Could Using Wordpress Be Damaging Your Business

155 replies
Just read a post that BIG MIKE made mentioning in passing that using wordpress for your business could be detrimental in the very near future and I am inclined to actually believe this because and have already started using a different platform to be ahead of it if this does happen.

What are your thoughts on this do you think Google could just slap a teddy bear SLAP on all sites hosted with Wordpress. .

Kickin it on Amazon

Gaz Cooper
Amz Training Academy
#business #damaging #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author OldLodgeSkins
    Where can we read this article please?
    I'm not a WP fan anyway unlike most people around here, but just by curiosity... I'd like to have a look at it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Gaz Cooper
      Originally Posted by OldLodgeSkins View Post

      Where can we read this article please?
      I'm not a WP fan anyway unlike most people around here, but just by curiosity... I'd like to have a look at it.
      As mentioned in my post it was a passing comment which I actually agreed with and thought ti warranted a thread to get other opinions.

      Lets face it Google could pretty much wipe out most crap by filtering sites made with wordpress although it would be a rather wide sweep since many professional business's also use wordpress.

      maybe wordpress is too big for Google to do this who knows

      Kickin it on Amazon

      Gaz Cooper
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      • Profile picture of the author kolbywhite28
        Originally Posted by Gaz Cooper View Post

        As mentioned in my post it was a passing comment which I actually agreed with and thought ti warranted a thread to get other opinions.

        Lets face it Google could pretty much wipe out most crap by filtering sites made with wordpress although it would be a rather wide sweep since many professional business's also use wordpress.

        maybe wordpress is too big for Google to do this who knows

        Kickin it on Amazon

        Gaz Cooper
        Amz Training Academy
        The question is, why would Google want to do this? I think it is an irrational fear.
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  • Profile picture of the author xtrapunch
    News flash!! Google plans to punish all websites using HTML!!
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    • Profile picture of the author Gaz Cooper
      Originally Posted by xtrapunch View Post

      News flash!! Google plans to punish all websites using HTML!!
      Mine is speculation your post indicates you have information to back up your claim can you provide the link to the news flash

      Kickin it on Amazon

      Gaz Cooper
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      • Profile picture of the author LHG
        What is the supposed justification for this? Did he give a reason? If not, what is your reasoning? While wordpress is popular for internet marketing, it is also popular for all sorts of legitimate sites.

        I also see no justification for switching to a different CMS. Everybody switches and they all get zapped in the next round.

        The web would be a much lower-quality place if static html sites were promoted over wordpress sites on the search.
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        • Profile picture of the author fin
          I don't think it will happen.

          I don't care if it does because I don't plan on using Google.
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          • Profile picture of the author Muhsin Aziz
            Originally Posted by fin View Post

            I don't think it will happen.

            I don't care if it does because I don't plan on using Google.
            Well said!
            I am not a big fan of SEO & I myself do not intend to have
            my business depending on google.
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        • Profile picture of the author Sillysoft
          Originally Posted by LHG View Post

          The web would be a much lower-quality place if static html sites were promoted over wordpress sites on the search.
          Do you have proof of this? And you do know that just because someone doesnt use WP that doesnt mean their site is static html right? And WP does display html, just dynamically builds it. Wordpress is horrible, most people on these boards use WP because they dont know any better, which is fine. Whatever works. But WP is slow, very proned to being hacked and limited.
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    • Profile picture of the author mojojuju
      Originally Posted by xtrapunch View Post

      News flash!! Google plans to punish all websites using HTML!!
      This is why I only make plain text pages which are served over the gopher protocol.
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      :)

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    • Profile picture of the author Will Edwards
      Originally Posted by xtrapunch View Post

      News flash!! Google plans to punish all websites using HTML!!
      It's not just HTML - I've heard they've got their eyes on PHP too
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      • Profile picture of the author fin
        Originally Posted by Will Edwards View Post

        It's not just HTML - I've heard they've got their eyes on PHP too
        I think they're gonna make flash dance for their future, too.
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      • Profile picture of the author MONEYDON
        Originally Posted by Will Edwards View Post

        It's not just HTML - I've heard they've got their eyes on PHP too
        I heard everything that ends in a .com lol
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  • Profile picture of the author liindsay
    Sounds like a stupid speculation.

