Are Mortgage Keywords "Bad"?

[dv8]

I read somewhere that mortgage related keywords (mortgage, loans, refinance, etc.) aren't liked by Google.

I wish I could find where I read that so I could offer more info in this thread and perhaps make more sense, but I can't seem to find it.

Seems stupid, but then again I put up a site about 2 weeks ago for a certain niche in the mortgage business and it is absolutely nowhere to be seen in the SERPs. And the competition is really really bad....no keywords in domain, bad on page SEO, very low backlinks, etc. Then again, I had a propeller and digg profile rank within a day, #2 and #8 on page 1 in Google.

So perhaps my site just hasn't moved up yet and I need more time/backlinks.

[iblbuilder]

I can't believe thats true, it would be a blunt instrument that would penalise legitimate sites/companies surely?

[Tom Brite]

Yeah i can't believe that is true either at all.

It sounds to me like your site is doing the so called 'google dance'. Just get some good backlinks to it and then you will be fine

Oh and give it a little time.

Tom Brite

[Kurt]

It's possible...Do a search for "poison keywords" and you'll find different opinions on the topic.

The theory is that certain keywords like mortgage, credit and viagra are spammed so much, they may have a "red flag" by Google.

[bgmacaw]

I have heard that Google does filter on certain keywords. I'm not sure if this is accurate or not because often in SEO coincidence is mistaken for causality.

Competitive and highly spammed keywords like mortgage are tougher though. Google tends to give more authority to established sites with authority backlinks anyway, perhaps more so in these niches. If you're going for one of these, look for lower competition long tails and plan on gradually building authority and work toward adding more and more long tail content for the site for a year or more.

[dv8]

Hmm, 2 for and 2 against.

Thanks for your posts and tips.

[runner]

I just don`t believe this is true. There are lots of very good mortgage sites
online and I do not mean mine.

You said you launched the site two weeks ago.
Maybe the ranking comes a little bit later.

[dv8]

Originally Posted by runner

You said you launched the site two weeks ago.
Maybe the ranking comes a little bit later.

That may be. If so, I just don't understand why Digg and Propeller ranked on page 1 within 24 hours then but not my site. Digg and Propeller were just for backlinks, they weren't really optimized. My site is optimized, got a perfect SEO score on the 2 places I checked it.

If my page site wasn't indexed at the time then it would make sense. But it was indexed.

[Solidsnake]

Originally Posted by dv8

I read somewhere that mortgage related keywords (mortgage, loans, refinance, etc.) aren't liked by Google.

I wish I could find where I read that so I could offer more info in this thread and perhaps make more sense, but I can't seem to find it.

Seems stupid, but then again I put up a site about 2 weeks ago for a certain niche in the mortgage business and it is absolutely nowhere to be seen in the SERPs. And the competition is really really bad....no keywords in domain, bad on page SEO, very low backlinks, etc. Then again, I had a propeller and digg profile rank within a day, #2 and #8 on page 1 in Google.

So perhaps my site just hasn't moved up yet and I need more time/backlinks.

That's not true but those keywords are highly competitive and you are one in a million luckiest person if you can rank your page with such keywords even on the first page of google...

I am running a 6 months website on that niche and my most visited keyword ranked 24th to 16th..

[kassaf]

No way that a legitimate and huge industry like mortgage and loans will be considered a bad word. Google is in the business of providing the best results to the user so they are doing the best they can to deliver the pages that have authority. Authority is gained by relevancy, quality, quality of backlinks, relevant backlinks, authority of backlinks etc.

Digg and Propeller are considered authority (not in specific niche), so they are ranked high for short term, if they are not getting more backlinks in that short term their ranking is decreased.

[dv8]

Originally Posted by Solidsnake

That's not true but those keywords are highly competitive and you are one in a million luckiest person if you can rank your page with such keywords even on the first page of google...

I am running a 6 months website on that niche and my most visited keyword ranked 24th to 16th..

I'm telling you, the #1 spot is terrible!! The only thing it has going for it is that the domain is 4 years old. And that's not even that great. It only has 20 backlinks. No keywords in URL. No keywords in description. Hell, the friggin page title says "Home"!

"Mortgage" is very competitive. Which is exactly why I didn't go into that niche. But the niche I am going after has very little competition. I'm surprised it has little competition, but it does.

[captivereef]

i have a mortgage site that gets 450-500 free google searchs a day,and has stayed strong for 4 years,it has just under 2000 pages indexed.

[dv8]

Originally Posted by captivereef

i have a mortgage site that gets 450-500 free google searchs a day,and has stayed strong for 4 years,it has just under 2000 pages indexed.

Awesome!! Good for you!! I assume it's on page one?

If I got that many searches a day I'd be in heaven!! Figure that's about 15,000 per month. Only need a handful of those to turn into deals. Even if only one quarter of one percent became deals you are talking six figures per MONTH.

Which is the gameplan.

[captivereef]

it used to be for adsense, but it does generate calls and inquiries.It ranks really well for local search terms. I recently sold it to a local mortgage company, just waiting on the final payment!!

They are keeping me on for SEO site promotion for a monthly fee as well.

[ChrisBa]

not sure how that can be true.. did one of your competitors tell you this??

[Kurt]

How come everyone on this thread that disagrees with the concept of "poison keywords" assumes that means these keywords are banned from the engines? Flagged doesn't mean all sites using these keywords are banned and no sites using them are included.

Flagged simply means that they probably go through a different type of algo, maybe even a human inspection of the top 100 results from time to time. There's virtually an unlimted nimber of things Google can do for spammy keywords to help make sure they include legit sites.

Let's be honest...A BIG part of Google's algo isn't dedicated to ranking. It's dedicated to detecting and removing spam pages.

[dv8]

Originally Posted by captivereef

it used to be for adsense, but it does generate calls and inquiries.It ranks really well for local search terms. I recently sold it to a local mortgage company, just waiting on the final payment!!

They are keeping me on for SEO site promotion for a monthly fee as well.

I started searching keywords in this niche for adsense. But I have a background in being a mortgage broker. So I figure instead of making some money with adsense, I'd make a ton more giving the leads to a friend of mine who is still in the business then split the commissions. And even consider getting back into selling mortgages if the money was good enough.

Selling the site to a mortgage company is also a great idea.

[dv8]

Just checked, it is on page 1, spot #3 on Yahoo!!

And so far only 2 backlinks are showing up.