Sitepocalypse Now?: Why DVDizzy.com's Days May Be Numbered

Kyle · Post by **Kyle** » Sun Jun 26, 2011 11:03 am

If your going to use dot com you might as well skip google altogether and just type it into the address bar. The whole reason this is an issue is because searching the more basic terms like ultimate disney or dvdizzyy yields no results until page 5.

disneyboy20022 · Post by **disneyboy20022** » Sun Jun 26, 2011 3:48 pm

Feeling depressed about a lot of things in life My health issues getting worse, stress of all kinda and stress ...including that this site and forum will probably fade away....

MJW · Post by **MJW** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:19 pm

Has the issue with Google been resolved? I just did a Google search for UltimateDisney.com and DVDizzy.com seperately, and both resulted in the site in the #1 spot!

JiminyCrick91 · Post by **JiminyCrick91** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:50 pm

MJW wrote:Has the issue with Google been resolved? I just did a Google search for UltimateDisney.com and DVDizzy.com seperately, and both resulted in the site in the #1 spot!

No. The may have moved up a little when you add the .Com but that's not the real issue. If you know the address you don't need Google. We still have a long way to go it seems.

-Skyler

Maerj · Post by **Maerj** » Sun Jul 03, 2011 9:21 pm

just dvdizzy. or ultimatedisney. Do give you the site. Without the . or .com you don't get the site.

Perhaps asking Google why this has changed may produce some results?

Luke, have you ever considered becoming a part of the 'official Disney family of sites?'

Post by **Luke** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:22 am

Maerj wrote:Perhaps asking Google why this has changed may produce some results?

Asking Google anything regarding a site penalty doesn't get any results. At least it hasn't for us. And we've certainly been trying. They seem to pride themselves on flagrant inaccessibility and gross unaccountability. <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... om">Others have gotten very specific, helpful advice</a>. Although in that case, they were concerned about losing a few bars of Google page rank and in this case, I'm concerned about being able to eat, make rent, and continue doing what I love for the next however many years, so I can see why I am not as deserving of similar aid.

The issue isn't so much about finding the site by name in Google. Although many have over the years (those who don't use bookmarks, for instance), there are millions of more important search terms on which we used to rank highly, and most would agree deservingly so, that we are now buried on page 5, 6, 7 or lower. Search for something as specific as "Follow Me Boys DVD Review" (in quotes), which only yields about three pages of results and we're at the bottom of Page 2, even though we're the only legitimate result there. Heck, even the term "Sitepocalypse (with or without quotes) puts us on Page 4. Now consider terms that people actually search for with any regularity. "Disney DVD", "Aladdin DVD review", etc., etc.

Not only are people not finding this information they would find useful, but by burying us, we're virtually being wiped off the Internet. People or sites that would link to us cannot even find us. The lesser traffic threatens our ability to get review product, it lowers the number of worthwhile ads being run, it lowers the payout on those ads. Even from March (our first full post-penalty month) to June, the drops are staggering.

It is an absolute nightmare that has sucked the life out of me for nearly five months now. That's not exaggeration. To truly understand the situation, you would need to spend almost every day for ten years working on something, nurturing it, pouring yourself into it, only to have it all taken away practically overnight with nothing in the way of an explanation. I find it tough to believe and I'm actually going through it.

Maerj wrote:Luke, have you ever considered becoming a part of the 'official Disney family of sites?'

I don't think that is something that I can consider, as much as they can. And I imagine they would have some of the same concerns over conflict of interest and objectivity that I think readers might. But, hey, if some other deep-pocketed company looking to buy an fixer-upper Internet property with a faithful readership and an inexplicable Google penalty were to come knocking, I'd definitely entertain the idea.

Hogi Bear · Post by **Hogi Bear** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 7:16 am

@Luke
There isn't anything on this page that might help?

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/W ... 5c8a&hl=en

I'm not really familiar with Google's search ranking, so I'm not sure how much help I am.

You've probably already seen this page. I'm really hoping though that someone will find the solution to your/our problem.

One other thing I had thought about was seeing what would happen if you had two sites: dvdizzy.com reviews and news, then ultimatedisney.com/forum/ as the community side. Though I guess that's a silly idea and probably would not be any solution, but a waste of time.

Anyway, just ideas - Brainstorm type thing. But remember Luke you have the love of this community, we all care.

Maerj · Post by **Maerj** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 7:47 am

Maybe promoting UD on other Disney fan sites/message boards might help? Gotta try anything.

