[familyop]

"I am talking here about outgoing traffic. When FreeRepublic links to other Web sites, does Google keep proper track of the traffic those Web sites are receiving from FreeRepublic?

Our experience suggests that it does not -- at least not in all cases. "

That would depend on how the webmasters for those sites try to get traffic. Hidden keywords and/or other violations will cause many or all of their hits to be voided. "Professional" website traffic "experts" are notorious for getting initial floods for their clients' sites, only to their customers penalized by search engines soon after.

Reputable search engine companies have their policies on search engine optimizations in their on-site documents for that.

[Richard Poe]

familyop writes: That would depend on how the webmasters for those sites try to get traffic. Hidden keywords and/or other violations will cause many or all of their hits to be voided. "Professional" website traffic "experts" are notorious for getting initial floods for their clients' sites, only to have their customers penalized by search engines soon after.

As my article notes, I am the designer of the Web site in question. I would not know how to game the system in the manner you describe, even if I wished to do so (and I certainly do not!).

You appear to be implying that Google may be legitimately penalizing us for some wrongdoing on our part. If that is your point, it is unwarranted.

The situation is exactly as my article describes. A Freeper named Sioux-san innocently posted one of Dr. Yeagley's articles on FreeRepublic. At least 326 Freepers responded by viewing Dr. Yeagley's page through the link Sioux-san provided

WordPress Stats and Site Meter duly and properly recorded the traffic surge from FreeRepublic. Google Analytics did not.