Mixed Messages From Google
A few weeks ago, around June 4 we suffered a bit of a Google-Slap. Overnight, all of our keywords that were ranking at #1 -#5, dropped to page two or worse - correspondingly, traffic from Google dropped by at least 50%, along with Adsense and Kontera earnings and my general sense of self-worth.
Luckily, as you can see the drop in traffic from Google was temporary and after about 2 weeks we recovered by about 99%. Sudden, unexpected (and undeserved?) drops in traffic from Google underscore the need for diversifying traffic sources - something I’ve been working hard to do for the last two years, but Google still accounts for about 70% of our traffic - a huge chunk.
During the pain and anguish of the GoogleSlap I was paying much closer attention to my WebMaster Tools Console, looking for any signs of being de-indexed or other communications from Google when I noticed something new. The Webmaster tools was telling me that the site is indexed, something also reflected by doing a “SITE:GrownUpGeek.com” query, which indicates over 7,000 pages are indexed - but just below that was an error saying that NONE of the pages listed in my sitemap are included in the index - something that is totally contrary to being virtually fully indexed.
Since the beginning of June there have been many discussions at the webmaster forums about sudden drops in SERPS (like mine), PR movement, etc - so it’s clear that Google has been up to something. Maybe this is just a confusing side-effect of Google tweaking things. If you have an explanation or theory about what Google is up to, or why I get this conflicting info from the Webmaster Tools console, please post a comment and fill me in.
Why I Out-Rank Mubin Ahmed for the Term “Mubin Ahmed”
Seems that lately this blog has been ranking #1 on Google for the term “Mubin 
Ahmed“. I would like to say that the reason I outrank Mubin’s blog for his own name is because of my nija-like SEO skills - but the truth is it’s probably because Mubin had some server problems a few weeks ago and he’s still recovering from a Google bitch-slap. I’m sure that in a week or two he’ll be back on top for the term “Mubin Ahmed”…. Unless I keep making keyword-stuffed posts like this one, full of the words Ahmed and Mubin. 
If you’re looking for Mubin Ahmed’s blog, click on over to www.mubinahmed.com
Google Using ToolBar Data To Find New Sites
I’ve read a lot recently that Google is relying more and more on ToolBar data for determining SERPS, site quality, etc - as a matter of fact, Jeremy Shoemaker mentioned it just the other day in his post titled SEO Has No Future. So far though, the theory that Google is using this data is just that - theory. It makes sense. Why else would Google pay $1 for Firefox with Google Toolbar conversions? But as usual with Google, nobody knows for sure (until now?)
Proof That Google Is Using ToolBar Data:
Maybe this is already known by others, but it’s new to me so I’m writing about it because I think you can use it to your advantage - Especially if you create a lot of new sites and you want Google to get them indexed quickly.
A week or so ago, Mubin Ahmed was having trouble with his server. I offered to help and created an account for him on my dedicated server and imported his WordPress blog. He ended up getting another server so his account was only active on my box for a few hours. The only two people that knew the custom URL to the test-blog were Mubin and myself. I don’t think Mubin even visited the test-site, but I visited it several times using Firefox with the ToolBar installed. Once we got Mubin up and running on his own server, I deleted his test blog from my server and deleted the account - remember - total time online only a few hours.
Today while perusing my server logs I noticed something very odd: Several attempted hits to unique URLs that belonged to Mubin’s test-blog. All of those hits were from the Google Bot. The only way that Google could have known that those unique URLs existed is if they were captured while I was visiting those pages. This test-blog had no links from anywhere, and it was only online for a short time. To me this is proof that Google used the data collected via the Toolbar when I visited those pages to add them to the index.
So if you want your new sites found and indexed quickly, it looks like all you have to do is visit it a few times with your toolbar installed - getting a few of your friends to do the same thing might help too.
No biggie - but I thought I would share.
Google PR Bitch-Slap
After months of waiting for the big PR export, tonight it happened. Did I finally get that PR-6 that I was expecting? After all, with thousands of good back links and ever-increasing SERPS, I deserve it right?
Apparently not.
Tonight Google rewarded GrownUpGeek.com by dropping it from a PR5, to a PR4.
Since I don’t sell links on the site and because traffic, Adsense and Kontera earnings are all on the increase I guess a lower PageRank only affects my ego.
Is PageRank dead? Please post a comment and let us know how important you think PageRank is or is not..