    Just doesn't make any logical sense, that Google would choose to start penalising wordpress sites.
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    • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
      Originally Posted by liindsay View Post

      Sounds like a stupid speculation.

      Just doesn't make any logical sense, that Google would choose to start penalising wordpress sites.
      The trouble is, Big Mike doesn't speculate stupidly, he speculates rather cleverly. As for making logical sense, there's a possiblility you don't have Mikes's logic. (No rudeness intended, I doubt I have either).

      Besides, people thought Google wouldn't do a lot of things but they did.

      I'm not saying I agree or not but I'm with Fin anyway - Google can do what they like.
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  • Profile picture of the author CurtisSWN
    I also have it on good authority that the sky is falling....
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  • Profile picture of the author KateOranum
    I feel like Google is punishing everybody these days..
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  • Profile picture of the author David G Ford
    Sounds like paranoia to me .. Google wants quality sites that provide content to people searching for that content.

    Wordpress allows great visibility (to Google) of the real content - frankly they would be crazy to encourage people to move off the platform. It makes their life easier
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  • Profile picture of the author kyle4hire
    It depends on that content you have posted or used on wordpress.
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveFinch
    Seems like a dumb move to me. I'd have thought google have the where with all to remove poor sites from their results using some other method, rather than removing everything on the wordpress platform.
    In fact the more I think on it the dumber it seems.
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  • Profile picture of the author zoonix
    With 15 to 20 percent of sites on the Web running WP, it's pretty unlikely that even Google would blindly slap them all. Sounds like FUD to me.
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    • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
      Who knows? Fortunately, I don't give a fig what Google, in its arrogance decides. It's been many a long year since I kowtowed to Google.

      I love Wordpress and I shall continue using Wordpress. Virtually none of my traffic is Google dependent.
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    • Profile picture of the author condra
      With all due respect.... Total nonsense.

      Fundamentally, Wordpress is just a few pages of PHP, that have caught on and been as templates for thousands of sites. It is beautifully optimized out of the box to give Google all the information it needs to figure out what your site is about, and how relevant and unique it is.

      Google loves Wordpress.
      Matt Cutts himself has even said this.

      Google doesn't hate bloggers OR affiliate marketers who have good content on their sites. If you have a Wordpress site with good content and natural backlinks, you will not be penalized by Google.

      Googles prime concern with search is that people get the information they're looking for, and they're better than ever at doing that.
      Gaming Google for profit is becoming less and less viable.
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      • Profile picture of the author AZMD
        Originally Posted by condra View Post

        With all due respect.... Total nonsense.

        Fundamentally, Wordpress is just a few pages of PHP, that have caught on and been as templates for thousands of sites. It is beautifully optimized out of the box to give Google all the information it needs to figure out what your site is about, and how relevant and unique it is.

        Google loves Wordpress.
        Matt Cutts himself has even said this.

        Google doesn't hate bloggers OR affiliate marketers who have good content on their sites. If you have a Wordpress site with good content and natural backlinks, you will not be penalized by Google.

        Googles prime concern with search is that people get the information they're looking for, and they're better than ever at doing that.
        Gaming Google for profit is becoming less and less viable.
        I have to agree with you.

        This is a post that I ran across a few months ago and I think it still applies:

        ----------------

        Default Re: I heard that Google is now treating Wordpress websites as Spam, is this true?
        I am a google level 11 webmaster at their forum, so I've analyzed thousands of sites and answered thousands of questions.
        I see clear patterns:
        - link exchanges? penalty.
        - back link anchor over-optimization? penalty.
        - letting commenters spam your site? penalty.
        - buying links from front pages of domains? penalty.
        - interlinking front pages of domains you control? penalty.
        - a plugin you developed/distributed links back to your OWN site without nofollow? penalty.
        - your content found on many sites? penalty.
        - content farm (no clear focus)? penalty.
        - thin affiliate? penalty.
        - made for adsense? penalty.
        - let your site get hacked? penalty.
        - let your domain expire? penalty.
        - hosting downtime? penalty.
        - hidden div with links? penalty.
        - base64 encoding links? penalty.
        - platform? penalty? no.
        My own sites are wordpress and they are on page 1 or 2 for the desired keywords.
        And they use the DEFAULT twentyten or twentyeleven theme...
        One site I own gets 100,000 pageviews a month.
        All of my sites are on shared hosting (h0stg@tor)

        ----------------

        I doubt that Google will go after a specific platform although they do run the show there so they sure could do pretty much whatever they like. As far as other items in that list they should go after because most of it provides for a lousy search experience.

