I'm scared for my micro niche site - should I?

[torentash]

Hey guys, I've been reading this forum for long time now, but never registered or posted any post before. In recent months I read more and more articles on Google deindexing "MFA" site (MFA quoted for reason). Although I do not have the MFA sites (real MFA, with fake scraped content and adsense links, crap site) and do have micro niche sites based on long-tail keywords and obviously made to bring money to me. They are all related to its specific niche with 10ish number of pages. Now, I do not know what to do with them. As I've always done the thing in white-hat way, I did not register more AdSense accounts but rather connected all these sites to one adsense account. This means that if I lose even one site, if even one of them is being marked as MFA, I lose everything. What do you suggest me to do:

1. Expand those site: add more pages, more long-tail KWs, etc. ?

2. Register more AdSense accounts and start bulding back-up "empire" ???

3. Cut off the earnings to 100$ a month for each site (remove adsense when I reach 100 bucks - I read that BB doesn't like if "MFA" earns more than 100 bucks. true??)

4. Leave everything as-is because all these stories are just rumours and continue bulding micro niche empire ?

5. Something else...

PS. new line is not working

[paulgl]

I hope I never sit next to you on a 6 hour flight.

Paul

[Defunct]

I highly doubt you are in any danger of being indexed but if you want to be safe, firstly if you use the same template, you might want to consider changing them up a bit as that seems to be the main factor with the people who have been starting posts about deindexing.

You arn't really setting off any alarm bells right now with 10 sites, unless you managed to earn quite a bit per day from them.

[Tyrus Antas]

Do you get enough traffic to
these sites to create a niche
newsletter? You can make more
money promoting affiliate products.

Tyrus

[JoshuaG]

Just jazz them up a little bit.
Add an "author Bio" in the side bar with a picture and short write up.
Throw up a related poll, or you tube video etc.

If you are really concerned you could sell them on flippa for some quick cash and use the money to start a new business model.

Good luck!

[yukon]

I'm wore out just from reading this!

[Nexus7]

I wouldn't worry about it. While Google does de-index sites, people assume it's only MFA that they go after. That doesn't make sense. If the content is helpful to the user they would have no reason to de-index a site. They're main concern is if it's going to hurt their advertisers and not because it uses the Xfactor theme, only has a few pages, etc. Most of this rhetoric is just nonsense.

Yeah, using different themes isn't a bad idea, and more content makes the site more useful for readers. In addition to original articles, my MFA's have a mix of videos and product reviews to enhance the user experience. Google likes that.

[yanivkalfa]

Originally Posted by paulgl

I hope I never sit next to you on a 6 hour flight.

Paul

LOl to that. you referred to the way he wrote that his post right ?

[brandonbaker]

Originally Posted by paulgl

I hope I never sit next to you on a 6 hour flight.

Paul

Not sure I see the need for this post. The guy obviously needs help and is having formatting issues in his post...

[Jacob Martus]

Google de-indexes micro-niche websites based entirely on the layout or theme. If it looks like one of the many common MFA layouts, then if it gets a manual review it will probably be de-indexed. As long as you are doing your own thing and you're not using an xfactor type layout you should be alright.

[Nexus7]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

Google de-indexes micro-niche websites based entirely on the layout or theme. If it looks like one of the many common MFA layouts, then if it gets a manual review it will probably be de-indexed. As long as you are doing your own thing and you're not using an xfactor type layout you should be alright.

False.

Micro niche sites using other themes are just as prone to getting de-indexed if the content offers no help to the reader. It's the content that matters, not the theme.

[paulgl]

Please note. My response was due to this:

2. Register more AdSense accounts and start bulding back-up empire???

3. Cut off the earnings to 100$ a month for each site (remove adsense when I reach 100 bucks - I read that BB doesn't like if MFA earns more than 100 bucks. true??)

Anyone thinking like that is too far gone.

Paul

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by Nexus7

False--and a dead horse argument.

At first glance, it may seem false. There is a tad more to it. From what I have learned
here, a manual review only gets to the main index page, and only gets a glance of
less than 30 seconds. So, what first impression does your site make? I think Jacob
was referring to manual reviews only, and manual reviews encountering certain
MFA layouts. That's what they are probably looking for. Content would not even
matter. They see the layout, boom.

Paul

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by Nexus7

False.

Micro niche sites using other themes are just as prone to getting de-indexed if the content offers no help to the reader. It's the content that matters, not the theme.

False.

Google quality reviewers spend 30 seconds reviewing sites (not nearly long enough to judge the quality of the content). Quality reviews are reserved for look and feel of the website only.

If you doubt me, do a search on this forum here and you'll find more than enough evidence to substantiate my point. Look up information about Google quality reviewers if you doubt that evidence. They review 100s of websites per day and you can bet your ass if they come across a site that looks like 100s of other MFA sites, it's going to get de-indexed.

