Not a day passes that I don’t get into some kind of discussion that’s related to the Google Mayday Update and the subsequent loss of longtail search traffic many people have seen. This is especially true on smaller niche affiliate or ecommerce sites that may be a bit on the thin side of content or simply lack the authority that time and lots of link love can deliver to make them awesome.
In this Niche Store Builder article, I want to look at some of the factors I feel are affecting …

Continuing along with a theme about the latest Google Mayday algorithm update, another one of the other standout metrics that has really struck back at me, is the site link profile, both in and outbound!
This latest round of algo changes really takes the old adage that “ANY backlink is better than none at all”, and tosses it right into the sewer! In fact, low quality links may actually hurt more than they help! As if we didn’t see this coming right?
What does your backlink profile look like?
By that I mean… …

If the Google Mayday change has done one thing for me, it’s gotten my head deeper into actual Webmaster duties, than I have been in a long time! I guess I got lazy… or complacent… who knows. Yesterday, I started fixing bounce rates, and today… while using Google Webmaster Tools to look for more issues, I found a ton of soft 404 issues for pages like 1970/page1/feed/ etc.
Not sure if you saw the news last week – but Google is now reporting soft 404 issues in the Webmaster Tools interface.
I’m …

Having a few sites being affected by the Google Mayday Update, I’m going to do my best to remain positive and look for solutions, versus loathing on the negatives and complaining about the lost traffic.
One of those positives I have found in the short several-day span… is that my reduced flow of traffic is converting MUCH BETTER! Someone is going to slap me for this… but it’s almost like Google is HELPING me! (Damn… I slapped myself, and I liked it!!)
With that in mind… I want to pick one site, and:

Find …

I just wanted to give a fair amount of positive press to the Google Mayday Update, so everyone does not think its all bad…
Mayday Facts for My Own Sites

Website traffic DOWN on approximately 20% of my sites overall.
On the 20% of the sites effected, Traffic is down 70-80%
On the sites affected… Google STILL DOES send traffic (Not a deindexing thing)
Are you ready for this…
Are you SURE you are ready…
Earnings on One of the Effected sites has increased by 200%!

Thats right… serious… 20% of the traffic, 200% of the earnings over …

Google recently made a VERY significant change in their search algo, which is affecting everyone… not just those in the affiliate world. Just look at some of the very obvious failures in the new algo.
Edit: Read the next post also – traffic is down, but conversions of the traffic it IS sending, is UP! There is a positive effect of Google mayday!
Google Fail Whale

Image from Flickr

Jewelry Auctions – You would assume to find eBay right? nope, not even in the top 10… but you can find several affiliate sites!
OK then… …

Well, it looks like the caffeine update at Google is finally spreading to everyone. In fact, at Webmaster World, its been coined as the Google Mayday. Take it for what it is… but the name is very fitting!
What Does Google Mayday and the New Search Results page mean to you, the website owner? Pay attention to your traffic and conversions more than ever… because it could mean a LOT!
What’s Going on with The Longtail Search?
Not sure how the longtail search is going to shake out in all of this, and …