Hi Kim ~
Please remember that Google Answers Researchers are independent
contractors and not employees of Google. We do not possess any insider
information about their well-guarded algorithms.
You asked, "I have been told that if the PageRank is white (in
contrast to grey) with no number that it means that Google is
suspending or penalizing a site."
We do not have information on whether or not a site has been
penalized, only Google knows that, and they're not necessarily going
to discuss it with you.
"We will not comment on the individual reasons a page was
removed and we do not offer an exhaustive list of
practices that can cause removal..." (From Google's
Other Reasons [your page may not be listed])
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html#B3
Actually, if you look at the white bar, there is a tiny bit of green
on the left hand side. You really need good eyes to see it, or a
*really* big monitor, but it's there. The white only means you have a
PageRank of less than 1/10.
A greyed out bar, on the other hand, means you have no PageRank and
which "might" indicate you've been removed from Google's index.
There is some interesting discussion on the differences on the
Webmaster World site. This discussion board is anecdotal, although
there are contributions by some who are acknowledged to be among the
leaders in search engine optimization (SEO). The consensus is white is
better than grey any day.
- http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum80/232.htm
- http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum80/272.htm
To move that green line over to the right, you have to increase your
PageRank, which is based on a series of links to your site:
"The best way to ensure Google finds your site is for
your page to be linked from lots of pages on other
sites. Google's robots jump from page to page on the
Web via hyperlinks, so the more sites that link to you,
the more likely it is that we'll find you quickly."
(Google's "How Do I Get My Site Listed on Google?")
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/1.html
Google further explains its algorithms and methods of returning
RELEVANT material in it's "Our Search: Google Technology", "Page Rank
Explained", which you can review here:
- ://www.google.com/technology/index.html
Notice the reference to "important high quality sites" ... this means
don't just go stick your sites on any old linking page to increase the
links to your site. It often ends up doing more harm than good.
You can and should establish links from relevant sites with a good
PageRank who would link to your site. This often works well if they're
a referral. What comes immediately to mind is perhaps a real estate
company with a link to you as a source of mortgage financing.
===========================
Establishing Links
===========================
There are many practical ways of establishing links which are
beneficial to you. These methods may take time, but they also help
establish credibility and help with your page rank.
Approach like-minded or complementary businesses about linking to your
site (with a reciprocal link from your own). This works without
harming search engine positioning or page rank.
A WORD OF WARNING:
==================
Google specifically warns "Don't participate in link schemes designed
to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid
links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web as your own
ranking may be affected adversely by those links." (See Google's
Quality Guidelines - Basic principles)
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
It stands to reason that what's good for Google, currently ranked as
the number one search engine, is good rule to follow for other search
engines.
Articles on Link Popularity
===========================
A couple of excellent articles on how to establish the right kind of
links are available in Traffick's "Ten Steps to Building Links to Your
Site", Craig Fifield - 5/3/2002
- http://www.traffick.com/article.asp?aID=77
and "The Right Way to Improve Link Popularity", By Paul J. Bruemmer
-4/14/2002 -
- http://www.traffick.com/article.asp?aID=41
Notice both articles offer suggestions which can be easily adapted for
use on any website without resorting to link farms. They both point
out the differences and offer easy ways to get started to the kind of
linking search engines prefer.
==========================
How to Get Your Site
Listed in Google's Index
==========================
Webmasters naturally want to know how to ensure their sites will be
included in Google's index. Google crawls more than 3.3 billion pages,
but it is inevitable some sites will be missed or are not included.
When Google does miss a site, it is frequently for one of the
following reasons:
* The site is not well connected through multiple links to
or from others on the web.
* The design of the site makes it difficult for Google to
effectively crawl its content.
We've discussed the importance of links above. The other important
part of getting indexed and listed is the way a site is designed. You
also mentioned California-mortgage.us ... and I found a *LOT* of other
*-mortgage.us (the "*" being a state name) ... all with the same
design, identical copy, except for the name of the state.
Specifically, I found:
Alabama-mortgage.us
Alaska-mortgage.us
Arizona-mortgage.us
Arkansas-mortgage.us
California-mortgage.us
Colorado-mortgage.us
Connecticut-mortgage.us
Delaware-mortgage.us
Florida-mortgage.us
Georgia-mortgage.us
Hawaii-mortgage.us
Idaho-mortgage.us
Illinois-mortgage.us
Indiana-mortgage.us
Iowa-mortgage.us
Kansas-mortgage.us
Kentucky-mortgage.us
Louisiana-mortgage.us
Maine-mortgage.us
Maryland-mortgage.us
Massachusetts-mortgage.us
Michigan-mortgage.us
Minnesota-mortgage.us
Mississippi-mortgage.us
Missouri-mortgage.us
Montana-mortgage.us
Nebraska-mortgage.us
Nevada-mortgage.us
Ohio-mortgage.us
Oklahoma-mortgage.us
Oregon-mortgage.us
Pennsylvania-mortgage.us
Tennessee-mortgage.us
Texas-mortgage.us
Utah-mortgage.us
Vermont-mortgage.us
Virginia-mortgage.us
Washington-mortgage.us
Wisconsin-mortgage.us
Wyoming-mortgage.us
My first reaction is "Wow!" I can understand and appreciate the
marketing strategy behind this. And then I just *have* to ask ... what
did you do about the states with TWO words, like North Dakota and
South Dakota, etc.?
