Google does not like us
 

I found something interesting today. I was coming to the website at work which I almost never do, so I don't have it bookmarked. So I just went to Google and typed in "Parker Gun collectors Association".

Google almost seems to be intentionally leading people away from our website. On page 1 the first entry says "parker gun collectors association", but the link is www.parkergun.org, which of course is not correct.

I went through the next 10 pages and no direct link to our site.

Weird isn't it?

Yep - I block Google for a while to this forum, as they were trying to search on "real names"? Why - I have absolutely no idea? So - last week, I updated the search parameters for Google "search bots", and it will probably take some time to have it re-appear.

Before I kicked them "out" - we were rated #1 for most years. But - come to think of it - I'm pretty sure those who want to find us, can do so pretty easily - if they haven't found us already? And given the site stats and number of users - that's a LOT of folks ;)

Anyway - thanks for posting this!

John

I have all kinds of trouble with it but I have found a way around those problems pretty quickly and easily

I click on the blank tab at the top of the page and simply type Google into the address space provided and then when GOOGLE comes up just type anything in there and you will see familiar websites.






.

i just use Bing to search


i seem to find what i want quicker than with google

I did not block BING - so if you type "Parker Guns", we should be ranked in the top one or two...?.?

John

Seems I remember years ago googling PCGA and I got the Pennsylvania Gun Collectors Assoc as my first choice.

As I said typically I am accessing on my phone or iPad so never have to do a search for PGCA

Richard, Pennsylvania Gun Collectors Association has been around a lot longer than we have and probably has many more hits than we have on google. I have spent many pleasant weekends at their shows, including a wonderful early Parker Gun Collectors Association meeting.

Gentlemen:
I was intrigued by this thread. So, I went to Google. I searched for Parker Gun Collectors Association. It came up at the top of the results, but with this info:

"A description for this result is not available because of this site's robots.txt"

So, I clicked on the PGCA link. I didn't get PGCA. I got the FN firearms home page !!

Maybe Google REALLY hates us. Or... is REALLY screwed up.

Either way, I believe someone in authority should iron this out for the good of the association.

I use DuckDuckGo to search many things and when I entered Parkerguns this site showed up on the top of the listings. It supposedly does'nt track you like Google does.

"A description for this result is not available because of this site's robots.txt"

robots.txt is how John blocked Google from crawling the forum. The www.parkergun.org is not us, no "s". Why Google sends that to the FN site on top of it? who knows, lol. I am sure we will start showing up again proper soon enough now that John has made changes. It takes time as he noted.

Thank you Eric..!

Right on target....

My thanks!

John

John, et al:
ONE more important thing:
It may our may not occur with others, but during the same link that took me to FN, I was interrupted by the occasional "Update your Flash Player" notice. It looked totally legit, so foolishly, I clicked on it. WRONG.

This opened the door to some piggybacked/diguised malware called "MacMechanic" that screwed with my iMac big time. Every start up included a screen for this monster. Even if I clicked "no thanks" it would NEVER go away. It was impossible to drag it to the trash.

I then called their 24 hr service number to get rid to it. It was some woman in Singapore. I know. I asked. She wanted remote access to my Mac to help. NOOOOO!

After wishing her an untimely death, I contacted the REAL people at Apple. 30 minutes later they helped me dump the malware and get my Mac back to the real world.

Moral of the story: DON'T click on any Google link for PGCA !!!

Actually - *Moral Of The Story* should actually be.. Don't click on ANY link - whether Google, in-email, from any search provider, or any other source - unless you are sure where it goes.

John

Saw this thread today--it saved me $100 which is what a visit from my computer guy charges to come to the house to fix a glitz. Dealing with the "robot" stuff is beyond my pay grade. I would not have been happy to spend the money and then find out it was an internal change.

I had exactly the same experience this morning, except that I was at my home computer and I am usually at my work computer when I go to this site. I use Bing on my work PC and it finds this site as the number one option.

When I tried Google this morning, it did not want to find the site. Very strange, but I have tried to avoid Google as much as possible. They've irked me once too often and this is just one more reason to avoid them as far as I am concerned.

Ain't that the truth! Microsoft Edge had issues this morning so I was using my old Firefox browser with nothing bookmarked. Like to never got here, even after I put in parkerguns,org! Finally added www and found it.

I did the google thing a couple of days ago and we were not listed. Still goes to the FN site. I can only get to the site through a bookmark for some strange reason. At least that still works.

I just switched from AT&T to Verizon. On my new phone I cannot get to our web site. With AT&T it always came right up. Both are Google. ??? Right now I am using my home computer and Google. No problem???