One Link Did It

There was a comment on the previous posting asking, "What happened?" I apologize for not following up and posting the final results. (We're overloaded with work, as usual.)

To summarize. I brought a web site online but had no links going to it. I left it that way for several months. Google did not find it.

I placed one link in a post on this blog. Google almost immediately "found" the web site and placed it in the SERPs. I used a search for the web site name "Be Big On The Web" to determine if Google had found the site. The ranking of the link to the site home page bounced around for about two months, sometimes even disappearing. But by the end of April it was consistently ranking at #2, just under an MSN Lifestyle show called "Big On The Web." I have not made any changes to the web site, nor added any links since then, and it is maintaining its number two ranking for this highly targeted phrase.

The interior pages of the site are included in Google's index.

The site took about three months to show up in Bing. That could be an indication that since Google owns Blogger they directly feed information from Blogger to their search spider. But Bing finds links from this -- very inactive -- blog based on a normal spidering cycle. My conclusion is that, if you want Google to find a page, put a link to it in a Blogger blog.

Helping Google Find Your Web Site - The Results

Yesterday I posted about a new web site we're doing some testing with. This web site had been online for several months, with no links going to it. Google did not find it. Why might Google find it? One possibility arises from Google being a domain registrar. This gives them access to the domain registration database they could use to discover new domains.

Yesterday we added a single link to the web site, coming from yesterday's blog post. Here are the results of a search for the web site's name, Be Big On The Web:

Six hours after the link was added to the blog, the web site appeared at the number three position. It had the page title, but there was no description.

Twelve hours after the link was added the description appeared and the web site was in the number six position.

24 hours after the link was added the site no longer appeared in the Google search results, but a search for the domain showed that it was in Google's index.

We're now at the 30 hour point and I've included a link in this post. So we'll have two links from the same blog. Let's see what happens.

By the way, Bing has also picked up this web site. It is in the Bing index but not showing in a search.

Granite Tile Counters - Blogging

When you have a blog that you are using to help bring traffic to your web site, it is critically important that you make regular posts. A minimum of two posts per week is what I recommend, but that is the minimum. If you want to have people returning to your web site to read your blog, you need to be providing new, informative blog posts. Plus Google loves new, fresh content.

The problem is that writing is hard work. It takes time and a lot of thought to write a good blog post. But if you take the time and put in the effort, it will be worth it.

So what's happening on the granite tile web site?

Orders are coming in and customers are writing back saying how happy they are with their new granite tile counters. The product is outstanding and people really like it. The shipping process is working... which was a big concern because granite tile easily breaks during shipping. Plus the web site has been updated to incorporate various shipping methods in the online granite tile calculator, with the result being that they can charge as little as $49.95 to ship the tile almost anywhere in the U.S. (This may only be good for a limited time, but it makes for incredible savings and a great value for the customer).

So they have everything needed for a great foundation: an outstanding product (with satisfied customers), great delivery, and outstanding value. What else is needed?

For people to know about this. No matter how good your product and the value you offer, if no one hears about it your business will go out of business. That's where regular blogging becomes part of the plan. Provide useful information, about your products or related to your products, making at least two posts per week, will help to bring people back to your web site and build you rankings in Google.

Related Previous Posts
Granite Tile Blog
Granite Tile Web Site
GraniteTile Counters for Kitchens and Bath

Web Site Restored From Google Ban

In March I wrote about one of my web sites that had been banned from Google (911christ.com) . Last week I noticed that it was showing up at #3 in Google's search results. It had been restored.

I use a service called Google Alerts to monitor important keywords. Last week I received a Google Alert that informed me the banned web site was now showing up in Google's search results.

What did I do to get this site unbanned? Not much. Only what I described in my previous post. Using the information in Google Webmaster Tools I had noticed the site was banned. I was also able to determine the most likely cause. I wrote to Google, using the form provided in Webmaster Tools... and then I applied patience.

For three months I did nothing concerning this issue. I did not write to Google again. I did not change anything on the web site. I mostly forgot about this site, other than doing the things I'd normally do. For example, I added some Russian language graphics.

It appears that it takes Google about three months to review and act on a re-inclusion request.

An Easy Way To Get Banned From Google

I regularly use the Google Webmaster Tools. The information they provide is invaluable.

Yesterday I was surprised to see that one of the web sites I manage was listed as being banned by Google! What was going on? I never use black hat SEO. Not only that, the banned site is a very simple web site with essentially no SEO. Why did Google ban such an innocent web site?

A deeper look into the information provided by Google Site Maps revealed the problem.

Going to "Page analysis" under the Statistics Tab revealed that the content Google was seeing was all mortgage and travel related. However, all of the links were Bible related (this is a Christian web site.) Google had determined that there was a significant difference between what Googlebot was seeing and what visitors saw. This is a major violation of Google’s rules and had resulted in the site being banned.

The problem was, I had never put mortgage or travel information on this web site. The web site had been online for about eight months, and it had had Christian content from day one… or did it?

When the domain was registered we were not sure what it would be used for, so the domain was parked at SEDO. This is a service that puts ads on parked domains and splits the income with the domain owners. I have no doubt that many of those ads were travel and mortgage related. But why was Google picking up the SEDO content as being the current content of the web site eight months after unique content had been developed for this site?

When the content for this site was ready we uploaded it to our hosting provider and set up their DNS records to point to the new web site. The result is that browsing to www.911christ.com brings you to the correct web site. However, Google does not look up web sites the same way a browser does. Google remembers the IP address. Google had used the IP address for SEDO; found a SEDO DNS reference for the web site (I had neglected to delete this web site from SEDO); and read the SEDO content. The result is that Google was seeing different content than visitors see and the site was banned.

I have submitted a reinclusion request through Google’s Webmaster Tools and, of course, deleted this web site from SEDO. So now we’ll see how the reinclusion process goes.