        Crappy sites whether they are WP or not should get crappy search ranking positions.

        AnniePot (above) has the right idea and don't depend on Google either way about it.
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        • Profile picture of the author JEasy
          Originally Posted by AZMD View Post

          I have to agree with you.

          This is a post that I ran across a few months ago and I think it still applies:

          ----------------

          Default Re: I heard that Google is now treating Wordpress websites as Spam, is this true?
          I am a google level 11 webmaster at their forum, so I've analyzed thousands of sites and answered thousands of questions.
          I see clear patterns:
          - link exchanges? penalty.
          - back link anchor over-optimization? penalty.
          - letting commenters spam your site? penalty.
          - buying links from front pages of domains? penalty.
          - interlinking front pages of domains you control? penalty.
          - a plugin you developed/distributed links back to your OWN site without nofollow? penalty.
          - your content found on many sites? penalty.
          - content farm (no clear focus)? penalty.
          - thin affiliate? penalty.
          - made for adsense? penalty.
          - let your site get hacked? penalty.
          - let your domain expire? penalty.
          - hosting downtime? penalty.
          - hidden div with links? penalty.
          - base64 encoding links? penalty.
          - platform? penalty? no.
          My own sites are wordpress and they are on page 1 or 2 for the desired keywords.
          And they use the DEFAULT twentyten or twentyeleven theme...
          One site I own gets 100,000 pageviews a month.
          All of my sites are on shared hosting (h0stg@tor)

          ----------------

          I doubt that Google will go after a specific platform although they do run the show there so they sure could do pretty much whatever they like. As far as other items in that list they should go after because most of it provides for a lousy search experience.

          Crappy sites whether they are WP or not should get crappy search ranking positions.

          AnniePot (above) has the right idea and don't depend on Google either way about it.
          That's a whole lot of penalties. Google is amazing in their hatred for the little guy to say the least. I hope you're site holds up, but if it doesn't you'll be in the "Crappy sites" category which I'm sure is not what you've intended. Don't rant on Big G then .
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          • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
            Originally Posted by JEasy View Post

            Google is amazing in their hatred for the little guy to say the least.
            That is a stupid statement.

            Google has no targetting of "the little guy" just spammers and people creating junk. Regardless of size. They've taken down some BIG players.
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            nothing to see here.

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            • Profile picture of the author JEasy
              Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post

              That is a stupid statement.

              Google has no targetting of "the little guy" just spammers and people creating junk. Regardless of size. They've taken down some BIG players.
              Please name some because I'll gain a tad bit of respect back that I used to have.
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              • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
                Originally Posted by JEasy View Post

                Please name some because I'll gain a tad bit of respect back that I used to have.
                JC Penney Gets Google-Slapped | WordStream

                10 Big Brands That Google Has Penalized For Paid Links
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                nothing to see here.

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                • Profile picture of the author JEasy
                  If you've actually gone deeper in those links you've posted, you'll see that those brands had their penalties lifted in a few weeks. Sorry, nice try but doesn't cut the mustard. The "little guy" as I like to call anyone without a million dollar ad budget can't do that.

                  If you've got the cash Google will entertain you. If you don't, then you're an affiliate marketer, email sending scumbag, we hate you you're screwing with our fortune 500 money, we're tired of this bs you people being able to map our algo, spammer.

                  Period.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
                    Originally Posted by JEasy View Post

                    If you've actually gone deeper in those links you've posted, you'll see that those brands had their penalties lifted in a few weeks. Sorry, nice try but doesn't cut the mustard. The "little guy" as I like to call anyone without a million dollar ad budget can't do that.

                    If you've got the cash Google will entertain you. If you don't, then you're an affiliate marketer, email sending scumbag, we hate you you're screwing with our fortune 500 money, we're tired of this bs you people being able to map our algo, spammer.