Good try though.

[yukon]

1997 called & they want their MFA theme back, LMFAO!

Sorry, someone had to say it...

[Nexus7]

Originally Posted by paulgl

At first glance, it may seem false. There is a tad more to it. From what I have learned
here, a manual review only gets to the main index page, and only gets a glance of
less than 30 seconds. So, what first impression does your site make? I think Jacob
was referring to manual reviews only, and manual reviews encountering certain
MFA layouts. That's what they are probably looking for. Content would not even
matter. They see the layout, boom.

Paul

So far, no one has pointed to any evidence that Google does this. Did someone get an email from the Google site review team that said they de-indexed their site or sites based on the theme or layout? My understanding is they only give the canned "risk to advertisers" response.

Answer this: how does a theme/layout pose a risk to advertisers?

Until someone can show actual proof of this, I'd say it's complete BS and fear mongering. Heck, thousands of sites are still using the old Kubrick theme. It's not any different than the Xfactor theme.

[Nexus7]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

False.

Google quality reviewers spend 30 seconds reviewing sites (not nearly long enough to judge the quality of the content). Quality reviews are reserved for look and feel of the website only.

If you doubt me, do a search on this forum here and you'll find more than enough evidence to substantiate my point. Look up information about Google quality reviewers if you doubt that evidence. They review 100s of websites per day and you can bet your ass if they come across a site that looks like 100s of other MFA sites, it's going to get de-indexed.

Good try though.

Good try?

Where is the evidence they de-index sites based on the theme alone? You haven't proven this. Show me links with real evidence, please.

It takes about 2 seconds to judge the look of a site. The remaining 28 seconds is enough to read a few paragraphs of an article. I highly doubt they care much about the look.

Other threads I've read on this subject are about how someone had some sites de-indexed by Google. Some mentioned the Xfactor theme and some didn't. None showed any evidence of the theme being the reason for the de-indexing.

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by Nexus7

Good try?

Where is the evidence they de-index sites based on the theme alone? You haven't proven this. Show me links with real evidence, please.

Oh, and it takes about 2 seconds to judge the look of a site. The remaining 28 seconds is enough to read a few paragraphs of an article.

Other threads I've read on this subject are about how someone had some sites de-indexed by Google. Some mentioned the Xfactor theme and some didn't. None showed any evidence of the theme being the reason for the de-indexing.

I'm not going to use the search function for you. Believe it or not, I don't really care but the truth of the matter is that is how quality reviews work. I could care less if you believe me or not.

Just because you think that Google de-indexes sites based on the quality of their content doesn't mean that is actually how it works. It would be nice, but it's not how it works.

30 seconds is hardly long enough to judge the quality of someone's content. Especially when you are only looking at the index page.

If you want evidence, use the search function, or Google.

[Nexus7]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

I'm not going to use the search function for you. Believe it or not, I don't really care but the truth of the matter is that is how quality reviews work. I could care less if you believe me or not.

Just because you think that Google de-indexes sites based on the quality of their content doesn't mean that is actually how it works. It would be nice, but it's not how it works.

30 seconds is hardly long enough to judge the quality of someone's content. Especially when you are only looking at the index page.

If you want evidence, use the search function, or Google.

Well, I'd say you don't have any proof of it; otherwise you'd have a few links to point to. That takes how many seconds of your time?

Whatever...

I've already researched it and have found no hard evidence of sites getting de-indexed for looking like MFA. It's just a theory that, IMO, was brought about by someone that got burned. I don't doubt that they review sites for quality, but they aren't basing this just on looks. If this were the case, why are there so many ugly websites still indexed? Some of these sites have been around for years and provide great and helpful content.

When did the look of a site mean more than the content?

Doesn't. Make. Sense.

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by Nexus7

I've already researched it and have found no hard evidence of sites getting de-indexed for looking like MFA. It's just a theory that, IMO, was brought about by someone that got burned. I don't doubt that they review sites for quality, but they aren't basing this just on looks. If this were the case, why are there so many ugly websites still indexed? Some of these sites have been around for years and provide great and helpful content.

I never said they de-index ugly sites. I said they de-index common MFA themes like the xfactor one. Nothing wrong with ugly sites.

When did the look of a site mean more than the content?

Doesn't. Make. Sense.

I didn't say that's how things should work. I just said that is how they do work. Just because in a perfect world that is the way you think things should be done doesn't mean that is how they are actually done.

You don't have to believe me. If you're using a common MFA theme and you think you're safe, then go right on ahead using it. Like I said, I don't care. The fact is, people using common MFA themes like the Xfactor one will more than likely get de-indexed should they receive a quality review. Quality reviewers are looking at 100s of sites per day and if they keep seeing the exact same theme or website design you can bet they are going to start marking them as spam.

