I’ve Been Punk’d by the Google Bot – Post #1

Just when I thought organic search listings were within my grasp, I've been Punk'd by the Google Bot. One of my first digital product sites was the Jillian Entertainment CD & DVD Directory. When I started the site, I was relying solely on pay per click traffic. However, over the last 6 months, I've noticed some very good natural search rankings.

My key terms are wholesale dvds, dvd wholesale, dvds wholesale, and wholesale dvd. I actually rank #1 for a couple of these terms on MSN. I also don't do bad in Yahoo. But since Google controls the vast majority of search traffic, they are the true measure of success.

For several months I have received top 5 rankings for these terms on Google. I've been as happy as a pig in poop. That is until today.

For some reason, I no longer rank in the top 5 for these terms. I didn't even make the top 10. What's even more traggic, I didn't even make the top 100. Oh no! What happened?

It isn't strange to move up and down rankings, but to disappear from the first page to M.I.A. is a little strange. This usually occurs if a webmaster is using Black Hat Seo Tactics, of which I am not a participant. I have no idea of what is going on.

The good news is my site hasn't been deindexed by Google. I still have a page rank of 3. I'm hoping things will go back to normal in the next day or so.

All Hail the Google Bot!

Posted by: Brent Crouch on 28 Apr, 2007No Comments »