# Natural Selection of the Internet



## Drabdr (Nov 26, 2007)

It would seem that a new dawn is coming for many sites on the internet. Here are a couple of good discussion topics on the issue:

http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4583408.htm

http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4582387.htm

In short, due to a significant decrease in traffic, several websites are dying. The issue is, it may not be their fault. Panda seems to have caused a lot of damage. One site that I frequent, is not sure they will be able to keep things going until the end of the year.

Question:

Have you see yours (or one you service) website suffer significantly due to a loss of traffic?

Do you think webmasters really have any control over it? Is there anything they can do about it?


----------



## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

good topic, Brad......I'm buried at work currently, but am definitely cogitating on this.


----------



## ekim68 (Jul 8, 2003)

There is a state of change and I've noticed it...Look at the change in Tech Support in regards to mobile devices determining what people really want or use, and with the advent of the cloud, why do PC's even have cause?...Also, a Pet Peeve, the Advertisement World on the Internet has slowed me down to a crawl...:down:


----------



## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

how so? use a flash blocker, disable java.....that helps quite a bit.....


----------



## ekim68 (Jul 8, 2003)

I use a bunch of those, Tim. My rant is mostly about how Marketeers are pushing their agendas on my Old Machines..


----------



## ckphilli (Apr 29, 2006)

I haven't noticed Brad. But to be honest, I visit here, espn and yahoo regularly. Everything else I do is based on a search or a specific need.

However, after some of Paq's comments in the verizon thread, I read a little bit about the Deep Web and other things. I think it's possible that some of the sites in question could be failing in the search arena. With the ease of google, the failing sites would have to give the user a reason to visit them directly.

Here's some good stuff, particularly the 'crawling the deep web' section.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Web


----------



## ckphilli (Apr 29, 2006)

ekim68 said:


> I use a bunch of those, Tim. My rant is mostly about how Marketeers are pushing their agendas on my Old Machines..


Three words: Lubuntu, Crunchbang, or Puppy Linux. These are light linux distros that I have personally tried. VERY zippy on old machines, even in the "live" environment.


----------



## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

ckphilli said:


> I haven't noticed Brad. But to be honest, I visit here, espn and yahoo regularly. Everything else I do is based on a search or a specific need.
> 
> However, after some of Paq's comments in the verizon thread, I read a little bit about the Deep Web and other things. I think it's possible that some of the sites in question could be failing in the search arena. With the ease of google, the failing sites would have to give the user a reason to visit them directly.
> 
> ...


never hit the deep web? one word; vastly, vastly over-rated....

math never was my strong suit.


----------



## ckphilli (Apr 29, 2006)

valis said:


> never hit the deep web? one word; vastly, vastly over-rated....
> 
> math never was my strong suit.


Nope, never had a need to be honest. I get my fix on the surface.


----------



## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

ditto here....but then I heard about, and of course I had to go check it out....absolute tons of databases, and that's about it. Yes, there are sites like the much-mentioned silk road, but there are only a handful of those, and with the rise of bitcoin, it remains to be seen if they will proliferate or be shut down by the feds....makes for a good show, regardless.


----------



## ckphilli (Apr 29, 2006)

Definitely interesting.


----------



## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

indeed.....there are a lot of resources out there on how to access it, how it all works, but what is very interesting (and I would imagine that Paq and El Buffo will find this more so, as they seem to be the financial whizzes of the forum) is Bitcoin, history and future thereof......

food for thought.....wonder how long before a thread is started on bitcoin, and it relevance.....

funny thing is, I heard about this about four years ago, thought it was neat, and forgot about it. Then Newsweek/Time/People whatever mag it was ran a HUGE piece on silk road, and I thought that that would be the end of it, as it had now reached mainstream and would probably get government sanctions......but all it's done is grow.

It's beginning to affect real-world economy as well, which is another reason to get the input of our version of Ben Stein.


----------



## ckphilli (Apr 29, 2006)

Would be an interesting thread.

I really could have used the deep web when I was writing papers constantly. But my research now is 90% having to do with specific coding questions...and I can either find an answer or refactor...so 'tis no big deal.


----------



## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

it is interesting, but I'm telling you, the sheer amount of useless (to the average user; vital to the corps that maintain them) data is purely backend databases......it's a good read, but so is Kildall.....


----------



## ekim68 (Jul 8, 2003)

ckphilli said:


> Three words: Lubuntu, Crunchbang, or Puppy Linux. These are light linux distros that I have personally tried. VERY zippy on old machines, even in the "live" environment.


Ok I got an Ubuntu machine and an iPad and a Franklin CX, look that up, but can't a Guy just Rant every once in a while?


----------



## ckphilli (Apr 29, 2006)

ekim68 said:


> Ok I got an Ubuntu machine and an iPad and a Franklin CX, look that up, but can't a Guy just Rant every once in a while?


Yea, sure. Was just trying to ease your pain.


----------



## ekim68 (Jul 8, 2003)

Thanks Chris, I'm over my Senior Moment now...


----------



## Drabdr (Nov 26, 2007)

I frequent another site that is not unlike this one: free, people helping people, etc. The site focuses on quality issues: ISO 9001, FDA, aviation, automotive.

The owner posted about his business dropping significantly over the last year (he provided the two links I gave).. Well... To clarify, google rankings, google hits, etc. have dropped to the basement. He runs a VERY professional site, and its very popular. However, his advertising operates on hits, placement, etc.

I believe that in the attempt to make Google returns of higher quality, their algorithms have ended up collecting some unintended victims.


----------



## ckphilli (Apr 29, 2006)

ekim68 said:


> Thanks Chris, I'm over my Senior Moment now...


You? Senior? I reject this Mike!


----------



## ckphilli (Apr 29, 2006)

Drabdr said:


> I believe that in the attempt to make Google returns of higher quality, their algorithms have ended up collecting some unintended victims.


I think that's a good belief Brad. Maybe they'll include some sort of check to include the victims that should be included at some point.


----------



## ekim68 (Jul 8, 2003)

It all relates to how much Google can make on the Internet, much like other Internet Businesses....They've been trying different things like hits and ratings to provide a way for advertising revenue....Google is Free, but it's also in Business...


----------



## Drabdr (Nov 26, 2007)

ekim68 said:


> It all relates to how much Google can make on the Internet, much like other Internet Businesses....They've been trying different things like hits and ratings to provide a way for advertising revenue....Google is Free, but it's also in Business...


OK... how do you improve the "hits" and "ratings" on a website?


----------



## ekim68 (Jul 8, 2003)

Analytics is one way...


----------



## ekim68 (Jul 8, 2003)

ekim68 said:


> Analytics is one way...


Brad Bump...


----------



## Drabdr (Nov 26, 2007)

ekim68 said:


> Brad Bump...


Thanks Mike. Sorry I did not reply. Yes, Analytics has been of primary concern and been used in practice for years.

Two or three years ago, hits from this site appeared on the first page. Now they are on page three at best. There is really no explanation as to why: it's just happening.


----------

