An open letter to the Google algorithm
.
Dear Google algorithm,
I see from what you have done that I have REALLY offended you. You have reduced the amount of traffic you send here by 50%, so you must be very angry with me.
In view of this, I just want you to hear my side of the story…
I know you like to see blogs post content every single day, regardless of quality. I know you have ‘issues’ telling great content from crap, because you are just a piece of software, and that you use how regular someone posts to a blog as a way to determine the quality of that blogs information.
You really need to understand that the Google way of deciding value seems insane to us humans! If we used the Google quality model, a blade of grass, for example, would be of higher value than a flawless diamond. Grass is really common you see Google, but flawless diamonds are extremely rare.
I ‘could’ have written a few more posts this week, just to keep you happy Google, and I would have – only I decided to spend all my ‘blog time’, actually communicating with the people who read and comment in this blog!
Google – If you ever decide to start ranking blogs based on the quality of the writing, the quality of the comments and the number of people who actually read and comment there – we can be friends again. There are flawless diamonds in the comments section of this blog – if only you knew!
However, whilst you continue to rank blogs based volume over quality, you can take the worthless 0.4% of traffic you generate for me and poke it up your software driven, clueless *@*!$
.
Love and hugs,
Jim Connolly
Do you have any analytic data showing what part of google traffic dropped? Was it a specific search term that you lost rank for? Did your bounce rate *improve* with the decline in traffic? Without that info it’s hard to say if the loss in traffic was really a loss? Maybe it was just casting off irrelevant traffic which is actually a good thing (less bandwidth, less server load).
Ha! I couldn’t agree more. I too have seen a dramatic decrease in my traffic lately and find it insulting that the junk sites out there are beginning to outrank me in many ways. One thing we can count on is a constant change in what the big G finds of value.
Thank you, thank you, I couldn’t have said it better. We need a HUMAN ranking system. Anyone up for the job?
Zippy
wow im not the only one who got reamed by Google. jerks. selling my jail boxer shorts to make ends meet. thus im online socializing more these days. a point you missed is, what about days when we humans just don’t feel like writing? there’s no pill for creativity. i had an editor who demanded copy every day burned me out like overused ram.
Jim all I can say is Awesome!!! I laughed and laughed. I am sure when Google crawls this it will pause and notice.
Michael Bristol
Funny post :] It’s interesting to see how there are so many people that go against Google and their “system.” I’ve had both good luck and bad luck with getting my sites to rank on Google based off their algorithm and I’m going to be re-starting my blog actually trying to create quality content for myself as a descriptive bookmark and for others who are interested. I hope I don’t run into this same problem because it would be cool to get people reading my posts!
Interesting commentary..thanks you
Well, without Google’s help there’s been 7 comments to this post in just over 2 minutes.
Great post! I’m following you on Twitter and shared this link there. I look forward to reading all that you post! Have an outstanding day Jim!
Hey Jim, All you did is have too speedy a rise – it’s not supposed to happen like that. (Basically you’re being punished for being instantly popular.) It’s a red flag because of spammers. I’ve seen it happen – it’s a spike-flux designed to keep garbage out of the SERPs and it does a good job of it. Just wait it out, keep posting your good content and providing good food for though and it will fix itself and stabilize, as long as your sticking to good practices. I saw it with my blog, once upon a time, too. There is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow. Actually, only a 50% loss is not so bad.
good letter. this is also why we focus more on other engines, not necessarily search, and places like technorati to help with traffic. google does not understand what reputation and ranking means, only what ad dollars mean.
Truthoughts,
Thanks!
Desi,
The 50% loss from from almost nothing, to nothing. I get nothing from Google.
Esteban,
Thanks – you make an interesting point.
Jim,
Would love to know if you get a response from google about this.
Keep us posted!
Leah,
Somehow I don’t think I will:)
Ouch! Looking at source code, I’m not seeing anything that shouts at me as a long term reason to punish you, though. Like I said, stick it out. Keep posting good stuff. I’ll retweet. (Everyone who likes Jim, please retweet him.) Fastest way out of the sandbox is to go viral. Otherwise you wait in line like everyone else.
Desi,
That’s what I call marketing.
I LOVE this!!! I would love to blog everyday but I dont want to blog about crap just to get traffic….Awesome post as usual!
Magda,
Blog when you have something worth sharing! Blogging every day will get more people in, but unless the quality is excellent, they won;t stay.