                    Period.
                    Sorry but I disagree.

                    I am an affiliate marketer and in the 15 years I've been doing it - Google has done WAY more to help me make money than to hinder me.

                    It's easy to cry about Google's changes when your business model is paper thin and relies of trying to take advantage of them, but a one-man band is no less able to use Google than a big company - budget is just a lame excuse.
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                    • Profile picture of the author JEasy
                      Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post

                      Sorry but I disagree.

                      I am an affiliate marketer and in the 15 years I've been doing it - Google has done WAY more to help me make money than to hinder me.

                      It's easy to cry about Google's changes when your business model is paper thin and relies of trying to take advantage of them, but a one-man band is no less able to use Google than a big company - budget is just a lame excuse.
                      You're living in a dream world if you believe this. Don't worry, they'll find you and when they wreck your business you'll think differently. Plenty of people have had just as solid of a business model as you and have been penalized.

                      Budget is what it's all about, and if you're not talking big money, then you better get ready to pay for Adwords. You're site better be quality too or you won't get any run there either.

                      It's all business.
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                      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
                        Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

                        And let's be realistic - from a lot of the crap that's turning up in the search engines from sites purporting to be a blog, but really a commercial site, don't be surprised if Google starts looking at WP or specific themes or even plugins as a potential flag.
                        I believe this is far more likely to be the case. There are specific themes and plugins designed from the start to game the search results. The software that upchucked those crappy MFA sites spit out plain html for the most part, but did it in a way that made the origins easy to identify. The same goes for the phony 'news splogs' that were all the rage for awhile - the ones that had a happy customer living right by you regardless where you lived.

                        To use a somewhat over the top metaphor, if you have a handgun with standard rounds, one could easily assume benign intentions (like poking holes in pieces of paper or old cans). The same handgun with armor-piercing ammunition? Not so much...
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              • Profile picture of the author David Keith
                Originally Posted by JEasy View Post

                Please name some because I'll gain a tad bit of respect back that I used to have.
                here are some stats from googles farmer update. its harder to get true stats for the more recent updates due to the lag in public reporting on traffic and rankings.

                Google's Farmer/Panda Update: Analysis of Winners vs. Losers | SEOmoz

                you will notice names like business.com, hubpages.com, and ezinearticles.com got hit badly. Those are all pretty big players. EZA has an alexa of about 250 or so last i checked.

                google's objective with these updates is not to punish little guys but to improve search results quality. one attribute i can assure that is NOT in the google algorithm is "number of employees".
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                • Profile picture of the author Bill_Z
                  Originally Posted by David Keith View Post


                  google's objective with these updates is not to punish little guys but to improve search results quality. one attribute i can assure that is NOT in the google algorithm is "number of employees".
                  I'm not so sure their main objective is still to 'improve search results quality". JMO.
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                  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
                    Originally Posted by Bill_Z View Post

                    I'm not so sure their main objective is still to 'improve search results quality". JMO.
                    well, to be honest, i have to disagree. Those are some of the smartest people in the world. They know that if their search results become 2nd rate, they become irrelevant almost overnight.

                    I do agree that some other motives exist. But those types of things exist in every business. Almost all of us decent human beings like to provide value to our customers. But we have to balance that value with our need to earn a living. it can't just be all value with no reward.

                    Google is in the same boat. They need their search results to be good or people will go somewhere else for the searching. But they can't do that for free. They have to earn money. There is nothing wrong with that, but its a balancing game they must play just like the rest of us.

                    google has its hands in a lot of things, but they know what their core business is. They are a long way from letting that fact be lost unto themselves.
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                    • Profile picture of the author Bill_Z
                      Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

                      well, to be honest, i have to disagree. Those are some of the smartest people in the world. They know that if their search results become 2nd rate, they become irrelevant almost overnight.

                      I do agree that some other motives exist. But those types of things exist in every business. Almost all of us decent human beings like to provide value to our customers. But we have to balance that value with our need to earn a living. it can't just be all value with no reward.

                      Google is in the same boat. They need their search results to be good or people will go somewhere else for the searching. But they can't do that for free. They have to earn money. There is nothing wrong with that, but its a balancing game they must play just like the rest of us.

                      google has its hands in a lot of things, but they know what their core business is. They are a long way from letting that fact be lost unto themselves.
                      Well, not overnight. But they will become irrelevant if they continue down this road. According to alot of people, including myself, this recent Penguin update has continued to show that Google is in fact NOT concerned with "quality" search results.

