Well looks like Google is at it again, making changes to their algorithm, shaking things up and causing webmasters to pull their hair out. Two things have happened in the last few weeks, Google launched the Caffeine update which they have been working on for some time and also there is what is being called the Mayday update. (By the way, this is a typical action on the part of Google, they usually make major tweaks in the summer time, around May and June). These are two very distinct actions on the part of Google.
Caffeine
Caffeine has nothing to do with ranking, it is just the method in which data is being stored, retrieved from keyword searches and then displayed in SERPS.
Mayday
Mayday IS about ranking and is a search quality algorithm change, ( not manual) launched by the Google Search Quality team and impacts long tail traffic referrals that DOES change how sites are ranked in SERPS.
Basically if your long tail traffic referrals fell heavily in the SERPS, Google is telling you your site sucks....Thanks Google, we love you too!
Last week at Google I/O, Matt Cutts said - ”this is an algorithmic change in Google, looking for higher quality sites to surface for long tail queries. It went through vigorous testing and isn’t going to be rolled back.”
Check out the video regarding Mayday by Matt Cutts
MAYDAY and GETTING SENT TO THE GOOGLE BLACK HOLE
Mayday has significantly impacted long tail keyword searches and therefore, inner pages as opposed to having a widespread affect on home pages and many have lost their precious rankings for these queries in SERPS.
There has also been a lot of buzz about the especially negative affects of Mayday on e-commerce sites ( that link offers some real useable insight into the e-commerce issues with Mayday, thanks to Link Builder) losing rankings and SERP placements that have significantly impacted their earnings and bottom line.
Mayday Impacts
1. Pages in long tail keyword searches that do not have healthy link profiles and so do not hold enough "authority" in the eyes of Google
2. Thin pages, like product pages without any other significant added value
3. Pages that are several clicks away from the home page, hence ineffective heirarchy and overall site navigation
4. New and much stricter guidelines have been set by Google as to what qualifies as an "authority" and "useful" site for a particular search query and only those sites that do will now rank for those terms.
5. Likely most thin affiliate sites pages went down hard.
6. Evidently the long tail pages that got hit were ones without significant amounts of written original content, hence the product pages of ecommerce sites, that only had product listings.
7. The long tail search referrals were tweaked to impact sites lacking authority in Google's eyes.
8. This is not a manual penalty - purely algorithmic
9. Metrics measuring the "quality" and "authority" of sites has been tweaked, tested and launched and this is a permanent change.
10. Has nothing to do with Caffeine
Now What?
Likely many of you have been impacted by this, and if you haven't yet done so, I suggest you go and check your sites rankings and see what's going on.
- At this point it is imperative to think quality and get creative.
- Analyze everything about your sites and evaluate if your content really measures up to getting better links.
- Look at your navigation - all inner pages need to be 2 or less clicks away from the home page.
- Check your site structure - hierarchy always matters, make sure it's clear and well balanced.
- Bounce Rate - While Google denies this is a deciding factor - I'm not sure, if your site has a high bounce rate then that is a problem, and Google aside, you want to improve your user's experience so they stay longer.
- Check your website speed and fix any issues - See Complete Guide To Website Speed
Most Important
- Take a look at those site that ARE ranking for the search queries you lost, use Link Diagnosis and take a look at their links. Their site structure, their content. What are they doing that you're not?
- Healthy link profiles to ALL pages of the site, not just home page, are significant for ranking.
- Build authority - most important - authority is still gaged by a healthy link profile, I don' t believe that has changed. Quality, natural, diverse links going to all pages of your site establish authority, when your site has high overall authority, inner pages will usually rank and rank quickly for most any search terms. If your long tail search traffic is suffering, get better links to those pages.
- Don't give up - like anything else in the world of Internet Marketing, this is a learning experience, and another opportunity to push your business and skill level to another level. Do the requisite research and then take action!
I have a lot of sites, and a few were affected by Mayday, which of course means loss of traffic, and therefore money. For me, I see one common denominator, the sites that suffered were not authority sites in the eyes of Google, which I already knew but it has never been a problem before. And, good quality links to those sites were few and far between.
LEARN MORE WITH PART 2 - How To Create and Rank Inner Website Pages Post Mayday
More Useful Stuff on Mayday
Mayday Thread at Webmaster World Forum - Good discussion going on here with all the techies and veteran webmasters who have lived through many Google shake ups.
Why Google is Costing Some Sites
Was the Google Update a Complete Failure?
SEO Moz - Google Mayday Update and What it Means For You
How did you guys do? Anyone lost rankings? What are you doing about it?
Welcome to new world of Google.