Although you have demonstrated a marketing strategy in registering all
of the above, I can see where this may also present problems and you
may actually end up being penalized for having that many sites with
identical content.
Let's see what Google says about how to design Google-friendly sites
and about sites which are basically identical to each other in
content. This may ultimately help you achieve your goals while keeping
out of hot water with Google.
=================================
What Google Recommends
=================================
The Use of Frames
=================
Your use of frames *could* be a reason you are not listed. Google
specifically lists the use of frames in "Reasons your site may not be
included"
"Your page uses frames. Google supports frames to the
extent that it can. Frames tend to cause problems with
search engines, bookmarks, emailing links and so on,
because frames don't fit the conceptual model of the
web (every page corresponds to a single URL). If a
user's query matches the site as a whole, Google
returns the frame set. If a user's query matches an
individual page on the site, Google returns that page.
That individual page is not displayed in a frame --
because there may be no frame set corresponding to
that page."
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html
I can appreciate that you may be looking for the most efficient method
to 'customize' the sites each state, but there are better ways to
achieve this without using frames. It may require a bit more work on
your part; but it will increase your chances of being listed in
Google, and it will certainly help dispell any suggestion that your
'state' pages are merely doorway pages or even 'spamming'. I'll
discuss that in my suggestions below.
Doorway Pages
=============
The simplicity of the net affords you a way to 'customize' certain
templates. I can see that the only difference between
montana-mortgage.us and california-mortgage.us is the mention of the
state. Otherwise, everything is pretty much identical.
Multiply that by the number other states, and you can conceivably be
accused of either using a series of 'doorway' pages to get to
18mortgages.us or as 'spamming' with 40+ sites aimed at
18mortgages.us.
Google specifically says "Google does not encourage the use of doorway
pages. We want to point users to content pages, not to doorways ..."
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html#A1
The basic suggestion is to refrain from the use of frames. It can
seriously hinder being crawled by the search engines. Spend the time
to actually tailor each of those state pages to that state. The work
you do now can pay off in the end.
Mortgage lenders and the mortgage brokerage field is highly
competitive.
If your intended market is real estate sites looking for mortgage
brokers, they will be much more inclined to pay attention to your
message if you really look like you are part of their community.
For instance, you say "Our network is composed of LOCAL Montana
mortgage professionals who know our state. Your areas unique qualities
or circumstances can have an important impact on financing." (From the
"About Us" link)
- http://www.montana-mortgage.us/
This would be the perfect time and place to link to those local
Montana mortgage professionals - and get them to link to YOUR site. It
becomes a win-win situation.
If your intended market is the potential home buyer looking for a
mortgage company, that advice is doubled. The entire buying process is
so confusing for the average home buyer, they need to feel they're
dealing with someone who is also a 'neighbor'.
Your sites ultimately lead to 18mortgages.us ... which refers to a
'network' of national and local lenders. Have you considered linking
to those "local lenders" first? (Read: "How is that working for you?")
Google stresses how to design to increase your prospects for being
listed in its Webmaster "Quality Guidelines - Specific
recommendations":
"* Avoid hidden text or hidden links.
* Don't employ cloaking or sneaky redirects.
* Don't send automated queries to Google.
* Don't load pages with irrelevant words.
* Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with
substantially duplicate content.
* Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines,
or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate
programs with little or no original content."
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
Are you getting decent traffic and a respectable conversion from
visitors - either real estate companies or private parties seeking to
refinance or purchase? If not, it might be a good time to rethink the
whole marketing strategy to increase your visibility.
It "appears" that all your listings pull most of their pages from the
same source. This is from information I can 'see' with my own browser.
If I can find it just by some general looking, search bots can 'see'
it without too much trouble, as they work differently than a browser.
=================================
The Basics - HTML
=================================
Shari Thurow, one of the leading authorities in web design and search
engine optimization (and author of the book "Search Engine
Visibility"), recently made the following observation with regard to
the basics of HTML:
"Clean HTML is absolutely imperative for search engine
indexing. Browsers are extremely forgiving when it comes
to displaying pages with "unclean" HTML (unclosed tags,
no quotation marks, etc.). Search engine spiders are
not so forgiving. Even something as simple as a missing
quotation mark on the <.a href="page.html"> can cause a
spider to not index text or a link." (See: Link Exchange
Digest, July 3, 2003, "Clean HTML")
- http://list.audettemedia.com/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A2=ind0307&L=led&D=1&T=0&H=1&O=D&F=&S=&P=282
She explained how errors in HTML can affect your ability to be
indexed, and ultimately, ranked.
