Did I blow it?

[brchap]

I've got my fingers in a lot of pies, and one of my most recent pies looked very promising. It was a sub-niche (or micro-niche, if that's your preference) in the very popular niche of [drum-roll]................ Weight Loss.

From my research I was seeing anywhere from 800 to 1500 searches per day, with very little competition for that particular keyword combo. The keyword had about 19 million competitors for a broad match, but less than 10 thousand for an exact match.

I also noticed that many of the sites currently listed in the top 10 for that keyword combo didn't have a ton of backlinks. Some of them were articles on article directories and such.

Surprisingly, I also noticed that no one had actually registered that keyword phrase as a domain. Hmmm...

So, doing what anyone would do (I think), I did the following:

1. Registered the domain that contained my exact keyword phrase
2. Made the .org my primary domain
3. Got the .net and .com domains, also
4. Installed Wordpress
5. Wrote a keyword-rich article and posted it
6. Bookmarked it
7. Started back-linking from a few high PR sites to get it noticed

The article I posted had a keyword density of about 2%, and I also used the exact keyword phrase in the blog title... The keywords where in the post title, but not in the exact order.

Also, the article had a few affiliate links that I cloaked using php redirects, a technique that has worked very successfully in the past... because my primary goal was to make some money (just being honest here).

All of this was done yesterday.

This morning, I woke up to discover that my new little site had made it all the way up to #9 on the Google SERP for my keyword in broad match form. That is #9 in a sea of 19 million sites for broad match... and #2 for exact match.

Needless to say, I was happy about the prospect of only having to start from position #9 and work my way up from there. Starting at the first page would be a refreshing change from what I'm used to, and I was excited about the possibility of quickly dominating this small sub-niche.

But, then, as suddenly as it happened, my new little site vanished from the front page!

Some of the tools I use to check my ranking in the SERPs still say that I am at #9 for broad match and #2 for exact match... but, my eyes tell me a different story [sniffle]. Other tools are telling me that I'm not even in the top 1000 results [sob]. Obviously, I'm now a sad boy.

I keep going through what I possibly did wrong. Was it the php redirects to cloak my affiliate links? I've always heard that Google doesn't really "see" them, but maybe they've found a way. I don't know.

Also, there seems to be some debate about building high PR backlinks too quickly can get you sandboxed... there are some that say it will, there are some that say it won't. I get my links from Angela, and she seems to think that building links quickly won't harm your positioning, but not all of the Warriors here agree.

So, anyway... I know it's only been a single 24-hour period and anything can happen. But, I'm worried that Google thinks that I am a "spammer". Hell, maybe I am. After all, I did try to exploit a keyword opportunity by throwing together a site in a day, complete with affiliate links! But, who wouldn't?

What do the more experienced warriors think? Did I blow it? Will I never see my site in the SERPs again? Will it take 6 to 8 months to get out of the Google Sandbox? Should I just move on?

Also (and probably most importantly), what would YOU have done differently in my situation?

[winebuddy]

if it was yesterday... wait 2 weeks and then come back here and post again. It's the Google dance and if you have a quality site and good content - you'll be back.

[Sour]

It's the "Google dance" (look it up). Your site will be fine. Google just needs a few days to organize things, basically.

EDIT: Two seconds too slow!

[Kay King]

When you launch a new site, google just throws it up - then comes back and places it.

It will bounce around for a while but if you keep working on it you could see some great results.

[brchap]

Yes, I've heard of the Google dance. And have even experienced its effects on some of my other sites. But, I guess I have never seen a site pop-up so high and then get knocked totally off the grid like that!

When my other sites danced, they sometime went down 40 or 50 spots and then popped back up... But, I've just never seen anything like this. I just assumed I was being punished by big brother Google.

[ppcpimp]

there is a very good chance it popped up that high because of your domain name and the lack of competition that you stated.

[brchap]

Well, then! I guess it's time to get busy then. Thanks to all for the votes of confidence.

[brchap]

Here is the update:

I have posted a couple of unique articles (blog posts) onto my site over the last couple of days, in an attempt to get my site's ranking up a little.

I also subscribed to Angela's backlinks, and worked my way throught the packet over the last two days.

After checking this afternoon, my site is no longer available in the index.

REALLY, GOOGLE??? REALLY!?!

Yes, I know I'm freaking out... But, for Peat's sake, I was competing on a keyword that had less than 4000 competitors for my exact keyword match. I think that they would have some room for little ole me! Less than 4000! 4000!!!

My mind is still going over the stuff that I could have possibly done wrong here. I've been reading on the web that Google has been cracking down on sites that are heavy with affiliate links... so I took all of mine out for now. But, perhaps it's too late. I should have hid them better with the robots.txt file, but I didn't think it would be a big deal.

Then again, maybe it was the rapid link-building I was doing with Angela's Backlinks. Even though she makes a good point in her material about rapid backlinking not having a negative effect on rankings, there are a lot of other SEO gurus out there who say that it's super bad Juju.

[sigh]

[digidoodles]

Something weird is going on..

[digidoodles]

Ok maybe it's fixed now!

[Texas_Guns]

Did you straight launch the site with affiliate links...
even though you did php redirects?

I read somewhere that a good strategy is to launch
a site or blog without the affiliate links first, wait
a couple of weeks once Google is tired of dancing,
confirm you're in there, then add the links.

