Google Stops Showing Search Results For Certain Queries
While doing some research this morning I found the search results below. I call them search results but actually I couldn’t find any search results.
At the top is a Wikipedia listing telling me the wrong date for Mothers Day (it’s March 22nd in the UK). In second place is a Wikipedia result which doesn’t count as a search result – just a cop out so Google doesn’t have to pick a real website.
Next comes two YouTube videos, three news results and three shopping results. Poor Woodlands Junior School ranks 2nd for this query and is buried so far down the page I had to scroll to find it.
According to Hitwise Woodlands School was getting the lions share of traffic for this query, Google clearly wants to put a stop to that.
Post category: Search Engine Optimisation Tweet
Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Branded3, a Leeds SEO & Digital Agency specialising in SEO, Web Design, Development & Social Media.
Comments
Read the 7 comments below, or add your own!
Woodlands School gets traffic for Easter Holidays UK , Bank Holidays, Summer holidays, School holidays – they have been ranking for those phrases for a while now…
They just need knol on there now just above wikipedia to complete the “search” results
Thanks for the link and including the Hitwise data.
I found something very similar when looking at this last year and talked about it in a webinar. The screenshot on my blog post includes 3 paid listings, the ‘according to Wikipedia’ bit, 3 pictures and 2 youtube videos (both of which are the same!). At the time this struck me as an example of ‘universal search’ gone a bit too far…
I don’t agree with your analysis of Wikipedia tho. I often get the feeling that the search marketing community resents Wikipedia in the same way that commercial media organisations complain about the BBC crowding them out of the market. I often use Wikipedia over more ‘commercial’ websites becuase it provides information in the easiest format.
Thanks, Robin
That’s actually really interesting to know and to think they are controlling times of important dates like that.
Another great post too.
Interesting. Perhaps the reason they dropped down the list was due to relevancy. It is a website for a School, perhaps Google believed that all the information about certain celebrations taking place in the UK was an attempt to manipulate the search results?
From the results above I would recommend creating some videos and maybe getting a wikipedia update about UK Mothers day too.
Mike Ashworth
I think google search is getting moody now days. They are trying to Manipulate the search results. I am agree with mike that “perhaps Google believed that all the information about certain celebrations taking place in the UK..” they have been ranking for those phrases for a while now…
The internet is fantastic place for people with a thirst for knowledge. It is a real shame it is now becoming a place for people who only have a thirst for money. I believe Woodlands is a popular website because it is not one smothered in advertisements. Visitors to our website can find the information they need quickly and easily with out being fooled into clicking on an adverts. It is a genuine website, with a real purpose and that is to educate not only our students, but also people around the world who want to learn more about the country where our students live.
It is a home grown organic website. I taught myself from scratch, receive no payment for running the website and do it all in my spare time when I am not Scouting or doing my full time paid job.
In the words of Teachers TV who filmed me in action “”From this cramped corner of a small room in Kent a global impact is being made. Here a teacher-turned-advisor is reaching out worldwide to hundreds of thousands of people. Mandy Barrow is responsible for a school website that’s become an international phenomenon.”
That was three years ago and the website has moved on greatly since then.
During the last month alone, Woodlands website has received 3,792,122 visits, 2,731,297 absolute unique visitors and 16,731,000 pageviews and that does not count the hundreds of pages that do not have Google analytics on them. The visitor numbers alone speak volumes of how much our visitors value our simple but very effective website. That in itself is enough reward for the many hours I spend on the site every evening and at weekends.
I am fully aware of how much outsides are trying to get in on the success of the Woodlands Junior ‘brand name’. Any domain name containing our school name are all taken and and owned by companies and individuals making money out of my success. It is a real shame that greed has made some people so selfish.
I am not worried how far up or down the search rankings Woodlands website is. I am just happy that people are visiting the Woodlands website.
Please don’t feel threatened or sorry for the Woodlands Junior website. Please also don’t put Woodlands down because it is “only a school website”. I enjoy running the website and do it out of love for the students of the world who, like me, have a thirst to learn more.
http://www.twitter.com/projectbritain
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February 21, 2009 at 5:20am