Below are some HTML elements which are often overlooked or omitted,
but which play an important part in your visitor's experience when he
visits your site. A good rule of thumb is always "what's good for the
visitor is good for search engines." The following, considered
"basics" for the best visitor experience are:
1. DOCTYPE Declaration
----------------------
DOCTYPES are essential to the proper rendering and functioning of web
documents in compliant browsers. It is also essential for the search
engines to understand and follow the coding contained on your pages.
DOCTYPE is explained and discussed further in "A List Apart",
- http://www.alistapart.com/stories/doctype/
and in Web Design Group's article, "Choosing a DOCtype",
- http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html
2. Accessibility
----------------
Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 794
and 794d, set forth the minimum government standards for
accessibility.
Among these standards are such items as ALT and TITLE tags (something
Google recommends in its Webmaster Guidelines), and website design
which will enable those with special needs to be able to access and
understand your web site.
You might want to run each page of your site through Bobby, which will
give you a full context report of any portions of your site which do
not meet the minimum standards. If you make all the corrections
suggested, it will greatly enhance any search engine's ability to
crawl your website as well.
The Bobby analysis page can be found here:
- http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp
3. Content
----------
You have good content, but the way your are set up you have the same
content for all your pages. While it may take a bit longer, it might
be wise to take a hard look at what you are trying to accomplish and
then set it so there is enough different content for each of your
states that no one can possibly think you're doing nothing more than
spamming.
4. Design For Your Visitors
---------------------------
Basically, understand your market and design for your visitors.
Providing them with what it takes to make them feel comfortable using
your services will not only increase your income, but will no doubt
help with your SERPs on Google. Since the search engines are almost
constantly changing and tweaking their algorithms to bring the visitor
relevant content for their search terms, designing your sites with
that content can help keep you from bouncing around each time there is
a change.
===================
Getting Listed
===================
Google recommends, "If you are having difficulty getting listed in the
Google index, you may want to consider submitting your site to either
or both of these directories. You can submit to Yahoo! by visiting
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/. You can submit your site to
Netscape's Open Directory Project (DMOZ) by visiting www.dmoz.org.
Once your site is included in either of these directories, Google will
often index your site within six to eight weeks."
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/1.html#B2
For DMOZ.org, you will want to dig down deep enough to get where you
more appropriately should be. For instance:
Business: Financial Services: Mortgages: Regional: United States:
Montana
Some search engines gather their own listings for the main results
they display. For example, Google crawls the web itself for the main
results it shows.
Other search engines use third-party search providers for their
results. For instance, the main search results at AOL come from
Google's crawler-based listings, rather than from work inside AOL.
Below are the top search engines as determined by Nielsen Net Ratings:
- http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/
* Google -
- ://www.google.com/addurl.html
* DMOZ -
- http://www.dmoz.com/
* All The Web -
- http://www.alltheweb.com/help/webmaster/submit_site.html
* Hotbot & Lycos InSite (requires registration)
- http://insite.lycos.com/searchservices/
* Yahoo! -
- http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
* Zeal -
- http://zeal.com/
MSN's search submit is located here:
- http://search.msn.com/
which takes you to LookSmart, a "for-pay" listing, and can be found
here:
- http://listings.looksmart.com/?synd=zdd&sid=prt100933&chan=zddresults
If you are listed on other important engines, it is pretty certain you
will also be listed on MSN.com, or you can use the LookSmart
submission.
==============
Summary
==============
There really is no short cut to getting listed. You need to combine
the elements of good web design, linking strategy and keep an eye on
what is happening in search engine technology to enjoy a good search
engine results placement and keep it.
Trying to design for search engines is like trying to hit a moving
target. By the time you start to figure out why it is listing certain
results as they do, they'll have changed the algorithm, anyway. It's a
fact of life.
There is no substitute for relevant content. Period. Without it you
may by some quirk get listed highly, but you can count on not staying
there forever. Whereas, sites with rich, relevant contact seem to stay
in a good location.
An excellent way to stay on top of search engine developments is to
join Webmaster World and watch the discussion threads.
- http://www.webmasterworld.com
Another excellent source is Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Watch,
- http://www.searchenginewatch.com
Knowing the rules and then keeping your site within those rules should
help you get where you want to be.
======================
Search terms
======================
- montana-mortgage.us
- california-mortgage.us
On Arin Whois:
- *-mortgage.us
In addition, I used my background in search engine optimization,
bookmarks, Google's webmaster guidelines and information, and various
searches on Webmaster World to keep abreast of discussions regarding
matters germane to this question.
Good luck with your strategies,
Serenata
Google Answers Researcher |
