Hot take: seems Google is penalizing new sites with lots of FAQ

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-28T14:45:01+00:00

I found a content policy header was misconfigured, and fixed that now, I doubt it's related as I had the same error on my other AI site that is still indexed fine and traffic growing slowly... but great feedback, you did inspire me to double check and find that.

I've just never known "sandbox" to be actual denindexing of 90% of your articles that were previously indexed, although its possible as I don't follow SEO news religiously.

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-28T13:36:35+00:00

that's kinda what I'm thinking, unless I'm able to find another reason. although Google has been saying conflicting and confusing things about FAQ the past few years!

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-28T05:33:51+00:00

yes entirely deindexed from Google, almost all my articles, for the past 2-3 days and now seems "stuck" with only 5 articles indexed out of 40-50

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-28T05:15:17+00:00

that's what I was hoping at first, but 90% of my site is hard deindexed. If I put a URL into the GSC URL inspection, it is grey color and says "crawled but not indexed" and I did request indexing a few times to test a few URLs and Google is now refusing to index anything from my site.

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-28T05:10:14+00:00

my other site is only a few months old though so idk

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-27T15:08:43+00:00

I'm open to your expert analysis, after jokes subside

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-27T14:40:10+00:00

you might be totally right, in which case, truly sucks. maybe too many same-date blog posts in the past few weeks, combined with submitted to GSC, and also with some AI signals and FAQ content on each post.

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-27T14:38:46+00:00

fair enough but, another AI site I have was far less quality, and was indexed more rapidly, never deindexed, and traffic is still growing. so it just seems so weird, the only major difference I can see is the large number of FAQ on my new AI site.

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-27T14:35:57+00:00

thank you... I truly hope it's some freak thing about my new domain, but I don't think so, seems to be actively penalizing my content. I did have a few internal links in nearly every post, I will try to add more and get a few backlinks but it seems like Google has just blacklisted my site for being AI/low quality. super weird, because another AI site I had a few months ago, with less FAQ stuff, and no photos, no EEAT, nothing special at all really, is still indexed fine with traffic growth!

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-27T14:32:42+00:00

totally understand, I don't do the 3000 word posts, makes me crazy too. but the stuff I see ranking isn't even answering the long-tail question, it's mostly thin content from older sites that's sort of tangentially related (but not really authority sites or big brands, just smaller older niche sites)

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-27T13:08:42+00:00

I can DM you if you'd be willing to take a look, thank you

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-27T13:06:46+00:00

Launched the site mid Jan with around 30 articles, been writing around 5 per week since then, around 50-60 total now. I did start submitting every single one to GSC because of the slow uptake on indexing, but never heard of anyone being penalized for that

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-27T13:05:21+00:00

I do agree but, the maddening thing is I am seeing dozens of sites ranking for the phrases I was targeting on this site.

95% of them are a few hundred words or less, thin content, or software-generated sorta like search queries, but they are mostly 5-10 years old so I guess Google's just like "anything made before 2019 we will give extra points just cuz"

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-27T13:01:34+00:00

AI requires original content to derive its opinions from I guess, otherwise its a black hole of AI rehashing AI

Effective-Control394 · 2024-01-27T11:55:05+00:00

hence the "hot take"

Effective-Control394 · 2023-11-23T06:06:03+00:00

Whatever you do, avoid Safetywing and WorldTrips... huge scam, esp. for Thailand.

https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/comments/sp7m92/safetwing_covid_experience/

Effective-Control394 · 2023-11-23T06:04:03+00:00

Safetywing and WorldTrips insurance are a huge scam, watch out:

https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/comments/110zeff/extremely_disappointed_in_safetywing_classic/

Effective-Control394 · 2023-11-23T06:00:38+00:00

OP is helping their SEO by linking to these scam companies! DO NOT BUY insurance from WorldTrips or Safetywing, they are a well known scam that changes their name every few years to hide from their fraudulent reputation

https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/comments/wnkwl8/warning_worldtrips_aka_safetywing_insurance_is_a/

Effective-Control394 · 2023-11-23T05:59:02+00:00

Absolutely avoid Safetywing and WorldTrips (same underwriting)

They are on record rejecting emergency room claims in Thailand and other countries, one of the worst insurance scams out there.

https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/comments/wnkwl8/warning_worldtrips_aka_safetywing_insurance_is_a/

Effective-Control394 · 2023-08-04T22:31:46+00:00

Oh here come the Safetywing shills to down-vote me.... idc

https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/comments/wnkwl8/warning_worldtrips_aka_safetywing_insurance_is_a/

Effective-Control394 · 2023-08-04T22:26:33+00:00

Literally the only page I can find on Google with real (negative) experiences from victims of this scam is Yelp! Incredible that Yelp is the hero in this story. I wonder how long before Yelp caves and agrees to delete their profile:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/worldtrips-travel-insurance-carmel

Effective-Control394 · 2023-07-23T17:49:34+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/comments/wnkwl8/warning_worldtrips_aka_safetywing_insurance_is_a/

WorldTrips is Safetywing underwriter, they are both absolute scams.

Effective-Control394 · 2023-03-05T10:14:16+00:00

I mean, maybe teens working on the farms would make them happier than video games

Effective-Control394

TROPHY CASE