You Can't Outsmart Google - How I Fell Foul of the Giant

I'd love to be able to tell you that I'm a internet guru and that I never make mistakes but, alas, I cannot. Sorry to shatter your illusions.

This week I made a rather silly mistake. In hindsight it was always going to go wrong, but I didn't think about that at the time - I was too caught up in the excitement.

In this post I'm going to show you how to avoid making the same mistake, and also how to fix it should you ever find yourself in a similar situation. The mistake? Falling foul of Google's quality guidelines and having a site removed from their index (almost as quickly as I got it in there in the first place)!

Earlier this week I discussed the benefits of an exact match domain name, and later reported back to declare the experiment a success. I needn't reveal the full story here, but I will so that you can learn from it.

Having a site removed from Google's index!

Today I noticed that the exact match domain I'd been experimenting with wasn't turning up in the search results any longer. I confirmed this with a sneaky little trick... If you want to find out which pages of a site are in Google's index, do a Google search for "site:yoursite.com", for example "site:onlinebusinessconsultant.co.uk". The site definitely wasn't there.

I then dived straight into the Google Webmaster Tools to try and work out what was going on. Google has published some guidelines which, if you build sites, you'd do well to read. In here I found out about something they call 'doorway pages'. I'd never heard of these before, though arguably I should have! BANG goes my guru status. Google defines doorway pages as follows:

Doorway pages are typically large sets of poor-quality pages where each page is optimized for a specific keyword or phrase. In many cases, doorway pages are written to rank for a particular phrase and then funnel users to a single destination.

Indeed - the exact match domain was definitely one of these. Shame on me. Now it's really important to point out that the problem is not with exact match domains. The problem is when they're used as described above. Google doesn't take kindly to being manipulated.

How to fix a doorway page...

So this is a little premature as I haven't actually fixed the problem yet, but essentially you need to turn the doorway page into one that that provides original content. Once this has been done, you can then request that Google reconsider your site. The request form is here.

There's nothing wrong with using exact match domain names (especially if it is for your core site). But if the point of them is to funnel traffic to your core site, then unless they provide original content, you're effectively creating doorway pages. You'll probably get away with it if you don't overdo it - and trust me, it isn't worth the hassle. Getting back in the index can take some time!
 

How to get on Page 1 of Google - The Benefits of Exact Match Domain Names

In my last post I advised to choose your domain name carefully, stating "unless you have a well-known brand ... it is highly advantageous to purchase a domain name that contains keywords people are searching for". Today, I'll show you how to take that one stage further to virtually guarantee a page 1 (top 10) spot in Google.

I should probably start by saying that this technique is likely best used as a 'complimentary' method. By that I mean you might want to buy a domain that works well for your business (either containing your brand name or keywords your customers will use in a search) as well as additional domains that will help you obtain that, often illusive, page 1 spot.

So here it is, and it is really simple...

Buy an exact match domain name!!!

Whoa there, hold on just a minute. Before you go rushing off to buy that domain, some clarification is required if this is to work...

Firstly an explanation of what is meant by 'exact match'. Google uses three terms to classify search phrases. These are:

• Broad Match. This means that the results will essentially match the words that you're searching for, but there may be some use of plurals, synonyms and misspellings (i.e. variants of your search words).
  
  
• Phrase Match. This means that the words you type will appear together (consecutively) as a phrase. An example would be "hiring an online business consultant". A search for that would ensure all search results contained that exact phrase. To try this for yourself in Google, make sure the phrase appears in quotation marks - this is how you tell Google that you want a phrase match.
  
  
• Exact Match. Really just used by Google AdWords to say that you only want to display your advert when an exact phrase is used in isolation. For example, if I specified that I wanted my advert to appear when the exact phrase "online business consultant" was searched for, it would not display if someone searched for "hiring an online business consultant" (because it contains additional words). Note that if I specified 'phrase match' then it would display.

Now we know what an 'exact match' is, you need to make sure you buy the right domain. The current wisdom is that this will only work for .com .net and .org domains - Google seems to give priority to these.

So there you have it. If you want a top 10 spot in the Google search results, buy an exact match domain name on .com .net or .org (don't waste your time or money on the others).

Final thoughts...

A couple of SEO techniques will improve your chances significantly. Be sure to include your exact phrase in the TITLE and H1 tags. Learn about HTML entities (markup and tags) here.

An update on There's No Smoke Without Fire...

I'm using the above technique myself to see just how well it can work - in all honesty, it's not something I've tried before. This post was written on 1st July 2009, the same day I first uploaded the index.html file to my exact match domain. I will post back here when is is indexed by Google, and will also let you know where it appears in the search results. This update will appear below...

*** Results of the 'exact match' domain name experiment ***

2nd July 2009: Blimey, that was quick. Last night, just 12 hours after uploading the home page, it was indexed by Google. Better still, it ranks number 8 for the exact phrase - firmly on page 1 of the search results. On that basis, I would have to declare the experiment a success. There are however, a couple of caveats (apologies, I'm going to get a little jargony):

• This technique might not be as effective if there is good quality competition. By good quality I mean well-established sites with lots of inbound links and a decent page rank.
  
  
• I don't think it will work if you set up a DNS redirect. The .com and .net domains are owned by someone else (my client bought .org), but these do not appear on page 1 for the exact match search. I believe this is because there seems to be a DNS redirect to their main site (perhaps meaning that Google doesn't have a page to put in their index). One way round this might be to use a Javascript redirect - the type of thing that says 'you will automatically be redirected to the new page in 10 seconds'. Alternatively, try and make the exact match domain pages contain something useful - my client's encourages visitors to sign up to the mailing list in return for a discount code.

