SEO Blog

SEOs have observed extremely strange results at Google over the past three weeks leaving many wondering if we are in the midst of a Google algorithm update. It would appear we are.

Yesterday at the WebmasterWorld forum, Google’s quality control czar, Matt Cutts, asked webmasters to comment on what the community was seeing. Matt asked responders to add the word “Dewey” in the additional details section of Google’s reporting form thus giving Barry Schwartz the idea to name this update Dewey.

Dewey’s Details

It is always impossible to write about the implications of an update until the radical changes shown on search result pages (SERPs) are complete. We can’t dissect the algo or make comment on site-elements or inter-site relationships that appear to affect Google ranking until the SERPs stop bouncing around and give us some solid data to work with.

“As with all Google algorithm changes, we’ll have to sit and see everything that is rolled out before having solid comment on it’s effects”, says Colin Cochrine, Metamend SEO, “That said, Metamend uses a number of best practice strategies that are not as subject to algorithm volatility like great content and site structure. A good website is a good website and should rank well regardless of any algorithm shifts.”

Since we don’t use algo-dependent SEO techniques, we tend not to worry too much during an update. Metamend concentrates on content, site structure and clarity. Many of Google’s algo-updates have focused on link-relationships between websites, Google’s main method of determining the value of sites. Chances are extremely high that none of our clients will be affected however if issues with client rankings or conversions do arise, we need to know how to react quickly and efficiently.

That means part of our work over the coming weeks will involve studying, discussing and brainstorming. For the tight cadre of puzzle-solvers, code-heads, link-experts and content-creators that make up Metamend’s SEO staff this is the most interesting part of the job. For the next few weeks, we get to throw wild but educated speculation up on the white-boards and then tear those speculations apart in brainstorming sessions. In other words, we’re about to get extra-geeky around each other.
What we can do right now is give an indication of what Metamend SEOs and other webmasters are seeing and hope to pull incomplete snippets of information from those experiences to compile and analyze. Here are a few items we and others have noticed.

1) There is an increase in old, dated material being found in current search results. Some documents currently ranking in the Top10 date back three to five years. In one case, a WebmasterWorld member found a 2003 CNN story and a text-file from 1997 showing up in the Top10 for a standard 2-word keyword phrase.

2) Regional datacenters are showing different placements for sites under the same search string. When searching using a proxy, localized and personalized results should not be an issue. I use proxies when testing SERPs at any of the 75+ known Google datacenters. When one sees regular and radical differences between those datacenters, an update is almost certainly happening.

3) The number of measured back link have been changing with minor frequency over the past few weeks. The simplest method for testing this is to choose a URL, goto Google.com and enter, “link: www.url-name.com”. This test should be run twice per day every day and charted in Excel. Record the date and the number of recognized links and within a few weeks, you’ll have an interesting graph of back-link counts for that URL.

4) Multiple sub-domains have made a reappearance in Google SERPs.

5) Sites that ranked #1 for long periods are now being found on the second or third result pages, sometimes even lower.

6) Shopping sites and spammy sites are appearing in the Top10 under common keyword phrases.

Chances are, the strange results we are seeing in Google will smooth out in a few weeks. When Google makes an update, that update HAS to be implemented live-time and work its way across all data-centers. That process takes a while. There is no other way for Google to change or alter its algorithms other than to inject the new factors into their data-stream. As we examine the results of this update, over time we will begin to see patterns and commonalities of websites that continue to rank well.

In the meantime, if anyone has a Google ranking issue they want to report, Matt Cutts asks webmasters and advertisers, “… if you want to mention a search where you think the results are very different at one data center compared to other data centers, use the spam report form at http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html and make sure to include the word “dewey” in the “Additional details” text area.”