaster, important message from one of your reciprocal link
partners concerning the last Google update.


Hi, I hope all of you actually read this instead of deleting it. We are
one of your reciprocal link partners, and, like most of you, got slapped
down pretty hard in Google's rankings during the last update (dubbed the
Google Florida Dance).

I've discovered why, and I know how to fix it... it took many, many long
hours and doing a lot of research, but I've uncovered a pattern to the
sites that were removed (if you want to see which sites have been
removed, go to http://www.scroogle.org/ and enter your important search
terms.

Anyway, here's the scoop... Google has NOT designed their latest
algorithm to punish only affiliate type websites! They have also
designed it to detect artificial linking patterns, and to penalize the
sites that engage in it. They only do this for competitive search terms,
as determined by their AdWords program.

Here's why we all got knocked out of the search rankings on competitive
search terms...
1) We have a links page... these pages have a higher than normal number
of links in comparison to the amount of text than a regular web page.
2) The links we have sought are all saying the same thing... Google is
now looking at the inbound links to a site, and if all those links have
the same or similar text, it's obvious that the webmaster for that site
sought those links via reciprocal linking to boost his page placement in
the search engines... hence, that site will be penalized.

Here's how we fix it:
1) Either get rid of your Links pages, or sprinkle those links
throughout the text of all the pages on your site.
2) Get rid of all those inbound links to your site that are saying the
same thing... either have the webmaster for the other site remove them,
or change the text for each one so they are all different. DO NOT use
your main keywords or phrases in the new text, if you go that route.

Google wants a more natural linking structure... I write an article,
another webmaster notices the article and adds a link about it in one of
his pages, using his own words to describe it, not some boilerplate
text.

So, if you want to rank highly in Google now, it's truly all about
content, content, content. I would say the best way to get the links in
there is to start a 'Blog (but don't use any of the well known 'blogging
software, Google checks for that, especially Movable Type. And don't
overdo the links... no more than about 10 per page, I'd say, and make
sure there's plenty of content added daily.)

We use MS Outlook's calendar to add commentary to a calendar-style daily
commentary page, then publish that to the website using the Web
Publishing Wizard. I then overwrite the header, footer, and CSS files
with my own so it doesn't look like a MS Outlook Calendar.

Please remove the following link (and its associated link text) from
your websites.
http://www.hillscapital.com/

I've taken our Links pages down. I have mixed feelings about this... it
was a lot of work to get them, but I also feel a strange freedom... I
don't have to go looking for reciprocal links! I can focus on creating
new content, which is what I'm doing. I'm creating several .pdf files
covering various topics about futures trading... I hope when they're all
finished that you will link to the ones you find interesting. I'll let
you know when they're finished. Using .pdf files is the easiest, as it
allows a direct link without any security considerations in regards to
importing external content to your website. Plus, creating .pdf files is
super easy, just use MS Word, then run the file through the Adobe
Distiller (part of Adobe Acrobat). No HTML programming knowledge
required. AND, Google can index .pdf files.

You know, we all have an advantage over the sites that are currently
high in the rankings... we've got the contact list for a large number of
website owners in our genre, who are willing to exchange links... all we
have to do is create the content that will make that linking legitimate,
and we'll take the top spots again.

So, basically, Google no longer wants us to swap links... they want us
to swap content.

If any of you have any questions, please feel free to email or call me.

Thanks,
Darren Brothers
Registered Futures Specialist

Hills Capital Management
171 Devonshire Way
San Francisco, CA 94131

800.474.1532 Tel (Toll-Free)
415.759.1532 Tel
415.759.7650 Tel
415.759.1519 Fax

DBrothers_at_HillsCapital.com
Info_at_HillsCapital.com

http://www.HillsCapital.com/




Received on Wed Dec 03 2003 - 11:03:49 CST