Strange Google

[Clinton]

Found something odd. Maybe someone can shed some light.

I was quoted in an article published on Forbes.com yesterday.

Just to check whether Google had crawled that article I took a little snippet of text from the article and stuck it in Google. The search was for the following, in quotes: "end of the deal. However, unlike a full "

And I discovered that the article appeared as the only result in Google for that search.

I accidentally did the same search again today and ended up with this:

Yeah, the only result in some cr*p site that nicks content from well known publications! The original article has disappeared and copyright thief is now the only result for that search term. It looks like Google has figured that Forbes is the copycat!

If it can happen to Forbes (DA = 97, FWIW), it could happen to any of us, couldn't it?

Any suggestions on what's going on here?

 

[Krystsina]

I'm not an expert in it, but I just put the same text as you in Google search, and I see both websites: Forbes and this "chodong" one.

 

[Clinton]

Thanks for checking.

That makes it even stranger. Thinking that it was maybe my IP I just used TOR to access Google.com from Stockholm and Istill get just that one site in the results.

 

[UKSBD]

Results always fluctuate like this for a few days, especially on deep internal pages.
It will probably be back soon.
Mind you, the way they have messed up the character encoding won't help, was it in quotation marks? if not Forbes have a BOM in front

Edit: there was probably a space or BOM in front of the article - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9691771/why-is-65279-appearing-in-my-html

 

[Nochexman]

I'm not an expert in it, but I just put the same text as you in Google search, and I see both websites: Forbes and this "chodong" one.

Me too.

 

[fisicx]

I only see the chodong result.

I can't even access the forbes article - I can't get past the welcome page. Maybe that's why Gooole gives preference to chodong.

 

[webgeek]

I only see this UKBF thread and then the chodong result

 

[UKSBD]

I see forbes at number 1 (indexed and cached now too).

 

[Clinton]

Thanks, yes. It still has the BOM problem but it's appearing at #1 for me too.

Very odd. It was there, then it disappeared only to be replaced with a copy from a low ranked site. Then it came back again.

Maybe it was the BOM that messed Google up and caused this behaviour.

 

[UKSBD]

Also strange that it is the AMP page showing in the cache, which now has the canonical pointing back to the correct page (without the BOM).

 

[odhran]

I tried to search the same words that you type and I see two result i.e., forbes and UBF.

 

[Amit Shah]

Two possibilities
1. That is catch issues.
2. Google shows variation in search result by various factors like sign in, local ip, visited website etc.

 

[justinaldridge]

Looks like UKBF now outranks Forbes!

 

[UKSBD]

Looks like UKBF now outranks Forbes!

Forbes messed up the URL encoding

 

[RedundancyClaim]

I can see links to forbes and this thread - nice article BTW.

 

[Clinton]

Thanks, but I must point out that I'm not the author

I did write for UKBF's sister publication last week on this topic of private equity. My article attempts to explain what type of businesses are targets for PE acquisition. Bore yourself to death here.

 

[lisa benner]

super strange, i see only forbes

 

[webgeek]

now i'm seeing ukbf 1, forbes 2 and the other forum you posted on 3

 

[Clinton]

Thanks for monitoring this.

BTW, I didn't post in any other forums. What you're seeing is thanks to UKBF threads being scraped and reproduced elsewhere!

 

[Nochexman]

Just took another peek: 1) forbes; 2) ukbf; 3) http://internet.forumsee.com/a/m/s/p12-14232-0222739--strange-google.html

Chodong has gone!

I wonder if Google operates on some random basis.

 

[billmccallum1957]

Selling Your Business To A Private Equity Group Is Not For Everyone ...[/paste:font]
www.forbes.com/.../selling-your-business-to-a-private-equity-group-is-not-for-everyo...

1. Cached

1 Nov 2016 - ... the one negative transaction was the result of a seller not holding up their end of the deal. However, unlike a full exit in a traditional business ...
Strange Google | UK Business Forums
www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk › ... › Technology › SEO, PPC and Online Marketing

1. Cached

15 Nov 2016 - 19 posts - ‎11 authors
The search was for the following, in quotes: "end of the deal. However, unlike a full " And I discovered that the article appeared as the only ...
Strange Google - Discussions about Internet Marketing - Forumsee
internet.forumsee.com/a/m/s/p12-14232-0222739--strange-google.html

1. Cached

2 Nov 2016 - The search was for the following, in quotes: "end of the deal. However, unlike a full " And I discovered that the article appeared as the only ...

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In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 3 already displayed.
If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.

 

[StevePoster]

"end of the deal. However, unlike a full "

The results are consistent number 1 forbes and number 2 is ukbusinessforums but using other IP (USA) 3 results only and same as above as well as in addition number 3 is internetforumsee.com