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Comment by synack | Hacker News Reader

Maybe don’t put ads between every paragraph on your blog.

The site also disables the back button (on mobile Chrome).

I have no idea why the site owner thinks their site was downranked (and the article never says: it assumes some context I lack), but I cynically wonder if it's related to the back-button and video-ad thing.

Edited to add: This article here provides some information about the meeting/roundtable thing described in TFA. https://www.seroundtable.com/google-creator-summit-38196.htm...

I haven't read your linked article, but it's crystal clear when you get downranked.

One day your analytics show you're getting less and less traffic from Google, while other sources remain constant. What else could be the reason?

Even for the most ad-crappified site, I think the objection to a mysterious and opaque system is still valid, especially when it's arguably a monopoly or close enough not to matter.

In other words, I'm not saying their site deserves to be shown, but in general people do deserve a way to see why their site is in a weird status and have some documented path to redemption.

_________________

Quoting the relevant bits for convenience:

> Undeterred, we then asked the only question that mattered: Why has Google shadowbanned our sites? [...] He insisted it is only done at the page level.

> Many of the shadowbanned site owners attempted to politely push back and point out that the reason all 20 of us were there was specifically because our entire site was deranked from Google in a single night. [...]

> When asked what was wrong with our sites, as if we were jilted lovers in an abusive relationship being kicked to the curb, one Googler actually said “it’s not you it’s me”.

> Finally, someone bluntly asked, since nothing is wrong with our sites, how do we recover?

> Google’s elderly Chief Search Scientist answered, without an ounce of pity or concern, that there would be updates but he didn’t know when they’d happen or what they’d do. Further questions on the subject were met with indifference as if he didn’t understand why we cared.

> deserve a way to see why their site is in a weird status

Like this? https://developers.google.com/search/updates/core-updates

> have some documented path to redemption

Like this? https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creat...

As it says, they were desperate enough to travel in-person to Google headquarters to attend an event during weekday work-hours. That kind of effort usually means other avenues have been explored and exhausted.

Are you saying site-owner is just incredibly dumb, and never noticed/tried those online resources despite being highly motivated to do so? Or is it that you think they found a useful answer they didn't like, and are lying?

I think if the site owner did an honest self-assessment of their content (as suggested on the "Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content" page I linked) the problems with their content would be as obvious to them as they are to me.

I won't speculate about why they attended this event despite running a site filled with content that's at odds with Google's published recommendations for ranking well.

I could not read the whole thing or even get the gist of the parent site. Looks like one of those late 2000s content farm sites filled but chum box ads. Low quality all around.

Not that this invalidates your comment, but why do you put yourself through ads? Block them.

This is exactly the kind of trash spam site I want Google to ban. Maybe thats why this writer had such a gloomy feeling.

I was reading this on my iPhone 11 Pro and my phone was turning warm in my hand. My music kept stopping and starting again. Eventually I had to kill the browser.

I am sorry this is happening to the authors. Maybe it’s related to the scumminess of their blog, maybe it isn’t.

I read it on my OnePlus Nord using Firefox with an adblocker.

I experienced none of what you did.

Maybe you should try a decent browser on a decent phone.

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