Well, it looks like this blog has been dropped from the Google index. Why would that be? Well, like the rest of the world, I will never know because that is how the GreatGoogle does things.

Poof. Gone. No Google traffic for this blog. Paging Matt Cutts…. any wisdom on this one? Seems pretty innoccuous as a Wordpress install (except for yesterday’s post which suggested Google should be embarassed…was that it?) I wonder what say TheGreatGoogle?

If you want to search for John Andrews in Seattle, you will find me in Yahoo! but not Google. If you want to find my SEO Secret page, you’ll find it in Yahoo! but not in Google. Looking for John Andrews SEO? Try Yahoo!, because Yahoo! knows how to find stuff.

Update: A Google representative has replied in the comments (Matt Cutts). It’s not clear, but it seems that Google doesn’t like me discussing some of the oberved weaknesses in Google’s algorithm or Wordpress’ use of post slugs. I’m trying to get that clarified since this is a total ban and not just a ranking issue; a very serious thing.

So none of the SEOs out there are publishing real SEO tips anymore? Well, here’s a small one to keep in mind that can make you a wee bit more competitive while maintaining a decent level of decorum in the keyword spamming department. I call it “Search box suggestion keyword spam” and it is dripping with plausible deniability so Matt shouldn’t have any issue with it.

Got a search box on your site? Okay, chances are it’s top right or at least close to the top of the page. It has alt text, of course (right?). It has a little button logo or click spot, which is of course properly named with a keywordy label, and of course keywordy alt text, right?

Well, does it also have a line of “example” keywords to show your visitors how to use it? Is that example readable text? Is it keyword rich? Why not? For one example, click here.

Note to self: check the backlinks to www.johnon.com in a few days and see if anyone out there appreciates free SEO tips.

A Google engineer created an algorithm which banned an SEO website after the site published a cartoon lampooning Matt Cutts, one of Google’s highest-profile “engineers”. The site, known as SEO Idiot and run by “paul”, previously an AdSense publisher, and previously in good standing, featured a cartoon depiction of Google personality Matt Cutts as well as the site logo: a jeuvenile bad-boy apparently relieving his bladder while baring his “plumber’s crack” and smirking at the camera. The Matt Cutts depiction was labeled Matt, and was clearly identifiable as the same ultra-high-profile Google Quality representative Mr. Cutts. Within days of the publishing of that cartoon (the first SEO cartoon ever produced by SEO Idiot), Paul’s AdSense account was banned.

This is not the first time that the Google algorithm has been “adjusted”. It is also not the first time a site that depicts Google unfavorably has experienced the darker side of what some SEO’s are calling “manic-depressive Google”.

“You’re in one day, rewarded like the King’s favorite tax collector, and the next day you’re banished from the kingdom”, said one SEO who asked not to be identified for what he called “obvious reasons”.

On the right is what appears to be a favorable portrayal of Mr. Cutts as a mild-mannered alter-ego of a Spam Fighting Super Hero, which appears on the web site along with the other cartoon portrayals. Click on the image to read the rest of the comic strip lampooning Mr. Cutts and his crusade against those that Google considers to be “in violation of the Google Terms of Service”.

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