                      Many people's argument is "omg they are so smart they know what they are doing:". So I guess that means smart people never eff up in the name of the almighty dollar?
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          • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
            Originally Posted by JEasy View Post

            That's a whole lot of penalties. Google is amazing in their hatred for the little guy to say the least.
            The SERPs are LOADED with "little guys". The problem isn't that Google hates the little guy. It's the fact that Google hates crap content and most of the crap content comes from "the little guys".

            I'm a "little guy" and I do very, very well as an Amazon affiliate who uses WordPress exclusively. Google doesn't seem to hate me.
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            • Profile picture of the author JEasy
              Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

              The SERPs are LOADED with "little guys". The problem isn't that Google hates the little guy. It's the fact that Google hates crap content and most of the crap content comes from "the little guys".

              I'm a "little guy" and I do very, very well as an Amazon affiliate who uses WordPress exclusively. Google doesn't seem to hate me.
              It's all fun in the sun until your business is affected. They'll find you and slap you. The idea that your content is so awesome that Google actually likes you is really funny. Again, plenty of site owners have great content. Authority sites that have operated for years have great content.

              Outcome? A lot have been sent to the bottom of the deck. Don't be surprised if it happens to your sites.
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              • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
                Originally Posted by JEasy View Post

                It's all fun in the sun until your business is affected. They'll find you and slap you. The idea that your content is so awesome that Google actually likes you is really funny. Again, plenty of site owners have great content. Authority sites that have operated for years have great content.

                Outcome? A lot have been sent to the bottom of the deck. Don't be surprised if it happens to your sites.
                You seem bitter.
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      • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
        Banned
        Originally Posted by condra View Post

        With all due respect.... Total nonsense.
        Thinking about the possibility isn't total nonsense - it's called Risk Management.

        Google loves Wordpress.
        Matt Cutts himself has even said this.
        NO - Google loves good content and Matt, well, he's said a lot of things that he's later backpedaled on or was just flat out wrong.

        Google doesn't hate bloggers OR affiliate marketers who have good content on their sites. If you have a Wordpress site with good content and natural backlinks, you will not be penalized by Google.
        I agree - but we're not talking about WordPress being used as a blogging platform.

        Don't be so sure that Google doesn't hate Affiliate or other types of Internet Marketers...because most gaming Google tries to control comes out of this industry.

        And let's be realistic - from a lot of the crap that's turning up in the search engines from sites purporting to be a blog, but really a commercial site, don't be surprised if Google starts looking at WP or specific themes or even plugins as a potential flag.

        While I've said several times that it's something I suspect, you cannot say with absolute certainty that it won't happen either.

        While I have a few WP sites myself, I don't plan on rushing out and changing them. But I am using them as a benchmark to keep an eye on what Google is doing with that platform when it's used for commercial purposes.
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        • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
          Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

          from a lot of the crap that's turning up in the search engines ... don't be surprised if Google starts looking at WP or specific themes ... as a potential flag.
          There are 'popular' themes that are mainly only popular with the IM crowd. Not your typical blogger or website owner. Someone says "this theme" will make them money and like lemmings marketers pile on board - believing the theme is their magic bullet of the week.

          As a result there are websites where I instantly recognize the theme and "just know" the site is going to be crap. I'm invariably right. Of course my visual recognition is a little different than a Google algorithm, but I believe some of the algorithm changes are simply technical identifiers for footprints someone in the spam team sees and wants to eliminate from the top rankings.

          .
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      • Profile picture of the author CJEmerson
        Originally Posted by condra View Post

        With all due respect.... Total nonsense.

        Fundamentally, Wordpress is just a few pages of PHP, that have caught on and been as templates for thousands of sites. It is beautifully optimized out of the box to give Google all the information it needs to figure out what your site is about, and how relevant and unique it is.

        Google loves Wordpress.
        Matt Cutts himself has even said this.

        Google doesn't hate bloggers OR affiliate marketers who have good content on their sites. If you have a Wordpress site with good content and natural backlinks, you will not be penalized by Google.