Quality over quantity!
Twitter is the new Google and you’ve got heaps o’ Twitter love.
http://twitter.com/irenekoehler
Google is trying to eliminate blogging as a SEO boost too. Can they really do that???
Irene,
I mix in good company
Thanks for the informative post. I was unaware the Google favored post quantity/volume over traffic.
Nick,
They can do anything!
Remember: Most sites and blogs are designed for GOOGLE optimisation. Not SEO – GO.
Ok, I’m hearing valiant commitment to quality writing, that’s good. I’m also hearing bitter disappointment that the search-gods overlooked your diamonds & pearls. I suspect Desi might be on to something when she mentioned spike capacitors.
But on a fundamental level, you have ditched Google for another model. You are Twitter, comments and trackback driven. You have left the automated world behind for a living community and I think that was a good call. No use being bitter that the girl you left behind doesn’t call no more.
Fuggettaboutit Jim, coz you got Charasma!
John,
Thanks for the comment.
If you saw bitter disappointment you totally missed the point. You see, Google was only responsible for 1% of my traffic BEFORE hand!
As you rightly pointed out, I don’t use the Google model. It’s all about community here – and I recommend others use (or include) a similar approach. That’s all.
Great one Jim: I once tried to do some SEO engineering by going back to old blog posts and burying my keywords in white text, adding link comments, and stuff like that. Google removed me entirely from search results for those key words. Forever! Even moving my blog to a new site did not help.
Stennon,
Hello Richard. The thing is, once you become dependent on Google for most of your ‘traffic’ – THEY have total control.
SEO is great – but I think it’s worth using other strategies too. Best of both worlds, as they say.
hilarious! and very true.
Todd,
As I wrote the post, I was mindful of all those people who right now, are trying to come up with something worth blogging about – just because they don’t want to upset Google.
Oh, that’s fantastic.
I love your point that blogs don’t need search engine traffic to succeed. I wish there were a metric to show how much Google traffic actually converts to an actual reader, or comment, or participant.
Not many.
To me, this only emphasizes the critical nature of relationships on the web. Why did this post get so many comments without Google? Because you have great relationships with readers, great connections with thought-leaders.
Is Google outdating itself by ignoring the social movement of the web? Very interesting questions you bring up.
Tiffany,
I actually think your question, at the end of your post, is excellent and I would like to open it to everyone!
Yes, Google has social media properties – but its search engine is becoming less relevant perhaps; now that people can ask REAL PEOPLE for great sites; via social networks!
Thanks Tiffany!
I just had a conversation with a client this morning about google and how its kind like voodoo magic and seems to change all the time. This letter really hits it. Thanks!
Thanks for the insight! I’m still relatively new at this but have found better info and responses thru Twitter than Google. With the advances in technology one old saying remains true – don’t put all your eggs in one basket!
Tyler,
Thanks for the comment.
The good SEO guys can make Google do whatever they want (within reason.) They are like wizards – very clever people.
Iris,
Absolutely!!
Good points…the only thing I’ve ever heard about Google’s system makes me determined to go around their Ivory Tower and connect with people on a real level to promote my business.
This is the best thing written about the Google algorithm! Thank you! I find you thru Jesse Luna on Twitter.
Stiennon -
Most any SEO, regardless of SE preference, would consider “burying my keywords in white text” blackhat. It’s blackhat SEO 101. After a 2002 stunt like that, you’ll have to switch IPs, ISPs, usernames and, gasp, content and then pray Matt Cutts doesn’t find you and tell the other SEs, again.
It IS possible to have a successful blog without Google.
This post has had a stack of traffic from Twitter, StumbleUpon and FaceBook.
Right on, Jim. Lol!
It’s interesting to see how people react when their stats go “south” on them. Your take, especially because the majority of your traffic isn’t from the Big G, is well said and well taken.
While search engines are a viable means of driving traffic, and always will be, social media/web 2.0 is the main driving force now-a-days, with your blog as direct evidence of that.
Thanks for yet another brilliant post.
Ross,
To me, the idea of placing my businesses online success in the hands of an ever-changing Google algorithm is not an option.
It’s like relying on a great radio advertisement for 99% of your sales enquiries – only to find the station goes broke and you’re screwed!
Thanks for retweeting it, I did miss it earlier. Boo Google, and yay you!