That's all I'm going to say on it. Do what you want.

[Clyde]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

I never said they de-index ugly sites. I said they de-index common MFA themes like the xfactor one. Nothing wrong with ugly sites.

That's wrong.

By your logic anybody that uses Wordpress default theme would've been de-indexed. Thesis, also.

It's all in the content, how about trying to make it useful for a change.

[Clyde]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

I'm not going to use the search function for you. Believe it or not, I don't really care but the truth of the matter is that is how quality reviews work. I could care less if you believe me or not.

Just because you think that Google de-indexes sites based on the quality of their content doesn't mean that is actually how it works. It would be nice, but it's not how it works.

30 seconds is hardly long enough to judge the quality of someone's content. Especially when you are only looking at the index page.

If you want evidence, use the search function, or Google.

For claiming truth, you seem to be pulling "fact" out of thin air.

I guess whatever you say now becomes Gospel?

Just because you don't think that Google de-indexes sites based on the quality of their content doesn't mean that is actually not how it works.

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by Al Mukmin

That's wrong.

By your logic anybody that uses Wordpress default theme would've been de-indexed. Thesis, also.

It's all in the content, how about trying to make it useful for a change.

I didn't realize that wordpress default theme or thesis were common MFA themes.

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by Al Mukmin

For claiming truth, you seem to be pulling "fact" out of thin air.

I guess whatever you say now becomes Gospel?

Just because you don't think that Google de-indexes sites based on the quality of their content doesn't mean that is actually not how it works.

You're doing nothing different from me. You're claiming one thing while I'm claiming the opposite based on my experience and research. Do a little bit of your own.

Take it however you want. Don't believe me. I don't care.

[Clyde]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

You're doing nothing different from me. You're claiming one thing while I'm claiming the opposite based on my experience and research. Do a little bit of your own.

Take it however you want. Don't believe me. I don't care.

I own 500+ micro niche websites all using the infamous Xfactor template so yes, I've done my research. (making good money too)

Xfactor layout is far from the MFA look that would warrant a de-index unless your content is pure garbage.

Xfactor layout only has one ad unit per page and is well within their TOS.

Look at the Bluesense theme and tell me if Xfactor is anything like that.

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by Al Mukmin

I own 500+ micro niche websites all using the infamous Xfactor template so yes, I've done my research. (making good money too)

Xfactor layout is far from the MFA look that would warrant a de-index unless your content is pure garbage.

Xfactor layout only has one ad unit per page and is well within their TOS.

Look at the Bluesense theme and tell me if Xfactor is anything like that.

Like I said, believe what you want. Do what you want. Don't be surprised when one day you run into problems. The Xfactor theme is associated with MFA and you can bet if we know that, then Google does too.

Personally, I would never risk my entire network of sites by using the exact same theme on all of them.

As long as you think you're safe then do your thing dude.

[Clyde]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

I didn't realize that wordpress default theme or thesis were common MFA themes.

Are you saying that if I use Thesis on all my MFA sites I will never be de-indexed ever?

Even if the content is crap?

I do agree with you that it's better if you use different things for different websites, what I don't agree with is that Google does not care about the quality of the content you have on there.

1. A thesis site with one 350 words article, and ads all over the place.

2. A Xfactor site with 10 pages of 1000 words articles, with proper HTML formating, images, useful videos and links to RELATED authority sites. Product reviews and content that is actually useful written by native English writer helping visitors decide which product is best for them.

Which one would get the boot?

[Nexus7]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

I never said they de-index ugly sites. I said they de-index common MFA themes like the xfactor one. Nothing wrong with ugly sites.

You said they base the review on the "look and feel" of the site. Nothing about MFA was mentioned by you. The Xfactor theme ain't exactly pretty looking--and it doesn't necessarily look like MFA. It looks like a standard blog layout to me. Are other sites using the standard two-column layout at risk of getting de-indexed, too? Wouldn't that be like millions of blogs getting de-indexed because Google hates the look of it?

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

I didn't say that's how things should work. I just said that is how it works. Just because in a perfect world that is the way you think things should be done doesn't mean that is how they are actually done.

Are you working for the Google site review team? Why should I or anyone else believe you? Not trying to mean, but what makes you credible? Got a source?

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

You don't have to believe me. If you're using a common MFA theme and you think you're safe, then go right on ahead using it. Like I said, I don't care.

Well, why should ANYONE believe you? You haven't shown any sources to back up your argument.

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

The fact is, people using common MFA themes like the Xfactor one will more than likely get de-indexed should they receive a quality review.

Fact or fiction? Anyone?

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by Nexus7

You said they base the review on the "look and feel" of the site. Nothing about MFA was mentioned by you.

Really? Here's the first post I made in this thread:

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

If it looks like one of the many common MFA layouts, then if it gets a manual review it will probably be de-indexed. As long as you are doing your own thing and you're not using an xfactor type layout you should be alright.

