Here is something I never thought I would be doing, posting an open letter to Google and to Matt Cutts that essentially begs them to look at what is happening to Gear Diary as a direct result of their Panda and Penguin algorithms; and yet, here we are. If it is happening to us, then I know it is happening to others; even though I am mortified about airing our private business in public, I respectfully submit:

Hello Google,

We have been battling Panda since November. My site is not a scraper or spam site; we are a legitimate producer of original reviews and news.

We do not violate Google’s terms of service, we do not sell links, and we have never used or hired an SEO company.

I found out today that in many cases our site is not even showing up in Google’s search requests, but the scraper sites that are stealing our original content are.

I did a search for several recent posts by their titles, and we don’t even show up; the aggregator/scraper site Tech Investor News did.

Here are just a few examples of what I am talking about …

Our post:

https://geardiary.com/2013/06/04/nokia-lumia-928-windows-phone-music-controls-little-features-make-a-big-difference/

Their post (which includes a link to us as the original source and a hotlinked picture from our site):

http://www.techinvestornews.com/Mobile/Mobile-Bloggers/nokia-lumia-928-windows-phone-music-controls-little-features-make-a-big-dif

When you do a search for the exact title of our post, we do not show — the scraper site does:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Nokia+Lumia+928+Windows+Phone+Music+Controls+%E2%80%93+Little+Features

Here is another example …

Our post:

https://geardiary.com/2013/06/04/goji-smart-lock-makes-other-locks-looks-stupid/

Their post (which includes a link to us as the original source and a hotlinked picture from our site):

http://www.techinvestornews.com/Gadgets/Latest-Gadget-News/goji-smart-lock-makes-other-locks-looks-stupid

When you do a search for the exact title of our post, we do not show — the scraper site does:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Goji+Smart+Lock+Makes+Other+Locks+Look+Stupid&oq=Goji

And one more as an example …

Our original content:

https://geardiary.com/2013/06/04/eton-rukus-xl-brings-22w-of-power-for-non-stop-fun-in-the-sun/

Their post (which includes a link to us as the original source and a hotlinked picture from our site):

http://www.techinvestornews.com/Gadgets/Latest-Gadget-News/etn-rukus-xl-brings-22w-of-power-for-non-stop-fun-in-the-sun

When you do a search for the exact title of our post, we show well below the scraper site:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Et%C3%B3n+rukus+XL+Brings+22W+of+Power+for+Non-Stop

Please Google, consider the hours and tireless work that my staff and I have put into Gear Diary.

Our traffic has been severely fractioned by Panda since November last year. Seeing scraper sites listed with our work, when we don’t even show up in the search results for our exact title, is more than disheartening, it is devastating.

It is only because of our loyal readers that we are still hanging on, but rather than getting 10K+ unique visitors a day as we did pre-November, we now get around 3K, and we are fighting not to lose them. We will never be able to grow and thrive as we once did, unless you intervene and make this right.

So I am asking, no I’m *begging* for your help and guidance. What can we do — or what can you do — to help us make it so that our legitimate posts benefit and are searchable and those STEALING our content do not get the benefit? Please advise.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

Judie Stanford

Editor in Chief

www.geardiary.com

I have submitted this email to Google tonight via their webform, which says we can expect to wait up to several weeks for an answer. In several more weeks, I can only wonder how much further our views will have eroded.

Update: Through the filing of multiple DMCA violation notices, I have managed to get our content removed from TechInvestorNews and a few other scraper sites. Our organic search is still pitiful, but at least we aren’t being pushed out of the search results for our exact titles by scrapers … for now.