This has turned out to be a grand experiment, hasn’t it?
Cheers!
Virginia
So let me get this straight….your blogs been going like just a few months…ok…you only post when you feel like it & ya dont use payperclick or link exchanges….alexa says you get crazy insane traffic….theres like 40 comments here already & one of your posts recently got almost 200 comments..so….
Why do we even give a rats ass about google? I’ve wasted 18 months blogging almost every day & the most comments I get are like 8 or 10.
I dunno if I want to kiss you or kick you.
Andrea,
I’m assuming you blogged every day because you thought you had to, in order to keep Google happy?
I am not telling anyone to drop SEO, far from it in fact!
What I am hoping to prove with the success of this blog, is that you can ALSO achieve great results with traditional marketing.
It’s why I choose to spend more time communicating in the comments section of the blog, and less time thinking of something to post; just to keep Google happy.
I’m not sure if daily posting is that important to Google. I post really erratically, but I have a pretty good page rank and about 30% of my traffic comes from Google. If you post everyday, your blog will show up more often in the Google blog search results, but it’s going to because there are more posts to call up. In the main search engine though, irregular, but genuine posts seem to be preferable to frequent, junk type posts. Any drop-off you’ve noticed is more likely to be due to the fact that your blog is still quite new and Google hasn’t figured out where it fits yet. And as other people have said, you’re doing fine on Twitter (you tweeting superstar) so you probably don’t need Google. I think you’d figured that out already though
@Stiennon – what you were doing was not SEO, it was cheating.
Kate,
Thanks for the comment.
Most professional bloggers and ‘Internet marketing gurus’ blog every day.
They will even drag in ‘guest bloggers’ – because of the significant increase in traffic Google gives blogs that are updated daily.
As you say, they then show up more often in search results and thus get ‘traffic.’
I’m not sure why you can’t see that it ALSO happens in reverse. If you blog LESS often you get less ‘traffic’ because you show up less often.
I agree 100% with your final point – I definitely don’t need Google!
But then – neither does anyone else!
Jim, thank you.
As I mentioned to you earlier, your post dovetails with the one I was already working on that supports Alexa (check it out here:
I mentioned your post in it because I think it’s prudent to anyone who values their clients, readers, visitors, more than they do the random traffic generated by Google.
Yes, Google can bring in traffic. Normally it’s the WRONG traffic, though. Building a community using sites like Twitter and LinkedIn will bring in more high quality visitors–the visitors that will really help you build your business and your online community.
Jared
Jared,
I saw your post – thanks for the mention.
I really can see what you mean. Pro-bloggers who post daily will show up more in searches of blogs because of the quantity of their posts, but they don’t necessarily do as well in general searches. To give you an example: One of my favourite bloggers is Lorelle who writes about WordPress http://lorelle.wordpress.com/. She doesn’t post everyday, but when she does, her posts are well written, on topic and rank very highly – higher than anything any daily posting problogger will ever churn out. Lorelle’s blog is usually in the first 3 results whenever I search for anything about WordPress, and it gets there because it’s a mature blog and she writes real posts for real people.
Really, I’m not disagreeing with you, especially when you say that a blog should be about ‘quality over volume’. That is what blogging is about. And search engines know that, the people who programme them spend a lot of time trying to make the bots read a blog in the same way you or I would. At the end of the day, Google (or any other search company) want people to use their service, and the best way to do that is to provide results that are as close as possible to what a real human being would provide. They can only do that by valuing quality more highly than volume.
Sorry to be pedantic and come back with a second comment – I’m not into SEO, but I do admit to being a search nerd. (blush)
Kate,
Thanks for the comment.
As we all know – the Google algorithm literally uses mathematics (numbers) to grade / rank websites – NOT words.
That’s why it has to depend on things it can count / aggregate in order to work.
This is also why we all know great blogs that get hardly any traffic and lower quality blogs that get stacks of traffic.
You give the example of Lorelle’s excellent wordpress.com blog to show how Google works based on quality – not numbers. However, Lorelle’s blog ranks so highly because of the massive NUMBER of links she has and the support she has received from wordpress.com / Automattic and NOT JUST because of the quality of her posts!
There are many thousands of links to Lorelle all over wordpress.com – which is why she ranks so high. Her content IS superb; but if it was ‘just’ GREAT content WITHOUT all that ‘link love’ (numbers) you would not see her posts ranked so highly by Google.