        Googles prime concern with search is that people get the information they're looking for, and they're better than ever at doing that.
        Gaming Google for profit is becoming less and less viable.
        Exactly. I see absolutely no reason to believe Google would blanket all WP sites with a slap. It's a little silly to think that site owners would be punished simply for the platform they use, vs the quality of content, link profile, etc etc etc..
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        • Profile picture of the author curly sue
          I think wordpress is ahead of the game, thats why the site is doing so well. In anycase they can reprogram their platform to over come google slap. Its also wise to use other forms of marketing to drive traffic to your site.
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      • Profile picture of the author theimdude
        Originally Posted by condra View Post

        Google loves Wordpress.
        Matt Cutts himself has even said this.
        :rolleyes: He could wake up tomorrow saying he hates WordPress - do you really believe what Matt Cutts say?
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      • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
        Banned
        Originally Posted by condra View Post

        With all due respect.... Total nonsense.

        Fundamentally, Wordpress is just a few pages of PHP, that have caught on and been as templates for thousands of sites. It is beautifully optimized out of the box to give Google all the information it needs to figure out what your site is about, and how relevant and unique it is.

        Google loves Wordpress.
        Matt Cutts himself has even said this.

        Google doesn't hate bloggers OR affiliate marketers who have good content on their sites. If you have a Wordpress site with good content and natural backlinks, you will not be penalized by Google.
        Totally right...because Google has never penalized sites that were doing nothing wrong.

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        • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
          Originally Posted by Black Hat Cat View Post

          Totally right...because Google has never penalized sites that were doing nothing wrong.

          Clever...But it's more like this:



          Never gonna happen. You can all take your tinfoil hats off now.
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          • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
            Banned
            Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

            Clever...But it's more like this:


            Or it might be more like this:



            With Google, anything is possible.
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  • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
    Banned
    Just to clarify, I posted the following two comments that Gaz mentioned...

    Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

    As far as the site itself goes, I think I'd invest in a custom theme, or more practically, a custom site rather than using WordPress. I say this only because I suspect in the not so distant future, using WP for business may become a liability.
    Originally Posted by canyon View Post

    I don't understand why. Is it because it becomes increasingly popular, and the trust levels go down when visitors see another WP theme? - I've just heard this theory, but I don't buy it.
    Not by visitors, but by search engines - some platforms, such as popular forums and content management systems are embraced by search engines. Commercial WordPress sites are becoming synonymous with IM, which was never the intended purpose of WP.

    Many of these sites are becoming similar to MFA (Made For Adsense) sites that Google started dropping a few years ago.

    I obviously don't know for certain, but it seems to me that this is the direction it's heading in based on the last two updates.

    Regardless, I still don't think WordPress is ideal for developing a true Authority Site. Especially if the OP is going to focus on organic traffic.

    Just saying...
    I think you have to consider the possibility of that happening. WP leaves a very obvious footprint regardless of the theme used, it's easy to deploy in volume and widely accepted accepted in IM as the web platform of choice.

    I am also not suggesting that Google is going to slap down every WP site online - I'm simply pointing out that the commercial use of it can easily raise a flag.

    From a purely business perspective, WP has it's share of problems with security, updates and compatibility between plugins/themes.

    I'm not saying the sky is falling, but rather it would be smart to be thinking about the risks involved in using WP down the road.
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    • Profile picture of the author liindsay
      Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

      I think you have to consider the possibility of that happening. WP leaves a very obvious footprint regardless of the theme used, it's easy to deploy in volume and widely accepted accepted in IM as the web platform of choice.
      I see where you're coming from now, but I still don't think Google would go about it in such a way that would compromise all WP driven sites. They may start targeting rubbish sites in general, but there are far too many businesses and well-established websites created with wordpress, for them to come along and penalise them all.

      Who knows though? As has been stated, Google can and will, do what they want.
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    • Profile picture of the author Zach Crawley
      First of all, who really cares? I'm not changing my site because Google wants me to.

      If you get all your traffic/money from Google then that is your fault. You make it your primary means so you have to deal with whatever they do and want.

