Comments on: Did Google Just Penalize Its Own $100M Investment? The Thumbtack Case Study + 6 Day Recovery Update

By: Andrew Mather

Andrew Mather — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 15:50:04 +0000

Excellent article, and intriguing to see analysis put to good use. Although I found the page when looking for some assessment of Thumbtack’s credibility, it actually became a pleasure to read as an example of looking at what the data tell you, not what the public perception is. That was particularly intriguing having done a similar exercise in UK accident statistics.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 02:32:13 +0000

I enjoyed your article and here are some issues with examples that bother me.

Thumbtack has been known to use deceptive link descriptions, like business names, then send leads to their competitors. Do a Google search for by business name or discipline, read the content of the Thumbtack link and if the Thumbtack link does not go to a webpage that is the same as the description, then someone should report Thumbtack for rich snippet spam. For example, if you click on the link and it goes to a page that says, “Enter your zip code”, this is a violation of Google quality search terms. It only takes a minute to report the link and will help businesses and protect consumers.

Examples
This link does not go to a page with Maineway Trucking on it.

10 Best Lawn Care Services in Auburn, ME – Thumbtack
https://www.thumbtack.com/me/auburn/lawn-care/
Thumbtack
Naples, ME · Maineway Trucking & Moving. This local company provides general property maintenance, driveway grading, snow removal, lawn care, minor …

I am going to have to check the major newspapers for these:

10 Best Lawn Care Services in Rochester, NY – Thumbtack
https://www.thumbtack.com/ny/rochester/lawn-care/
Thumbtack
Jun 13, 2015 – Here is the definitive list of Rochester’s lawn care services as rated by the USA Today Wallstreet Journal Washingon Post.

Tell those you know about this reporting link.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/contact/rich_snippets_spam

By: Shark Web

Shark Web — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 14:06:02 +0000

Exactly. It would be hard to believe they did not get help of any kind from Google itself.

By: Manuele C.

Manuele C. — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 07:22:12 +0000

In this case I totally agree with you. Clear analysis, and correct the penalization.

By: Razvan Gavrilas

Razvan Gavrilas — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 11:09:41 +0000

6 days. they are up already…

By: Razvan Gavrilas

Razvan Gavrilas — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 11:09:18 +0000

6 days recovery. they are up.

By: Razvan Gavrilas

Razvan Gavrilas — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 11:09:00 +0000

and they recovered in 6 days. this makes me ask how many normal business see such a recovery.

By: Razvan Gavrilas

Razvan Gavrilas — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 11:08:12 +0000

just updated the blog post. the penalty took only 6 days. their recovery can already be seen. kind of shady …

By: Cathy Mayhue

Cathy Mayhue — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 09:54:38 +0000

This shows that Google is very fair and unforgiving when it comes to punishing the spam.

By: Glenn D. Bearsky

Glenn D. Bearsky — Sat, 13 Jun 2015 08:10:20 +0000

Interesting to observe, but I don’t know that *any* of it’s *meangingful* to vast majority of us. Given their relationship with Google, and the very public way ThumbTack was ‘outed’, this is an EDGE CASE where normal rules won’t apply.

Boo-hoo. They still rank for EIGHTY THOUSAND keywords in the Top-20 of SERPS according to SEMRush. [Any Business Service] in [Insert City Here]. Still getting 300,000+ visitors a day.

For the rest of us reading this, we’d lose 80% to 100% of our Google traffic and be run out of business before we’d ever possibly, slowly recover.

Who wants to bet ThumbTack will back to ‘normal’ before years end? I do. A little slap on the wrist, some time in the corner with a dunce hat, and they’ll be back to a half million visitors a day after their temporary shaming.