Are you working for the Google site review team? Why should I or anyone else believe you? Not trying to mean, but what makes you credible? Got a source?

Have you missed the part where several times I've said I don't care if you believe me or not?? Do what you want with your time, money, and business.

Fact or fiction? Anyone?

I don't know. Why don't you show us your sources that state:

Originally Posted by Nexus7

Micro niche sites using other themes are just as prone to getting de-indexed if the content offers no help to the reader. It's the content that matters, not the theme.

Because certainly there have never been any good quality sites that have gotten de-indexed. Or not.

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by Al Mukmin

Are you saying that if I use Thesis on all my MFA sites I will never be de-indexed ever?

Even if the content is crap?

I do agree with you that it's better if you use different things for different websites, what I don't agree with is that Google does not care about the quality of the content you have on there.

I never said that Google doesn't care about the quality of the content. I simply said that quality reviewers don't have time to evaluate the quality of said content. A 30 second review of a website's index page is hardly long enough to evaluate the quality of someone's content.

[scott g]

Nexus, Jacob, & Al Mukmin - take your argument elsewhere. You contributed excellent opinionated, information to torentash's original inquiry - which I, like other Warriors, appreciate - and then proceeded to ruin his thread. Good Job! Oh and guys... Vagisil will make the feminine odor go away!

CHEERS!

[Clyde]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

I never said that Google doesn't care about the quality of the content. I simply said that quality reviewers don't have time to evaluate the quality of said content. A 30 second review of a website's index page is hardly long enough to evaluate the quality of someone's content.

Where did you get this information from?

I'm truly curious.

[Nexus7]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

Have you missed the part where several times I've said I don't care if you believe me or not?? Do what you want with your time, money, and business.

Then why the comeback if you have no evidence? This is all I was asking for. Don't make a case if you don't have anything to back it up with.

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

Because certainly there have never been any good quality sites that have gotten de-indexed. Or not.

Name one good quality site that has been de-indexed. Then name the reason for it.

My understanding from Matt Cutts is that Google wants a site to provide quality content for the reader. The Google Webmaster guidelines document this as well. What's funny is that there's no mention ANYWHERE where the theme or layout is taken into consideration of a site being of high or poor quality.

Webmaster Guidelines - Webmaster Tools Help

Yeah, don't use the Xfactor theme or similar. Google clearly states that sites get de-indexed based on the "look and feel" of it.

[Nexus7]

Originally Posted by scott g

Nexus, Jacob, & Al Mukmin - take your argument elsewhere. You contributed excellent opinionated, information to torentash's original inquiry - which I, like other Warriors, appreciate - and then proceeded to ruin his thread. Good Job! Oh and guys... Vagisil will make the feminine odor go away!

CHEERS!

Just trying to stop this theory from floating around. No harm was intended.

[calfred]

There is one main problem I noticed with the so-called "XFactor" theme.

In order to maximize AdSense clicks,

Navigation menus are dubious, let alone helpful. Most of the time, a user has to click on a Sitemap to browse the other pages.

But then it comes to the thought of simplicity vs clutterness.

I have heard that simple designs can maximize clicks. And cluttered designs (lotsa stuff, e.g. blogs) get lower CTR.

Honestly, I think SBI sites can be a little cluttered. But that seems to be the safe layout, especially with the useful navigation menus. Come to think about it, Internet started that way, didn't it?

So I think if you can solve all of your worries if you get into the minds of the SBIers. It definitely solved mine. They are kings of helpful and useful content creators in the net, imo.

Read Home Based Business Ideas - Achieve Financial Freedom With Site Build It
It's not my blog, but it belongs to Tomaz.

I just want to tell you I changed a lot of my perspective as a newbie in IM.

Like you, I started from the Micro Niche route. Now that I have been into the minds of SBIers, my perspective is now wider.

[Nexus7]

Originally Posted by calfred

There is one main problem I noticed with the so-called "XFactor" theme.

In order to maximize AdSense clicks,

Navigation menus are dubious, let alone helpful. Most of the time, a user has to click on a Sitemap to browse the other pages.

Well, a 5-10 page site doesn't need much for navigation. Page links can be posted at the top, in the right sidebar, or both. If you were to turn that site into an authority site, there would be no reason to keep using the Xfactor theme as it would lose its purpose.

[calfred]

From what I have gathered from a few months of reading, people are saying they are deindexed because of the following reasons:

1) Lousy contents (scraped, auto contents, quick 100 to 300 word article with no real values [lotsa fluff])

I guess you can immediately notice whether a content is helpful or whether it was written simply to be labelled as a site content, no? But quality content is relative and subjective, not objective. If you compare to Wikipedia, who knows? If you compare to a low quality site, who knows? I know a lot of people would rather not debate about quality content because of this factor alone; it is relative!

