Rapidly decreasing Google search results

I have this vBulletin site since March 2005 and right away had used the sitemap hack from vb.org. At one time I had search results in the high 2,xxx but ever since I have installed vBSEO it has been rapidly decreasing. Last Friday I did a search for "stockhideout" and it was pulling 397 today I have been checking and it is 333. That is a huge drop and the only thing I have changed (besides vB upgrades) is vBSEO.

Any thoughts?

BTW, when I log into Google it says my sitemap is fine and my Yahoo numbers have been growing.

Same here....

Before using the sitemap software my Google presence was about 38,000 pages. I just looked and now it is 13,100!! I too would like to know why/how this is happening.

Thanks.

no offense Lazer but glad I am not alone

None taken

Wow. No replies.

I've noticed the same thing to some extent and I think it had to do with my configuration of the sitemap. I assumed that google would check existing links that it had to ensure they were still valid and use the sitemap to gain new links.

So, I set the sitemap up to not include many things and my number of listings dropped like a stone. I have since made some changes and am waiting to see the impact.

Now, my opinion that my incorrect config of the sitemap caused a drop in indexed pages is just that - my opinion. I have no supporting evidence.

Something isn't right that is for sure. I haven't changed any of the settings for Sitemap Generator v.1.6 so I know it has to do with either my upgrade to 3.5.4 or the installation of vBSEO. Either way I am hurting or will be very soon.

Hello,

please check your vBSEO Sitemap Generator reports (vbseo_sitemap/ interface):
- are your sitemap files (sitemap_index.xml.gz, sitemap_1.xml.gz etc) downloaded regularly?
- do you see the entries for google bot at "SE Bots Activity Log"?

Originally Posted by esology

Something isn't right that is for sure. I haven't changed any of the settings for Sitemap Generator v.1.6 so I know it has to do with either my upgrade to 3.5.4 or the installation of vBSEO. Either way I am hurting or will be very soon.

IMPORTANT! - I noticed you are using vB 3.5.4 and they changed the core functionality within the sitemaps. See how every single link from your sitemap (thousands of them) - point to your homepage.

This might very be the culprit of the problem.

Please email me at muriente at crawlability.com to get v.2.4.1 ASAP

Anyone running 3.5.4 please email me so that I can get you a pre-release version of 2.4.1 right away.

I am not using 3.5.4

The sitemap file is downloaded sometimes 3-4 times a day by Google
I have an average of 2,000 - 3,000 Google bots each day on my site

Still, as I said before, my indexed pages in Google have dropped from c38,000 to c15,000 (just checked).

Also, I still have an outstanding issue where the sitemap generator will not generate an index file, so I cannot submit any more than 1 sitemap without errors:

See here: Compression Error

See here: Compression Error

note: follow up given by Oleg via PM

Thank you

I never submit the index file anyway... Set up all the individual sitemaps in your Google Webmaster account.

experiencing a similar problem.
I've dropped from about 180,000 in google to 120,000 in the ~2 months since starting vBSEO, and only about 15 "vbseo" pages come up for my site. Consequently, yahoo shows almost 20,000 vbseo pages, and the overall page count has risen about 5,000.

I get anywhere from 150 to 15,000 google bots a day, I'd say the average is about 7,000 per day. Googlebots download the sitemap around 15-20 times a day.

Does this sound like a configuration issue, or is google just not reindexing my site?

I've noticed this with using the sitemap tool in general- not necessarily even on a vB forum or the vbseo plugin. running a site:blah.com will tend to produce lower figures. But somehow, my traffic was never effected one way or the other, including on-par google ref's.

I think it's just another quirk of google.


At the same time, i've heard it a different way.
Once your link is spawned, it should NOT be re-submitted via the sitemap. Otherwise it will re-crawl and remove whats in there already.

So, with that said, once my new site gets indexed fom the first couple of maps i send it, I am going to set my task to run once a month, instead of nightly. See what kind of data that pulls in.