Google says it assumes people will ‘just find and link to’ great sites. However, we all know great blogs that get very few visitors. Google deems these ‘less linked to sites’ to be of low value – and that’s my point.
I don’t think a piece of software can tell the difference between great information and average information.
Thanks Kate.
Jim, I really enjoyed the Dear Google letter. Got a good laugh out of it!
- Doc
Jim, I LOVE your blog! There’s always honesty and great content plus you write from the heart. I laughed when I read this post!
As ‘newbie’ to the online marketing world, I refuse to clutter up my blog with worthless posts just to get better ranks. Although I believe SEO is important, it’s only a piece of the puzzle. I prefer word-of-mouth to be honest.
Tks,
Kelley
Definitely agree with you!Always building good content is not a joke.
And I just read the google seo starter guide.There was nothing amazing told in the google seo report.
Its just another seo basics report which you can learn from each of the millions of blogs on SEO.
I blog to keep fresh content on my site. I follow you because you give great info. Twitter takes up more of my time and is becoming more valuable. I like every aspect of SM and that could be my niche… if I could be as smart as you. Great following you.
Susie,
Thanks for the comment. So long as you blog for your own reasons and NOT because you feel pressured (by Google) – that’s great!
I often update this blog 4 times or more in a week – but only because I want to and have something I want to share. Not for Google.
That’s why you don’t / won’t see ‘guest bloggers’ here – just to get something ‘out there’.
LOL – A placed to be entertained and educated, I love it!
Jim, my business partner and I used to lament about how much our clients’ success was tied to Google. “We all live and die by Google,” was what we used to say. Of course, that was from a search marketer’s perspective.
Over time, our agency has transitioned more into a social media play – not simply because that’s where the business opportunity was, but more to the reality of what your “dear Google algorithm” letter clearly demonstrates.
Do we still rely on Google? Absolutely. But the online marketing landscape has changed significantly right before our eyes… kind of like watching a sunrise. Thanks for your contribution.
Jason,
Good to see that http://www.capturetheconversation.com/ are embracing social media as well as SEO.
Nice site by the way.
Hi Jim,
As always, you are right on point. Google likely takes word count over content as well. As a new business owner and a marketer, I need Google, but sometimes I wonder what help they really are. Oh well, onward and upward. Personally, I am moving a lot of my activity over to direct mail, where my rankings are related to what I actually offer and deliver.
Lisa
Lisa,
Thanks for the comment.
You mention in your comment that you are moving to direct mail;
That’s pretty-much what I am doing here, without the cost or pitfalls of direct mail.
This is, to borrow a line from Homer Simpson, funny because it’s true.
Any genuine traffic comes from quality back-links anyway.
Mark,
Anyone who can get a Homer Simpson quote into a marketing blog, AND make a great point is my kind of person!!
As I said on Twitter, diamonds are rare, but you are one of them. Keep setting the high standard for yourself and the rest of us.
Well put, Jim. Keep up the good work and let Google bury its head in the sand.
I also have seen a 50%+ cut in my AdSense income on my best site (not a blog). The quality of what’s there has not changed, but I was working on a new project and had slowed down on updates.
Crazy! But it just demonstrates the validity of the advice often given by the wise not to build a business that depends on the unreliability of the Google machine.
This made me smile as it is a unique way of addressing something that doesn’t matter that much to you anyway (my gutt feeling). Your blog and some of the others get shared on Twitter and other social sites as well as by word of mouth so Google’s search traffic reduction is something you will get past in no time. Keep pumping out great content and doing your thing.
If there’s too much rubbish of sites in a niche, they can boost you out of the top by building links and deep links over and over.
Traffic depends on keywords and links in niche at Google.
If you stop getting new links AND others in niche are getting more and more, you will get “penalized” by losing visitors.
I’ve made some theories about this, perhaps they are not perfect, but this seems to be Google’s law. And Google’s law has absolutely nothing to do with quality content.
[...] by Jim’s Marketing Blog’s letter to Google, I thought I’d write a poem. A sonnet, [...]
Thanks for your comments. I too resist the idea of churning content for the sake of churning, it is ruining what blogging set out to be in the first place. I hate telling my clients that is what they need to do, but it is just the way it is right now. Thanks for the great post.
Speaking of backlinks, I left you one today