Did you get hit by the latest Google Penguin update?

Thanks for the link Vishal, seems to explain a lot of the results I'm seeing.
My raw search traffic from Google has actually doubled, but for different words than before.
I've been getting hits for words that are not optimized while losing traffic on optimized keywords.
It probably helps that I have never focused on back-linking strategies that are being penalized.
Looks like un-optimizing for keywords has helped some pages regain or move up the results.
Time to clean up overly optimized pages if anyone wants traffic from Google searches.
New strategies need to be studied and tested but it's obvious keyword stuffing hurts.

I take it back! Don't want to penalize this forum!

Luckily my website wasn’t hit by recent Google penguin update. I use only white hat Seo techniques. As a precaution for future updates I am using a mixture of targeted keywords for link building. I add specific keywords and mixed keyword phases randomly on forums and article sites.

Here's an interesting and puzzling twist...
My website has nothing to do with "hiking" although it ranks for Bell Rock, but
when I put ads on this week for "Hike Bell Rock" t-shirts, it now ranks for that phrase!?
I mean, PAGES upon pages show up on page 2 of Google for that phrase in one week.
None of those pages are about hiking, only in the ad in the sidebar on all pages.
SEO has changed for the worse, well I guess that depends on your perspective.
So much for 20 years of learning how to game the search engines!
Thankfully you're never too old to learn new tricks.

Interesting indeed. Maybe there are elements on your pages for Bell Rock that are congruent with hiking and that's why you get the exposure. I have heard stories from other marketers who now have pages ranking for keywords that are not included on their pages at all, but for which the content is relevant.

We'd be naive not to expect Google to continue to 'update' their algorithms so that they can thwart those who find and exploit the loopholes. Of course, from Google's point of view, they'll simply be improving search results relevancy. Meanwhile there'll be thousands of honest, innocent marketers who'll get caught in the squeeze and will suffer the consequences, along with a surprising number who will undeservedly benefit.

Can't argue with that. Spreading the risk is always a safer move!

And so it goes...

Hermas

You talking about me? LOL!

I appreciate your sense of humor, Jimmy. Made me laugh out loud.

Hermas