2) Bad backlinks (link network?, spam backlinks?, paying companies to do backlinking for you?)

I am no pro in backlinking... But you will find out easily what Google says about the backlinks you should avoid, just by reading their webmaster help page. Google talks about getting people linking to you naturally. But we all know this is not the case for most of us.

You will realize that contents and backlinks are co-related to each other somehow. For example, when you create lots of great content, common sense tells you that people will want to link to you. They feel good about it too. I realized this by looking at SBI sites.

3) Too many sites in short period of time (come on, you know it sounds like spam, don't you?)

I don't know if this is true or not. But common sense tells me that if I am a Google engineer, I would hate to see hundreds of 5-page websites being set up under a few months time. Honestly, you know what that sounds like... Yes. That's right. SPAM. But if you build 100 sites that contain 50 to 100 pages, who knows? After looking at many Matt Cutts' videos, I find that they really don't like spam. I guess this is why they like big sites so much. Less spam.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by Nexus7

So far, no one has pointed to any evidence that Google does this. Did someone get an email from the Google site review team that said they de-indexed their site or sites based on the theme or layout? My understanding is they only give the canned "risk to advertisers" response.

Answer this: how does a theme/layout pose a risk to advertisers?

Until someone can show actual proof of this, I'd say it's complete BS and fear mongering. Heck, thousands of sites are still using the old Kubrick theme. It's not any different than the Xfactor theme.

I came to the WF to learn. I based my answer on learning from a very high,
respected member of the WF. There are people here who have a vast amount
of experience. I learn from it.

It's not fear mongering. It's getting people to be aware of certain things.
That's what the WF is all about, actually. There are quite a few here who
have their ear to the ground. I take that info to heart.

Why give google a reason or chance to penalize you?

You do have to sort out the BS here. Like what calfred said.

Calfred, none of that will get you de-indexed. The whole list is not
even logical. But posts like that show a lot of people do not read the
forum.

Paul

[dagaul101]

Google is trying to force everyone to have unique updated content, I know it sounds like a death knell to MFA sites but it's Google rules to change as they deem fit

[bizousoft]

Without seeing specific examples it's hard to say if your site will get flagged. Personally I wouldn't worry about it too much, unless it's a complete doorway page you'll still be funelling qualified buyers to the advertisers.

Good luck

[torentash]

Guys, thanks for replying and once more, sorry for unformatted post. Yesterday night it was impossible to format it (maybe that's the reason this site was offline today). Today I edited the post and formatting worked.

Now, back on topic. I will not take anyone's side but rather believe to all of you . So I do not want my sites to look like MFA sites and I want them to have quality articles.

Based on many topics here, I removed almost all of the graphics from sites except some background graphics in amazon-like way. Do you think that I should put some picture or video to the side bar just to fool the potential reviewer?

Do you have a site with cool design and lot of pics and videos that DO have substantial CTR? This would say to me that graphics is irrelevant to CTR?

Another thing, I use WordPress and I can post articles as 'post' as a 'page'. What is the minimum of Pages and Posts? In your opinion...

[torentash]

Originally Posted by paulgl

Please note. My response was due to this:

2. Register more AdSense accounts and start bulding back-up empire???

3. Cut off the earnings to 100$ a month for each site (remove adsense when I reach 100 bucks - I read that BB doesn't like if MFA earns more than 100 bucks. true??)

Anyone thinking like that is too far gone.

Paul

As you can see, I haven't done it in the past. But I had to ask that?

[torentash]

Originally Posted by yukon

1997 called & they want their MFA theme back, LMFAO!

Sorry, someone had to say it...

Could you describe the layout of your site? Full of graphics? No graphics at all? Very little graphics? ...

[Nexus7]

Originally Posted by paulgl

I came to the WF to learn. I based my answer on learning from a very high,
respected member of the WF. There are people here who have a vast amount
of experience. I learn from it.

It's not fear mongering. It's getting people to be aware of certain things.
That's what the WF is all about, actually. There are quite a few here who
have their ear to the ground. I take that info to heart.

Why give google a reason or chance to penalize you?

You do have to sort out the BS here. Like what calfred said.
Paul

Well, you're not going to learn something based on what someone thinks Google may be doing. Unless someone can point to any evidence that Google de-indexes sites base on the "look and feel" of it, I say it's BS and it isn't helping anyone. It's like yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded theater just for the fun of it.

Did this "respected member" show you any evidence that Google is doing this? Seriously, I would really like an answer other than "I know they do this, but I don't have to prove it." Is this some hidden secret that only some people here know about or is it speculation?

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by Nexus7

Well, you're not going to learn something based on what someone thinks Google may be doing.

EXACTLY! You seem to think you know why Google de-indexes sites yet you have no evidence yourself. So why ask me for evidence when you can present none yourself?

