I’m experiencing a strange issue with my game, (Zombie Outbreak). Despite having over 14.5M visits, my game doesn’t appear when I search for “Zombie” or related terms on the Roblox search engine. The only time it shows up is when I search for the exact name, “Zombie Outbreak.” I’ve scrolled through the search results multiple times, all the way down to games with only a few hundred visits or none at all, and I never see my game. Before, I would always check to see where my game ranked in the search, and it would pop up somewhere, but now it doesn’t show up at all.
EXAMPLE OF HOW FAR I SCROLL AND NEVER FIND MY GAME:
UPDATE:
Hundreds of games copied my game icon and thumbnail, game title, and description. My game no longer shows up in the search bar. I believe I was targeted by someone. These are all games with no visits for the most part and the “owners” are perm banned from the few profiles I saw. This is really impacting my game. I have 14.5m+ visits and my game never shows up now I use to be on the second row when one would search up “zombie”; now you have to type in the exact name for it to come up. Otherwise it will never show doesn’t matter if you scroll for 20+ minutes. These are only some of the games I could find, there are WAY MORE. Kind of overwhelming reporting each one individually. I’ve included 100+ links in the comments. Originally I thought it was a bug, but after reviewing HUNDREDS OF GAMES they all copied my game title, description, icon, thumbnails; and most are banned users. So why are the games still up. I’ve been shadow banned by the algorithm.
Additionally, I’ve noticed that several games with no players are using my game’s icon, and I’m worried that these copied games could be affecting the search visibility of my game. For example, the game Zombie Outbreak Survival (Zombie Outbreak Survival - Roblox) copied my game’s name and there are many others who have copied my game icon, and it has zero players, but still shows up in search results. My game has had the same name for years, and mine existed before this game was released, yet it still appears higher in search despite having no players and only 100k visits. This has me concerned that games with similar names and icons are interfering with my game’s search ranking.
UPDATE 2: DMCA reporting is NOT WORKING, 99% OF THE REQUESTS WERE DENIED. My game has existed longer than any of these games. So I’m not sure why it is saying “It appears that the item you reported has been uploaded prior to the upload of your creation.”
UPDATE 3: If you follow any of the links I provided at the bottom and play the game it teleports you to a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GAME. I just tried 2 different places and it took me to 2 different games which were all rated very poorly.
Expected behavior
I expect my game, Zombie Outbreak, to appear in search results when searching for relevant terms like “Zombie” or “Zombies”. Since my game has been around for years and has over 14.5M visits, I would expect it to show up in the search rankings, especially ahead of similar games with fewer visits and no players. My expectation is that the search engine would correctly prioritize my game based on its popularity, visits, and active player base, and not be overshadowed by copycat games with similar names and icons.
