Last week, we reported about an interesting unconfirmed Google update that touched down on Tuesday, December 12th we named the Google Maccabees Update. Since then, I am hearing lots of different rumors about the types of sites this Google update was directed at.
Some are saying this hit affiliate sites, some are saying this was specific to sites with e-commerce like category structures, some are saying it is a bug with the algorithm showing poor quality sites over good quality sites. The rumors are literally all over the place.
It seems to me enough people in our industry are aware of some sites that were impacted, so I am asking you to fill out this form and share those details. I will review them all and see if I can find anything in common with these sites. You can decide to be anonymous or not and you can trust me, I won't share your URL unless you want me to - which would be nice and helpful to others.
So fill out this short survey and have your friends and colleagues do it as well. The more data I can collect, the better of an analysis I can provide.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Update 12/20: Here is my analysis post on this update.
Update at 2pm EST 12/20: Google has confirmed with Search Engine Land that there were some updates aroujnd this time. The statment Google sent was "we released several minor improvements during this timeframe, part of our regular and routine efforts to improve relevancy."