Unless someone can point to any evidence that Google de-indexes sites base on the "look and feel" of it, I say it's BS and it isn't helping anyone. It's like yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded theater just for the fun of it.

I'm not the only member of this forum who will tell you that Google quality reviewers do 30 second inspections of your index page and will de-index you if you're using a common MFA theme. Other's say it as well. Here's some links I found after a 10 second forum search:

Site was deindexed because of fast backlinks..can I get it back???

Site was deindexed because of fast backlinks..can I get it back???

Just to make sure you see the points made I'll quote them:

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

What's more likely, if your site is truly deindexed, is that if you did a site with the standard MFA pattern that it got visually reviewed by the Google web spam team. A 30 second or less glance at the index page and it fitting a standard common MFA pattern and bang! it's gone.

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

If this was a visual review deindex, it has zero to do with your content. It is completely based on the look of your index page. If it fits a MFA pattern that the reviewer has been trained to mark as MFA in 30 seconds or less, it's deindexed. As you can guess, the basic xfactor style site is most likely one of those that reviewers are told to deindex without a second thought. Others include some fairly standard affiliate feed formats.

It isn't that the site has to be complex or shiny. It can look like a simple FrontPage site circa 1998. It can be very plain. But it can't look like every other MFA site that everyone else who took a course in creating Adsense sites is using.

Next, change the look of your other sites to something other than the xfactor template. Just get it as far away from anything MFA looking or that's associated with any Adsense course as you can without killing your conversion rate or violating Adsense rules.

As you can see, I'm not the only member of this forum who will tell you what a Google manual review looks like.

I'm sure your response will go something like this:
"Well, why should I take his word for it?" "Where's the actual evidence that they de-index sites based on the theme?"

Forget that he's been doing this a long time and has seen countless examples from people right here in the forum of their sites being de-indexed based entirely on how it looked.

Like I said, look up the job of a quality reviewer. They review 100s of sites per day and if you think they can get an accurate judgement of someone's content in 30 seconds then your delusional. A 30 second review of a website's index page is hardly long enough to determine the quality of their content.

You can bet however that if they see a website running a theme that has been replicated across 1000s of domains, most of which are running shabby MFA sites, that they will de-index it. Why would you even think otherwise? Let me get this straight. Google sees the same theme over and over and over and everytime they see it, it's a MFA site. Do you really think they are going to take the time to find out if the content is good? Right... Or not.

Did this "respected member" show you any evidence that Google is doing this? Seriously, I would really like an answer other than "I know they do this, but I don't have to prove it." Is this some hidden secret that only some people here know about or is it speculation?

So you know how Google does things, yet you've provided no evidence yourself. According to you, Google de-indexes based on whether the content is user-friendly and helpful. Yet, you actually have no idea. You're basically stating that you think that is how they should do things. But in all reality it's not.

So, show me this evidence that Google de-indexes sites based on the quality of their content. Because unless you've got evidence to go against what I've said or what Bgmacaw has said in the quoted posts then your statements are no different than mine. You saying how you think Google does things.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by torentash

Could you describe the layout of your site? Full of graphics? No graphics at all? Very little graphics? ...

Here is the layout of my latest Adsense site.

The site isn't finished, the empty white space down the left sidebar will be top to bottom with categories.

I have a single 728x90 Adsense block (bright green rectangle) on almost every page.

The site has been live for about a 1.5 weeks, makes between $15 & $18 per day from a single backlink.

This will be a +1,000 page site when finished.

I already have a similar +550 page Adsense site, that has been running on auto pilot for almost a year (makes very steady $$).

[edit]

When I say auto pilot, I mean I just don't post anymore content. No scripts or anything like that (just wanted to make that clear).

I added a backlink on my old site pointing to the new site, that's how I made money with the new site from day #1.

The content on both sites is very similar, it had to be, in order for me to use my old traffic & keep them interested in the new site.

My old Adsense site has +500 opt-in subscribers, still most traffic comes from a niche forum (not mine).

The new Adsense site traffic will ramp up once I get a opt-in list running, & a few more forum links.

I would out-source the blog post, only I know they would F it up, so I do everything myself & make about 4-5 post per day.

BTW, my sites have nothing to do with articles.

The blue blocks in the image below cover content/keywords.

[Nexus7]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

EXACTLY! You seem to think you know why Google de-indexes sites yet you have no evidence yourself. So why ask me for evidence when you can present none yourself?

Wait a minute. I didn't make any claims that I know what they do and don't do. I was speculating. Get it? You, on the other hand, were telling the OP:

"Google de-indexes micro-niche websites based entirely on the layout or theme. If it looks like one of the many common MFA layouts, then if it gets a manual review it will probably be de-indexed."