@ BestofBlogger
I know, really kinda sucks!
Follow Me on Twitter @: danalingga
(2 comments)
However, it seems working great for my blog. My traffic is increasing after this caffeine is applied.
Dana @ Blogging Tips Blog recently posted..Blogging Learning From The Current FIFA World Cup
@ Dana
That’s great, I’m glad it’s working for you.
Good write up JR.
Authority is definitely the way to go, and it seems that backlinks are now even more important to stay well respected. Links to every page is something I have always done so my stats have not really dropped apart from for one site, so still happy here.
Dave recently posted..Buying Keywords: What Are Buying Keywords
@ Dave
Yes backlink value is certainly changing, glad that you have not been impacted badly.
Follow Me on Twitter @: AussieSire
(43 comments)
You see, this is exactly why I don’t worry about Google because when they do make changes, which they are always doing, I don’t have to stress about it.
To all those who do worry about Google’s machination, I hope you haven’t fared too badly.
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@ Sire
I think not worrying about Google is the smartest way to go in 2010.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. looking forward to read more great articles.
What really matters is site authority. You can have thin, scrapped, content and a deep on-site link structure as long as your site has authority.
For examples, just look at thefind.com, bizrate.com or nextag.com. You’ll find 1 or more of these three on just about any long tail product search you try. Why? Because they have authority even though they have almost no content other than other company’s product listings.
Frank C recently posted..Earn Online Cash by Going Big or Going Home
@ Frank
Hi Frank, nice to see you! Yes, I think authority is the name of the game in 2010, seeing it more and more with my own sites, and the vast difference in rankings between the authority and non authority sites, the million dollar question is then can authority be built manually? Or is it only natural links that bring the popularity that wins authority? I am not seeing the usual manual link building practices and methods working anymore, not for any significantly profitable niches, what do you think?
Follow Me on Twitter @: DennisEdell
(35 comments)
I’ve never worried much on Google either. Not understanding most of the KW research stuff helps tremendously, lol
Seriously though, I’ve always done things by the white-hat book, so who knows. bad timing though, as I’m just beginning to learn and care about the long-tail aspects.
I will have to seriously look into-ask for help somewhere regarding physical product e-commerce sites though.
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@ Dennis
All I can say is that I’m sick of Google, and I think I am going to try a different outlook for a while, more to come.
Follow Me on Twitter @: DennisEdell
(35 comments)
A different SE? Try http://www.duckduckgo.com and let me know what you think.
Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing recently posted..Sub Categories and Drop Down Menus – What’s the Deal?
@ Dennis
I love that search engine, it’s clean and offers some accurate results, and 3 of my sites are on page 1 there
I think we need to start promoting it and Bing really hard, since Yahoo is finalizing their SE with Bing now.
I guess it depends on what you call ‘natural links’ but, yes, authority can be obtained and, in some cases, quite easily. You probably won’t be ranking for ‘bad credit’ or something like that quickly but you can really work multiple profitable long tail terms and rank for them without much trouble, especially now.
Overall, what I’ve seen is that you’ll get good links simply by having a natural looking site and having adequate content. If you look like a “Made for Adsense/Affiliate” site you probably won’t get unsolicited links. If you look legit, like a site serious about the niche, you’ll get natural links from others in the niche, mostly from blogs or forums. Participating in the niche, by legit blog commenting and forum posting works too. My take is that people are too busy looking for shortcuts to fool Google when they could get better results by simply doing what’s been working for years when it comes to link building, participation and networking.
Frank C recently posted..Earn Online Cash by Going Big or Going Home
@ Frank
Yes, that is what I meant by natural links, those which are unsolicited or manually built. Makes a lot of sense what you’ve said and what I am seeing more and more of, that’s it’s all about the networking and getting your content recognized, which all begins with something of value on your own site.
I have personally seen shortcuts fail badly and what you describe work much better with solid long term results. I also think that a somewhat different mind set may be required, not to focus so much on linking for SEO and Google, but just using the tried and true methods of getting traffic, which is all about exposure and networking in related places and then I think the rest will fall into place. Thanks Frank!!!
Follow Me on Twitter @: AussieSire
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Yep, that’s me, I’m the smart blogger
Follow Me on Twitter @: colleenlane
(9 comments)
I’m kinda liking the algo change JR. We tend to go after longtail stuff, and I’ve noticed some search queries will have our content in the top 3-4 positions. And rightly so, as the article is very specific to the search and before the algo change, we were getting beat out by non-relevant sites. An example would be, search “homes for sale in the kennewick school district” The YouTube, ActiveRain, and JoeLane pages at the top are ours. Before, it wasn’t like that. So, I’m kinda liking it.