Just a thought... I have not tried the above and
for the life of me cannot remember where in the
heck I read that.

[brchap]

Yes, I did the site: mydomain . com just to verify.

I also use Marketing Samurai to track my rank, and it tells me how many pages Google has indexed. It used to be 1 page indexed... today it was 0.

And yes, my site was ranked #9 for a day... and then it dropped off the charts for a couple of days. Now it is totally gone.

I'm not completely heartbroken... I have other successful sites, pertaining to some offline businesses and such. Those are safe and secure.

But, this new endeavor was my 100% niche IM attempt, so I had high-hopes for it. I had plans for a free ebook, autoresponders, backend ebook, etc. I figured it would be an easy niche to dominate with such low competition, but I've obviously done something wrong in Google's eyes.

[brchap]

Originally Posted by Texas_Guns

Did you straight launch the site with affiliate links...
even though you did php redirects?

Yes, I think that this is where my first screw up occurred. Yep, I'm an idiot. Lesson learned. I just hate that I wasted the money on hosting and domain registration.

[moneysoapbox]

Originally Posted by brchap

Yes, I think that this is where my first screw up occurred. Yep, I'm an idiot. Lesson learned. I just hate that I wasted the money on hosting and domain registration.

Heh, if you wanna talk about some wasted money... >:P

You can always make that money back. You can't, however, create more time.

Whenever something like this happens, use that time gone forever and ever to learn from your mistakes. Learn from it, embrace it, and carry on.

[SteveRenner]

Hey Bradley,
I wouldn't worry yet. Keep adding regular fresh relevant content and give
it a couple weeks.

You should add a few more back links. Try creating a few other sites like
Hub Pages, Squidoo, or Wordpress.com with articles that link to your main site.

This site should rank on it's own merits. Affiliate Links should not matter.

BTW - Be sure to have Pictures with relevant "Alt Tags".

For some reason Google Likes Pictures ;-)

You should also have a Privacy Policy, and Contact Us. (This helps)

[oscarkool]

I don't think affiliate links would matter. Though no one really knows right? Just keep adding new content. This happens to my new sites all the time. Takes about 2 weeks to settle down.

[SurviveUnemployment]

Did you add links that were totally irrelevant? If so, that's probably what killed you. Too early to say whether you've been de-indexed completely. I'd add a few more pages with some good outbound links (non-affiliate), post solid comments on some RELEVANT blogs, and see if you get back in the G's good graces.

It's all about relevance now, folks. Those spammy backlinks hurt you more than they help you.

[RMC]

don't sweat it...

I have been doing this for a while now, and seen it happen a lot.

I tend to think that the first high appearance however is actually very positive. Not all sites I've done just show up that high at first.

Google is a waiting game. Be patient, keep doing what you know the goog loves, and you'll be back up there before you know it.

I've seen a site go from #1 to page 12 to gone completely, then show up again at page 24 or something, and just start cranking right up the ladder until it hit #1 again.

Crazy really, but that's the game.

Also, sometimes it's hard to tell if they've updated so if you're still listed, I like to do a very very minor change to the description, and when i see it's changed on the exact search for my domain name, I know to start looking for new rankings in the keywords I'm after.

[mattlaclear]

You didn't reciprocate any links on your site back to any of the pages you backlinked on did you?

[brchap]

* UPDATE - November 11, 2009 *

I'm indexed again. On exact keyword match, I'm on page 6 (position 51) to be exact. On broad match, I'm not in the top 1000... which is as far as Market Samurai will go, so who knows where I'm at on that.

So, the good news is I'm indexed again. The bad news is that my website is still so far down that it might as well be de-indexed from the perspective of what really matters most: Sales.

Being on the 6th page of google for "my keyword phrase" (in quotes) is not great, but I guess I can deal with that better than not being in the index.

God, I hate Google.

Just kidding... Okay, not really kidding. I really do hate them.

[RMC]

Dude, check my post...

It pops up lower initially than when it finally finishes at.

Plus you can always keep doing more linking and promotion to get it higher.

Many people can't even get a site indexed for any certain keyword. Google is a game of patience hang in there, keep your head down and keep working. Before you know it you'll be on top.

[brchap]

Originally Posted by mattlaclear

You didn't reciprocate any links on your site back to any of the pages you backlinked on did you?

No, actually, I did not. Good point, though.

[Mr Money Maker]

Got to have great content and keep building

[ptone]

I have launched lots of sites with affiliate links all over them before ever being indexed and not once have any of my sites been de-indexed. As a matter of fact, because of proper keyword research and good on-page SEO, my sites always start in the top 20 and usually settle in the top 20. I'm not buying the "Google doesn't like affiliate links" theory.

Yes, they all go through the Google dance and usually after about 4 - 6 weeks, they settle in. Then, I build backlinks and move them up in the SERPs.

Google has multiple datacenters and are currently toying with their Caffeine update. Your site probably got shuffled off for a couple of days and probably had nothing to do with anything you did (at least what you described in this post).

Keep building your backlinks and stop believing all these silly theories you read. After about 6 weeks, you will have a real good idea what Google thinks about your site.

[rosetrees]

Google aren't the be all and end all - there are other search providers! One of my sites gets most of its traffic from Bing. Check your ranking there.

[stu_carver]

If you want to give your SERPs a little boost, try whacking up a Squidoo lens, a WikiDot and Wetpaint page based on your exact keyword.