Then you told me:

If you doubt me, do a search on this forum here and you'll find more than enough evidence to substantiate my point. Look up information about Google quality reviewers if you doubt that evidence. They review 100s of websites per day and you can bet your ass if they come across a site that looks like 100s of other MFA sites, it's going to get de-indexed.

Pure speculation.

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

I'm not the only member of this forum who will tell you that Google quality reviewers do 30 second inspections of your index page and will de-index you if you're using a common MFA theme. Other's say it as well. Here's some links I found after a 10 second forum search:

Site was deindexed because of fast backlinks..can I get it back???

Site was deindexed because of fast backlinks..can I get it back???

Just to make sure you see the points made I'll quote them:


As you can see, I'm not the only member of this forum who will tell you what a Google manual review looks like.

I'm sure your response will go something like this:
"Well, why should I take his word for it?" "Where's the actual evidence that they de-index sites based on the theme?"

Well... doesn't credibility matter here?

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

Forget that he's been doing this a long time and has seen countless examples from people right here in the forum of their sites being de-indexed based entirely on how it looked.

Yes, and ALL of it based on pure speculation. There's nothing wrong with that; but unless he's working on the review team or has insider information he's just making a wild guess.

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

Like I said, look up the job of a quality reviewer. They review 100s of sites per day and if you think they can get an accurate judgement of someone's content in 30 seconds then your delusional. A 30 second review of a website's index page is hardly long enough to determine the quality of their content.

Then hundreds of good sites would be getting de-indexed for having good content and a not so good looking site. Does that even make sense to you?

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

You can bet however that if they see a website running a theme that has been replicated across 1000s of domains, most of which are running shabby MFA sites, that they will de-index it. Why would you even think otherwise? Let me get this straight. Google sees the same theme over and over and over and everytime they see it, it's a MFA site. Do you really think they are going to take the time to find out if the content is good? Right... Or not.

Kubrick, Twenty Ten, Thesis, etc. Then there's Google's own ugly Blogger themes. I bet they spend all day de-indexing sites that use them.

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

So you know how Google does things, yet you've provided no evidence yourself. According to you, Google de-indexes based on whether the content is user-friendly and helpful. Yet, you actually have no idea. You're basically stating that you think that is how they should do things. But in all reality it's not.

I made no claims on what Google does other than pointing out what's in their webmaster guidelines and what Matt Cutts has stated in videos about providing good, quality content. Are you saying this is false and a reviewer de-indexes a site with good content?

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

So, show me this evidence that Google de-indexes sites based on the quality of their content.

Where did I assert this?

Have trouble reading?

If the content is helpful to the user they would have no reason to de-index a site.

I think there's enough evidence in the Google Webmaster Guidelines to cover this one. But, let's assume a site has a lot of quality content and it gets de-indexed. A better and more logical reason to de-index this site would be because black hat methods were used. That seems a bit more realistic to me. As I said in another post, if looks were the only thing they took into account, then thousands of sites would be getting de-indexed and you'd be reading about it everywhere. I see no evidence of this.

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

Because unless you've got evidence to go against what I've said or what Bgmacaw has said in the quoted posts then your statements are no different than mine. You saying how you think Google does things.

I don't believe I've misled anyone by stating that good content helps keep your sites off their radar. That's common sense.

As for providing evidence against your false and misleading claim, I have none to give other than what I've already said. I believe it's pure nonsense. It might make more sense to me if hundreds of people doing MFA sites were experiencing it. Showing just a handful of people is grasping at straws.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by Nexus7

Well, you're not going to learn something based on what someone thinks Google may be doing. Unless someone can point to any evidence that Google de-indexes sites base on the "look and feel" of it, I say it's BS and it isn't helping anyone. It's like yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded theater just for the fun of it.

Obviously, you have not been a member of this forum long enough to know the
difference. Contrary to popular belief, the WF is not filled with just people bashing
each other. It's actually filled with some pretty solid senior members who
go out of their way to give good, solid, free advice. Take it or leave it.

Paul

[torentash]

Originally Posted by yukon

Here is the layout of my latest Adsense site.

The site isn't finished, the empty white space down the left sidebar will be top to bottom with categories.

I have a single 728x90 Adsense block (bright green rectangle) on almost every page.

The site has been live for about a 1.5 weeks, makes between $15 & $18 per day from a single backlink.

This will be a +1,000 page site when finished.

I already have a similar +550 page Adsense site, that has been running on auto pilot for almost a year (makes very steady $$).

...

I just wanted to ask which auto pilot you use to generate unique article, when you self replied .

So you have only 2 sites? What's the PR of the older one?

According to your layout I can see that you're dealing with products and that's probably the reason you have so many pages.

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by Nexus7

Wait a minute. I didn't make any claims that I know what they do and don't do.

Really? Looks to me like you made some claims.