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@ Colleen,
I am very glad for you, keep up the good work!
Follow Me on Twitter @: DennisEdell
(35 comments)
I thought about it afterward; Gail, yes?
I haven’t even looked at Bing yet.
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Follow Me on Twitter @: Eseotips
(2 comments)
Backlink value is certainly changing, glad that you have not been impacted badly.
Try get more back link and SERP will hight
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@ Eseotips
I agree, values are changing and have been for some time, Google is discounting a lot of low value and shady links.
Nice post. Google penalize most of the product pages but Amazon.com doesnt affected much from this update due to its new elements.
SEO Basic Tutorial recently posted..Google May Day update
@ SEO
Yes you are right, Amazon was not affected because their product pages are always updated with reviews, product descriptions and other useful content, which now seems to be the key for e-commerce product pages.
Follow Me on Twitter @: AMater
(17 comments)
I’m definitely liking the changes. I’ve seen a huge jump in traffic as my site is now ranking higher for specific terms. I think this change is a very positive one, as this will force many site owners to create helpful, quality sites rather than generic, thin sites that don’t provide much value.
As always, it’s about keyword specific content and quality backlinks, both of which I emphasize the most.
Alan Mater – Work From Home recently posted..Why Good Keyword Selection is Essential for Home-Based Business Success
@ Alan
Congrats, that shows that your site has authority and a solid link profile which usually stems from quality content people want to link to.
Mayday and Caffeine had a positive effect on my SERP.
“Sacramento Weddings” saw an increase from #6 (organic non-sponsored results) to #3.
All other KW saw either no change or slight increase.
@ Wedding
I’m really glad that Sacramento Weddings is going strong.
My site just got a huge number of links overnight… but actually decreased slightly in SERP. Any ideas?
Eran
@ Ronnie
First, how did you get those backlinks? I mean did you get them, or did they just appear?
I actually found an example of Google Mayday in action. I took screenshots and wrote about it on my blog. You can check it out if you want.
I’d be interested to see if Google keeps this up or if they change it back. I’ve heard a lot of different view on it and some people feel like the quality of results has decreased and generic authority sites are showing up now more prominently.
Google Mayday recently posted..If you register your site for free at
I’ve had jumps in rankings on some pages that are very long, had some decent backlinks, and where I link out to authority sites freely. And interestingly I hadn’t built any links to these pages in the last few months.
And had other long pages with decent backlinks but not many outgoing links stay where they were.
I’ve also had drops on pages where there were a lot of links out, BUT, not a great deal of content (it was a resource type page of useful sites).
So, I think linking out is important, but the ratio of out-going links to content is important too, else they think you are a link farm.
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@ TeaTree
I have heard others say the same, linking out to authority sites is always a good practice and another opportunity to provide relevance to your page. Yes, re: link farm, you are right, and u never want to look like a link farm.
Follow Me on Twitter @: sqlsteps
(1 comments)
I really did not have any impact of Mayday update probably because mine is a new site and has not got much long tail keywords ranking but well after reading accounts of many other webmasters, it seems that Mayday really did a lot of harm to many of them
This post enhance my knowledge about mayday,I really have not clear idea before reading this post.very informative post for the seekers.
I have not experienced this yet, I don’t think it affects regular keyword rankings, just long tail ones right?
@ Bidet
Yes it impacted long tails only
That’s really interesting. I remember when that happened. It messed up a couple of my friends sites, thankfully not too bad.
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Follow Me on Twitter @: KathyJani
(4 comments)
I have noticed that since Mayday my larger sites are pretty much unaffected. A few really small sites were obliterated. A few small ones with little content remain unchanged. The small thin ones that remained unchanged were really old domains.
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Hi
FYI for everyone, I noticed that after MayDay things went up and down for a few months but have now settled back to exactly where they were before. Not sure if Google changed back their alg or it is my imagination?
Ciao.
@ Very
Not sure if that is the case for everybody, still having people complaining in forums with their SERP drops.
IMO nothing has changed at Google since they began. Adjustments to allow for unethical behaviour are always going to unjustly affect many but that’s the price paid when using economics models for serp results. What is constantly overlooked by all is that Google is simply a database and is left alone to do its job.
The humans at Google Search are merely a life support system.
google just know how to make us dependent on them, more and more after all their changes. the new features with googledocs was kinda cool though.
I think the Google is doing a lot of online business because of change in its algorithm.In 2011 Google has also made some changes with respect of ranking of the sites and contents of the sites.
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I think the new schema.org changes will help create online authority and trust.
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