You can't really control when Google will index you pages, but there are things that you can do to encourage it. For the sake of being helpful, what I did is listed below. Everything is designed to let Google know you're there to be found.

• Installed Google Analytics
• Verified the site in Google Webmaster Tools and uploaded a sitemap
• Wrote this article containing a link to the site (and used pingoat to get it noticed)
  
• Submitted the URL to Google and Bing (MSN)

So there you have it, if you want to easily make it to page 1 in Google, get yourself an exact match domain name.
 

There's No Smoke Without Fire, Part I - Entering a Highly Competitive Market

I want to tell you a little about some work I've recently been doing for a client. It should be interesting because there are many lessons that can be learned (i.e. mistakes you can avoid). It is also a work in progress, so I will also post updates here so that you can see which strategies and techniques have been most effective.

The story so far...

My client is a hypnotherapist and has had a successful practice for over 20 years. When the smoking ban was announced for the UK (July 2007), together with a business partner, she decided that there was an opportunity to sell her 'stop smoking with hypnosis' session on the internet and make a little money.

Now selling anything on the internet is no easy task when you have zero technical knowledge (i.e. how to build a website) and no knowledge of internet marketing. It's not a criticism- in fact, it's the reason that a multi-million pound business exists out there today.

So my client bought her domain, recorded her hypnosis session and employed a web design company. The web designers duly created a website complete with very basic information and a link to purchase the hypnosis session through PayPal.

Success? Unfortunately not. Over 2 years later and not a single online sale.

Where did it all go wrong?

Even today, in a world where people are ever-more internet savvy, there are so many misconceptions about selling online (or more specifically, creating a successful online business - for that's what it should really be). Here are some of the lessons to learn from her experience:

1. Choose your domain name carefully.
   
   Unless you have a well-known brand (such as Tesco or Walmart), it is highly advantageous to purchase a domain name that contains keywords people are searching for. This is a small factor that will help you site appear higher in search results (know as Search Engine Results Pages - SERPs). This brings us to the next lesson (which should probably have been the first)...
   
   
2. Know your market and research it thoroughly.
   
   My client knew that there were people out there in the world that wanted help to stop smoking. What she didn't know was anything about their online activity or the competition she'd face - and why would she as a hypnotherapist.
   
   If you want to start selling anything online, the principle is to find something which has high demand (i.e. lots of people searching for it) and low competition (not many pages on the internet meeting that demand). Hypnosis (especially for smoking cessation and weight loss), is a highly competitive market which makes it extremely difficult to compete on any level. For our purposes, 'compete' means 'have our website rank in the top 10 in Google for an appropriate search phrase' - absolutely necessary if people are going to find your site and buy from you. Consider that the number 1 spot in Google will receive approximately 40% of the clicks, and that perhaps 1% of visitors to your site will buy your product. Now it is easy to see that if you're not in the top 10 search results, your massive market will translate into essentially zero sales.
   
   There are other ways to get traffic to your site (such as paid advertising), but if you can't compete as described above, you'll need a BIG budget - and there's still no guaranteed return on investment.
   
   This whole topic is something that I'll be looking at in more detail on future posts. Enter your email address in the top right for free updates to be sure not to miss them.
   
   
3. Employ appropriate expertise.
   
   My client employed a web design company to create her website - and that's exactly what they did. That website achieved precisely nothing. For anyone starting out with the intention of selling online, it is important to appreciate there is more to it than create a product and a website, then sitting back and waiting for the riches to roll in. If you aren't experienced in the following and don't have the luxury of time (or inclination) to learn it yourself, then you're going to need someone you can trust to help you.
   
   First you'll need to help researching your market as described above. Based on your research you'll either conclude that it is viable and create a strategy, or decide that actually, there really isn't a business there for you.
   
   Next you'll need a website that both ranks well in search engines and also converts visitors into sales. Essentially we're talking about three skills... website design (which very much includes usability as well as the overall look), search engine optimisation (SEO) and copy-writing. At all times, remember that you're selling to real people.
   
   Finally you'll need to launch your product - a good launch can create the appropriate buzz and gain the initial momentum you need. I say finally, but really this is just the start as you'll want to monitor progress and keep refining everything to ensure a successful long-term business.
   
   

How we're fixing it...

My client had a bad experience - she received poor advice throughout and saw no return on her investment. If I could give you just one tip to help you avoid the same mistakes it would be to ensure your web designer asks:

What do you want to achieve with your website - and how will you do that?

If they don't ask those questions, then you'll probably end up with a website and not much else. Anyway, I digress. These are the things we've been doing to make a success out of this venture...

First we took ownership of the website and domains - moving them to a free web-hosting company. It did cost to move them - but now there are no monthly fees. Free hosting is fine as long as you don't need anything fancy (which most people don't).

Next we did our market research and realised just how difficult a market it is to break into. However, we identified a small niche and are starting with that - more detail on exactly how this was done is coming in future posts.

Finally the website was redesigned taking into account usability, the (probable) need to make future changes and SEO good-practice. If you're looking for a stop smoking MP3 hypnosis session, why not take a look. The site was uploaded last week and was indexed (found) by Google 5 days later - entering the SERPs at number 12 for our chosen search phrase, which is a pretty good start.

The future...

Now we're going to be working to achieve higher placement in search engines and will also be promoting the site in various places, creating some buzz. From there we'll be tracking the results and refining the process to achieve better sales.

Writing this has been difficult as there's so much more to what we've already done and what we'll be doing in the future. That's why this post has focused primarily on providing the back-story (context) and strategies to avoid common pitfalls that so many people, through no fault of their own, fall into. We'll look at these strategies in greater detail as well as providing progress updates in future posts. Be sure to enter your email address at the top right of this page, so you don't miss them.