Problems with Google

I’ve been updating this site a lot over the last couple of weeks, and as you may be able to tell, it’s still a work in progress. I’ve added social sharing buttons so you can share this site easily on Facebook, Google and Twitter. I’ve also added links to our Facebook, Google and Twitter pages with the slider on the right hand side of this site. Lastly I added pages to the menu at the top where none existed before. These pages aren’t complete, but I wanted to put them up and work to complete them during the offseason. Oh! I also added more categories to my posts such as “The offseason”. But now I have to reconsider all these updates…

I thought that these changes improved the site, and I think most people would agree with me. Unfortunately Google isn’t most people. Before these changes, this site was the 1st or 2nd hit in Google for “bet the Super Bowl”. I was even rambling about my battle with Sportsbook for the top stop in my last post. But apparently Google doesn’t like all the changes that I’ve been making, because this site which was one of the top hits for betting on the Super Bowl for years, is now on the fifth page for the exact same phrase! What gives?

This happened to me once before. I think about a year ago, I got the same bright idea to change this site and update it, but the few things that I changed made this site drop in Google. It’s happening again now…

I even half expected this site to drop in ranking a little. That’s why I waited to make changes until after the 2012 Super Bowl. But I never expected this site to drop off the front page, and now that it has, I have to reconsider every change I’ve made to date.

After all, this website is dedicated to betting on the Super Bowl. The first hit in Google is for a sportsbook that you can use to bet on the Super Bowl, but that site doesn’t even mention the Super Bowl on its homepage. How the hell is this site the first hit, and my site which is completely relevant and making changes to improve dropped to the fifth page of results? It’s crazy.

Sure. Google can list sites however they want to, but it isn’t fair. So what am I going to do?

Right now, nothing. I figure I have a lot of time until the next Super Bowl, so I can afford to let this site sit for a few weeks. I’m hoping that this is just a temporary change and that my site will be back on the first page in a couple of weeks. Of course if it’s not, I’ll have to make some changes.

Unfortunately I think I’ll have to change this site back to the way it was. It wasn’t as user friendly, but at least people could find it. I figure it’s better to be seen and average than to be awesome and completely ignored.

So that’s the plan for now. Hopefully the ship will right on its own over the next couple of weeks, but if it doesn’t, I’ll be forced to reverse all the changes I made and hope that the damage caused will only be temporary.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks to reevaluate and determine which direction this site will head.