ATS getting much lower Google search rankings?

I just searched it for ATS Above TopSecret....and the whole 1st pg are ATS hits so....

*Yes, at GOOGLE

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
I just searched it for ATS Above TopSecret....and the whole 1st pg are ATS hits so....

My impression is that it used to be the case that searching for things like "UFO foia documents" or "UFO rendlesham penniston" etc would result in ATS hits on the first page of search results. Now, even searching for words in titles of ATS threads tends to bring up lots of other results before anything from ATS.

Limiting your search to specifically "ATS" or "AboveTopSecret" is, well, not exactly a good test of how well _content_ on AboveTopSecret is ranked by Google or other search engines.



It seems from the other posts in this thread that several other members share the same subjective impression that ATS search results are ranking lower now than a few years ago (at least using Google).

I'm still curious whether there is some sort of _objective_ (and ideally _quantitative_) measure of the ranking of ATS in search results over the years - and any indication that such tools can give of the reasons for any change.

originally posted by: IsaacKoi

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
I just searched it for ATS Above TopSecret....and the whole 1st pg are ATS hits so....

My impression is that it used to be the case that searching for things like "UFO foia documents" or "UFO rendlesham penniston" etc would result in ATS hits on the first page of search results. Now, even searching for words in titles of ATS threads tends to bring up lots of other results before anything from ATS.

Limiting your search to specifically "ATS" or "AboveTopSecret" is, well, not exactly a good test of how well _content_ on AboveTopSecret is ranked by Google or other search engines.

It seems from the other posts in this thread that several other members share the same subjective impression that ATS search results are ranking lower now than a few years ago (at least using Google).

I'm still curious whether there is some sort of _objective_ (and ideally _quantitative_) measure of the ranking of ATS in search results over the years - and any indication that such tools can give of the reasons for any change.

'G'day. I believe we've diversified into multiple topics covered and speculated upon...there are way too many...

If I...right now...posted something on a blog...it would hit pg 1 on Google...and I've tested it.

Who knows? I do know changing your wording...bring the ranking Stats up ie: UFOs/ATS...or etc etc...def not like it used to be

originally posted by: IsaacKoi

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
I just searched it for ATS Above TopSecret....and the whole 1st pg are ATS hits so....

My impression is that it used to be the case that searching for things like "UFO foia documents" or "UFO rendlesham penniston" etc would result in ATS hits on the first page of search results. Now, even searching for words in titles of ATS threads tends to bring up lots of other results before anything from ATS.

Limiting your search to specifically "ATS" or "AboveTopSecret" is, well, not exactly a good test of how well _content_ on AboveTopSecret is ranked by Google or other search engines.

It seems from the other posts in this thread that several other members share the same subjective impression that ATS search results are ranking lower now than a few years ago (at least using Google).

I'm still curious whether there is some sort of _objective_ (and ideally _quantitative_) measure of the ranking of ATS in search results over the years - and any indication that such tools can give of the reasons for any change.

I found ATS years ago (several, was still in school) by searching random things.

The answer is simple, if youve been on ATS for any reasonable amount of time then surely youve notice a severe decline in the quality of content posted here.

That decline in qaulity is likely the biggest reason for lost rankings.

The regular news has turned into non-stop paranormal paranoid conspiracies so there's no need to come to a site like this.

I used to post here a decade ago under another name. (I honestly haven't even figured out what is was yet, when I do I may try and log back in lol). ATS did appear better in search rankings back then, significantly so...but.....

Imma play devils advocate here.

1. Forums no longer are given a high rank by google. Unless you are directly looking for a forum the algorithm prefers content such as Wordpress driven sites.

2. Their are significantly more resources on the internet for related content. ATS is built in a format Google is not interested in promoting (a forum), and now their is significant competition from other sources.

So yeah, ATS is just not gonna show up in google searches unless someone is directly looking for it. So the site no longer receives incidental hits from related topics do to expanded competition.

I some times use Google to find the website. I'm dyslexic and it's easier for me to type "ATS forums" in Google than it is to type out the full URL "www.abovetopsecret.com" in the browser address bar.

Have been doing this for years and the sight would always come up as the top sight in the Google search engine.

A few months ago that changed and now it comes up second or third.

ATS has been on the decline since Facespace became a thing.

That, and "devices" instead of real computers.

originally posted by: Phage
ATS has been on the decline since Facespace became a thing.

I'm sure that Facebook (and, urgh, Twitter...) have affected the level of use of ATS by members and potential members - but most of the Google search results that now appear to rate higher than ATS are not Facebook results.

Perhaps discussion forums generally are rather lower by Google these days, given the amount of use of Facebook?

Mmm. I wonder if other discussion forums (whether UFO ones or those for non-UFO hobbies) now also rate lower in Google search results than in the past??

If so, I presume nothing much could be done to improve the situation.

I had hoped that perhaps ATS is being "punished" by Google for some technical/advertising issue that could be addresed.

originally posted by: The2Billies
FYI, don't use Google!

I use duckduckgo

That's only useful advice if duckduckgo gives higher rankings to ATS under the criteria that IsaacKoi stated.

The political rhetoric helped ATS get there!

Google highly censors certain political content from SERPs, unless of course it's mainstream,
but once you throw conspiracy theories into the political mix, bye bye visibility, you've just been labeled.

Not to mention, I haven't done any type of audit, but we're using http protocols still, and if that's the case, I'm sure some other SEO factors aren't being considered, it's a fulltime job SEO is, and one that needs a certain level of skill to do right.

They got xml sitemap, h1s and user traffic, but they don't have any "focus" enough anymore to get the kind of searches you'd think against others in the already saturated political and ufo sphere.

I'll see some here an there, but SEO is about creating a focus of content attention, and that actually help searchbots use that as a guide to further relate other user searches to the content.

Google recently shifted from keyword search focused to user intent search focused, so you now have all this random content, competing with user intent rather then just keywords. And as a longtime member, our user intent is all political crap now.

I rarely use ATS now, because it's mostly political articles that are harder to sift through than the good stuff I once loved. If I the user see that, certain searchbots have, an thus why it's harder to rank for searched terms higher up, without a real focus on content. It's not even political conspiracy theories anymore, it's just political banter, I can hear on an actual debate on TV.

Google knows this, and accounts for it, so changes would be needed, to turn things around, currently Google has about 377k ATS pages indexed ( rough count ), when I'm sure there's way more.

Not to say if you get specific enough you won't find ATS pages, but you won't find them anywhere visible too often now, with the algorithms the way they are.

It is the Q thread. There’s so much information On that thread that the deep state doesn’t want out they must censor it. Google is one of the deep state players

I tried googling a couple of specific thread titles on ATS. For google it wasn't even on the first three pages, whereas yahoo it was on the first page top 3 listing. My guess would be google might be demoting ATS on the search rankings because it is right-wing leaning.

originally posted by: DetectiveT
Throughout history apparitions have been said to appear as a manifestation of the plague.

Could you post some links? That is exactly the kind of research I've been getting into lately.