JiminyCrick91 · Post by **JiminyCrick91** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:18 pm

Even though I have heard all of the news, I must say the new Newsletter was the most depressing email I've ever gotten. I don't know what I'll do without UD. I hope the end is not as near as we may think...
-Skyler

Post by **Luke** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:25 pm

JiminyCrick91 wrote:Even though I have heard all of the news, I must say the new Newsletter was the most depressing email I've ever gotten. I don't know what I'll do without UD. I hope the end is not as near as we may think...
-Skyler

Sorry. I guess I do subscribe to the old saying, "Depressing times call for depressing e-mails." At least it's been a fun ride!

Thanks for the link and kind message, Hogi Bear. I don't think that thread applies to us, but I've read hundreds like it that also don't apply to us. [sarcasm]It's all very interesting to me. There might be something to the trying to cheat Google thing we've evidently been accused of. I invite those so inclined to really study our site for a lesson on how to violate Google quality guidelines and get great rankings for over ten years before they notice. (If you do that, please let us know how in fact we violate those quality guidelines. Too many original articles? Too much hard work? Too much delayed sleep? Curse you, Google, for figuring out the secret to our undeserved success!)[/sarcasm]

Sotiris · Post by **Sotiris** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 4:53 am

Luke, you haven't told us: will the forum close as well if the site closes (god forbid)?

Hogi Bear · Post by **Hogi Bear** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:21 am

I hope this isn't getting frustrating with everyone posting possible solutions.

Anyway, I thought this website was interesting (I found it doing various web searches):

http://www.sitespeedlab.com/ultimatedisney.com/

It analysis pages and gives results of various things that could be done to improve sites.

Anyway, I'm hoping that there might be something on that page, because it mentions search engine optimisation with some of the results.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Wonderlicious · Post by **Wonderlicious** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 8:54 am

I suppose this is a good enough place to post this, but has anything been registered as coming from Amazon UK? As promised, I got a few things through the site (including a few books as presents for young relatives, and a certain piece of electronic equipment), so was wondering whether it worked...

Disney's Divinity · Post by **Disney's Divinity** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 2:46 pm

Yeah, that newsletter made me sad, honestly.

If, unfortunately, the site did go under, is there any way for the forum to continue without costing anything? Or would you have to move to a different type of forum/site for that...?

I have no idea. I don't know much of anything about these things.

UmbrellaFish · Post by **UmbrellaFish** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 2:58 pm

Out of curiosity, what did the newsletter say? I don't get them...

Disney's Divinity · Post by **Disney's Divinity** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 3:28 pm

Nothing new, really. Just made me realize that doomsday isn't that far away...

Goliath · Post by **Goliath** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:59 pm

I'm not subscribed to the Newsletter, but I gather it contained some kind of announcement of the nearing closing of dvdizzy?

I tried to contact Matt Cutts, about whom Luke has talked in this thread, and who is an employee at Google specialized in SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I got to his blog, but adding comments to the appropriate entries had been disabled by himself, and there was no e-mail adress to be found on his site. According to a forum of people who are into this kind of stuff, Cutts doesn't answer any e-mails anymore (he has made a standarized mail which basically says so). So we can forget about him.

Still, he's not the only person working at Google and, as I've understood it, he did his blog and contact with customers on his own account (he didn't speak for the company). So I think if Luke wants to save dvdizzy, he has to take it to the Google-top. Or at least the top of the SEO-division. Or at the very least try to contact any of Cutt's colleagues in SEO and ask them to help him.

Have you done any of this, Luke? Can you tell us a bit about what you have done the past months to try to solve this problem? Did you accept any of the help offered in this thread?

disneyboy20022 · Post by **disneyboy20022** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 5:52 pm

http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/014709.html

The thing is, Matt is just one guy. Matt has a ton of obligations. Matt is not the sole voice of Google. Matt writes in his blog that he can't answer every webmaster individually and that you should visit Google Groups.
Matt can't give everyone personal attention as much as he'd like to. (He'll give me personal attention, but that's because I'm special.) So if you need to speak with Matt or someone from Google, visit the Google Groups.

Goliath · Post by **Goliath** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 6:25 pm

@ disneyboy: that's exactly what I was trying to say. Luke seems to have invested all his time and energy in Matt Cutts, including emotional blackmail via Twitter, but he's just one employee. I think there are still plenty of possibilities to prevent dvdizzy from going under. But it won't happen all by itself. The moderator will have to pour some hard work into it.

Prince Charming 12 · Post by **Prince Charming 12** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:15 pm

I read your e-mail letter Luke and I was sorry to read about all the problems that you have been having over the pervious months with Google. This site is something that you have poured your "blood, sweat and tears" into over these last ten years, and for all of that work it now hangs on the brink of extinction.

I know you mentioned in the e-mail that money is tight and professional IT support is prohibitive, but it looks like that might be your last chance to save this site! If you need to put aside the Word program and movie reviews to get a part-time job for some extra cash I would suggest that you do it now. We all lose if this site closes down, but you will lose far more - your dream. Keep fighting for it!!

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