Originally Posted by Nexus7

Micro niche sites using other themes are just as prone to getting de-indexed if the content offers no help to the reader. It's the content that matters, not the theme.

Pure speculation.

Speculation or not, there have been plenty of people who have had sites de-indexed while using common MFA themes like Bluesense or the Xfactor template. Argue that all you want, but it happens.

Well... doesn't credibility matter here?

Yes, it does. And Bgmacaw is one of the most credible members of this forum as evidenced from his many helpful posts and huge number of Thanks.

Yes, and ALL of it based on pure speculation. There's nothing wrong with that; but unless he's working on the review team or has insider information he's just making a wild guess.

Call it a wild guess, call it whatever you want. The fact is, telling people that it's perfectly fine to use templates that are associated with MFA is bad advice.

There have been plenty of people right here in this forum who have had entire networks of sites de-indexed and guess what...they were using Xfactor templates or other similar MFA themes.

Then hundreds of good sites would be getting de-indexed for having good content and a not so good looking site. Does that even make sense to you?

Maybe it's you that has the reading problem. I never said anything about not so good looking sites. I've already pointed that out to you but you keep glossing over it.

I'll say it again and hopefully this time you actually read it. Not so good looking sites are fine. Sites that are using common MFA themes like the Xfactor one are more prone to being de-indexed.

Think about it. Quality reviewers see hundreds of MFA sites all using the same theme but they just let it slide? Get real.

Kubrick, Twenty Ten, Thesis, etc. Then there's Google's own ugly Blogger themes. I bet they spend all day de-indexing sites that use them.

Roll your eyes all you want. Kubrick, Thesis, etc are not common MFA themes. They are used by a wide variety of bloggers in many different markets with many different forms of monetization unlike the Xfactor theme which is predominantly used by people running MFA sites.

I made no claims on what Google does other than pointing out what's in their webmaster guidelines and what Matt Cutts has stated in videos about providing good, quality content.

Actually you did make claims. Should I quote them again?

Are you saying this is false and a reviewer de-indexes a site with good content?

No. I'm saying that Google will de-index a site running a common MFA theme whether the content is good or not. If you would do some searching in this forum you'd find plenty of examples of people with good content having their entire network of sites de-indexed for running all of their sites on the same or similar themes.

Seriously, there are more than enough examples of people having their sites de-indexed despite having good content.

Where did I assert this?

Originally Posted by Nexus7

Micro niche sites using other themes are just as prone to getting de-indexed if the content offers no help to the reader. It's the content that matters, not the theme.

But, let's assume a site has a lot of quality content and it gets de-indexed. A better and more logical reason to de-index this site would be because black hat methods were used. That seems a bit more realistic to me. As I said in another post, if looks were the only thing they took into account, then thousands of sites would be getting de-indexed and you'd be reading about it everywhere. I see no evidence of this.

You're not looking for evidence then. There are ALWAYS posts about people having their networks de-indexed. If Google sees a website running a theme associated with mass MFA, you can bet they aren't even going to bother reading the content. It failed their review at first glance.

Here's an example I found after searching for literally 20 seconds:

How Not to Make Money Online | How to Make Money Online with SEO
Hmm, there's some evidence for you. I'll quote one specific sentence to help you out:

"The future is changing folks and it’s time to adapt and evolve. It’s pretty clear from Google’s actions that the Adsense/Google search team is on the rampage to clean up the SERP’s. Any site that remotely looks like an MFA site is likely to get tossed out of the index and the owner’s adsense account banned."

Here's another example:

Every Site I Own Was De-Indexed - Is That Possible?

Let me quote a line out of that one for you:

Most adsense sites were the xfactor/clickbump style adsense sites, but all content was very high quality either written by a high quality American writer or myself.

Is this enough evidence for you? Or no, it's not direct from Google so it must not be accurate? You've sure done a lot of arguing against my point but haven't even spent the time to do any research. I literally spent 20 seconds searching and came up with those two examples, both of which are fairly accurate depictions of what is happening to people using the Xfactor theme.

I didn't make up anything in this thread. Everything I have said is direct from my research and experience. There are LOTS of Adsense publishers who have lost their entire business because they were running all their sites on common MFA themes. And guess what...they all had good content.

Notice a common denominator? Hmmm???? Oh, they were all using common MFA themes.

I'm sure you're going to say something along the lines of, "Well they probably didn't actually have good content." Whatever dude. Do what you want, but don't call me out for "speculating" when I'm going off of what I've read, researched, and experienced.

I gave you some evidence. There is a lot more of it out there. But, I'm not going to do the research for you. I've done it for myself and apparently sharing that knowledge here gets your panties all in a bunch because I'm not credible enough. And neither is the member whom I quoted earlier.

I don't believe I've misled anyone by stating that good content helps keep your sites off their radar. That's common sense.

But you have misled people into thinking that using common MFA themes is a good idea.