Thread: SEO Case Study

I recently registered a domain with the keywords: speed and site in it.

My web host had some problems with the server for whatever reason so a search on my keywords does not show my site at all last time I checked.

But I expect to hit #1 soon since I have been building great content compared to my lame competition.

The key is to outdo your competitors with way better content than they can ever hope to achieve.

If you have passion and drive, then it is easy!

Very interested in watching this. I have a site with the domain rhesusnegative.net and it does no longer show for "rhesus negative". It used to be number 3 for it. Either Google changed the algo, or I did something wrong, but other than adding blog content I cannot think of anything.

For some strange reason Google is refusing to let some home pages rank well for the exact match domain. I have been working with a site for several months where no pages showed up in the top 500 for the exact match domain search. It was a one page site when I picked it up, but now has a dozen or more good quality, completely original articles. Over the past few weeks about 5 of the article pages started showing up in the top 200 for the exact match domain search, but the home page is nowhere to be found in search results--for any search phrases. This is the first time I have seen that happen with a .net EMD.

Google is as Google does.

Originally Posted by TopDogger

For some strange reason Google is refusing to let some home pages rank well for the exact match domain. I have been working with a site for several months where no pages showed up in the top 500 for the exact match domain search. It was a one page site when I picked it up, but now has a dozen or more good quality, completely original articles. Over the past few weeks about 5 of the article pages started showing up in the top 200 for the exact match domain search, but the home page is nowhere to be found in search results--for any search phrases. This is the first time I have seen that happen with a .net EMD.

Google is as Google does.

What have you noticed in regards to the tld?

I see the .com for my term rank number 4, and it has 5 pages of copied articles linking to the original.

Is the .com ranked regardless and the others not?

I own the .net and others own the .com and .org.

For an exact match keyword search:

the .com home page is #5
the .org home page was #7, but I just checked and it is no longer in the top 100
the .net home page is not in the top 500, but most of the inner pages do show up.

The inner pages on the site are working their way up quickly, but the home page appears to have some sort of penalty that is holding it back. It is #1 if I search for the domain, but that is the only way that the home page shows up.

When I picked up this site there was nothing strange about the site, the link profile or the content. It has a PageRank of 1, but zero Google traffic.

I would consider filing a reconsideration request: Reconsideration requests - Webmaster Tools Help

Yeah, I may do that, but I have not yet brought this site into Webmaster Tools and I have not been able to identify the problem. I have been waiting for any past penalty to time out. This one is an interesting challenge.

This is nice site with good content. I am considering moving all of the articles over to another site in the same niche. That site is doing fairly well and the articles will likely make it stronger. It is in a very competitive niche.

Originally Posted by TopDogger

I own the .net and others own the .com and .org.

For an exact match keyword search:

the .com home page is #5
the .org home page was #7, but I just checked and it is no longer in the top 100
the .net home page is not in the top 500, but most of the inner pages do show up.

The inner pages on the site are working their way up quickly, but the home page appears to have some sort of penalty that is holding it back. It is #1 if I search for the domain, but that is the only way that the home page shows up.

When I picked up this site there was nothing strange about the site, the link profile or the content. It has a PageRank of 1, but zero Google traffic.

Interesting. My suspicion is Google may give special status to the .org within limits considering the original intent of the tld being for non profit orgs while the .net is usually looked at as an escape for those too late for the .com and unable to buy the .com from the owner.

Originally Posted by firetown

Interesting. My suspicion is Google may give special status to the .org within limits considering the original intent of the tld being for non profit orgs while the .net is usually looked at as an escape for those too late for the .com and unable to buy the .com from the owner.

There is something strange going on here. I do have several other .net domains and each of those ranks in the top 3 for the exact match keyword search. Most are #1. The site I am wrestling with is an anomaly.

My suspicion is Google may give special status to the .org within limits considering the original intent of the tld being for non profit orgs

They should do this for my domain name since it is for the promotion of open source software.