Does Today’s 4-24-12 Google Algorithm Changes Need Fixing?

I have no idea if anyone is even subscribed to this blog anymore – it has been about 3 years since my last entry. But, with today’s (4/24/12) seemingly shoddy Google algorithm changes, I just had to test it out.

The main reason is because with the recent Google search update, many extremely low-quality Blogspot.com blogs  are now ranking at the top of the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) effortlessly. So I wanted to see how WordPress.com blogs do too.

I’m wondering if perhaps they’re are getting a good, undeserved boost from Blogspot’s domain authority, and if Google hard-coded the algorithm similar to the way they did with Youtube last year.

Or if something else is going on.

Other than the fact that blogspot.com is Google property( also known as blogger.com), WordPress and Blogspot are third-party weblog platforms that allow users to create their own blog as a subdomain.

I wouldn’t think Google would pass along much, if any, domain authority from the root domain to each individual subdomain; but by looking at the boost Blogspot blogs seemed to get across the board today, it would seem something like that happened.

What do you think about today’s major algo change?

Notice many terribly undeserved ranking increases and decreases like I have?

This is My Final Blog Post Here!

Well, I have started so many blogs over the years. Some last a few months and some a few years. I think this was my very first blog. It was fun, but not necessary anymore. I’m now mostly blogging about SEO at www.SEOrankings.com.

This blog still gets some search traffic and does have answers to some important questions, so I’ll still check in from time to time, and respond to comments when I can. Beyond that I will no longer be doing new blog posts. Thanks for following, and I hope you’ll continue to follow me over at SEOrankings.com.

Joomla 1.5.8 Released

On November 10th, 2008 Joomla 1.5.8 [Wohnaiki] was released. This release contains a number of bug fixes and two moderate-level security fixes.  Two moderate-level security issues were fixed in this release: Default filtering for content & Filtering for Web Link descriptions. For more information visit: http://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5219-joomla-158-released.html

Destination Based Sales Tax – Virtuemart doesn’t support it!

While I appreciate all of the work the guys at Virtuemart have done over the years, their shopping cart product still does not support one the Internets most recent must have items – Destination-based sales tax based on local zip code + 4.  I have been working on a website for a company in Washington using Joomla 1.5.x and Virtuemart 1.1.x.  Unfortunately I was almost finished the site, just for a new law to go into affect, which affects many States now, and that is the new Destination-based sales tax law.  This has thrown a major glitch into our time lines and development.  Now my company has taken a huge financial hit because Virtuemart does not support this, nor do they seem interested in building this feature into the site any time soon.  There isn’t much help or any relevant contributions in the Virtuemart forums either.  There have been a few suggestions for older versions of Joomla/Virtuemart and you can find one here: http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=22809.0, however nothing real solid for newer versions.  This post is just an FYI for anyone looking to use Virtuemart, as they don’t support this extremely important feature.

Joomla 1.5.6 High Risk Security Issue Fix Released August 12th

On August 26th, 2008 – Joomla 1.5.6 [Vusani] was released. This is a quick turnaround security release to address a high level security issue and it is recommended all users upgrade immediately.  Release notes: SECURITY [HIGH] Fixed security hole in reset logic to check for proper token length. For more information: http://developer.joomla.org/security/news/241-20080801-core-password-remind-functionality.html

Joomla! 1.5.5 Released – Monday, 28 July 2008

The Joomla! community released Joomla! 1.5.5 [Mamni] on Monday July 28th 2008. This is a quick turnaround release to address the Duplicate Title error from 1.5.4 . This release also contains important SEF URL improvements and fixes for com_content in addition to a number of bug fixes and improvements.

I just noticed Joomla 1.5.4 was released earlier this month

Joomla! 1.5.4 [Naiki] is a normal maintenance release which includes a few low to moderate security issues, many bug fixes, and several very nice improvements. It has been a little over ten weeks since Joomla! 1.5.3 was released on April 24, 2008. The Development Working Group’s goal is to continue to provide regular, frequent updates to the Joomla! community containing the latest bug fixes and minor enhancements.

So far I have really enjoyed working with Joomla version 1.5.x.  I’ve been integrating that with the Virtuemart shopping cart.  I think the guys at Virtuemart are doing a fantastic job, however there are many code tweaks that need to be made before you are able to realistically send any customers to your store.  Most of them are pretty small, but hopefully they will be fixed in near-future Virtuemart releases.  They seem so basic an obvious to me….