      If people are that concerned, then worst case they could switch to Drupal.
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  • Profile picture of the author magiclouie
    Here's the truth: Google will penalize wordpress sites that go against their Terms and Conditions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chronic IM
    Hello! I personally don't know and don't see any reasons why, but I'm really interested on where you read this article cause I wanna know more. I've used wordpress with some of my sites and I'm just curious about this.
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    • Profile picture of the author salegurus
      Originally Posted by Chronic IM View Post

      Hello! I personally don't know and don't see any reasons why, but I'm really interested on where you read this article cause I wanna know more. I've used wordpress with some of my sites and I'm just curious about this.
      If you looked you would see it's been re-posted 4 posts above yours... :confused:

      Originally Posted by peewhy View Post

      They said the war would be over by the Christmas in the year started!
      What the heck does that ^^^ have to do with anything???
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  • Profile picture of the author peewhy
    They said the war would be over by the Christmas in the year started!
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    i absolutely think this is a very real possibility.

    just think about every time the IM community exploits virtually any technology. The end result is a google slap of some sort.

    I remember the days when meta tags were just about the only SEO stuff you could do to get ranked. Then when people exploited what was a perfectly good and honest system, google had to devalue meta tags.

    then you have the whole article marketing stuff. Content distribution marketing has been around for a decades. But when IMers got a hold of it it got distorted to such a point that google basically nuked its value in terms of SEO. I realize not totally, but it got nuked to a large degree.

    anyone remember the days of autoblogs? same thing happened.

    WP is a tool, but its a very easy tool to see who is using it. At some point if it gets exploited enough, I will guarantee that google will add it to the algorithm and it would not be a positive thing.

    I read Big Mikes post that inspired this thread, and his post was really directed at someone looking to start a true authority site. Mike was just raising some legit issues that using WP for such a site might not be the best idea. I totally agree.

    WP is fine for a quick site, but to base a business on that you plan to build and develop for the next 5 to 10 years is just probably not the best idea. if for no other reason than the security issues.

    The one very predictable thing about google is that they will ALWAYS act in their best self interest. That means that if they see a trend with WP sites being problematic, i have no doubt it would be reflected in the rankings.
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    • Profile picture of the author theultimate1
      Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

      I read Big Mikes post that inspired this thread, and his post was really directed at someone looking to start a true authority site. Mike was just raising some legit issues that using WP for such a site might not be the best idea. I totally agree.

      WP is fine for a quick site, but to base a business on that you plan to build and develop for the next 5 to 10 years is just probably not the best idea. if for no other reason than the security issues.
      Or you could become an authority like Mashable (runs on WordPress), and give two hoots to what Google "fancies" to do.

      Becoming someone like Mashable... well, that's a different story. Not the original point of interest of this thread anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author silverstarmedia
    There would be no reason for Google to target one publishing platform and leave another overlooked. It's all PHP in the end. It's about how you use it, and the quality of the content. I don't understand why people keep forgetting that... If your primary focus is to generate as many links as possible, then expect a nightmare, regardless of your platform.
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    • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
      Banned
      Originally Posted by silverstarmedia View Post

      There would be no reason for Google to target one publishing platform and leave another overlooked. It's all PHP in the end. It's about how you use it, and the quality of the content. I don't understand why people keep forgetting that... If your primary focus is to generate as many links as possible, then expect a nightmare, regardless of your platform.
      No, it's not all PHP in the end - Google doesn't even see the PHP. Every page served up is a static HTML page that was put together on the server.
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      • Profile picture of the author Sillysoft
        Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

        No, it's not all PHP in the end - Google doesn't even see the PHP. Every page served up is a static HTML page that was put together on the server.
        Yes, thank you for stating this.
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      • Profile picture of the author silverstarmedia
        Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

        No, it's not all PHP in the end - Google doesn't even see the PHP. Every page served up is a static HTML page that was put together on the server.
        My apologies, I should've been more clear... The engine is PHP... The output is still HTML, but the content is still the kicker... Doesn't matter if you're using ColdFusion, PHP or any other server side language to generate your pages, you need to have quality content, period.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kurt
        Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

        No, it's not all PHP in the end - Google doesn't even see the PHP. Every page served up is a static HTML page that was put together on the server.
        Sorry Mike, but I disagree with this...By definition, a page that is "put together on the server" is a dynamic page, not a static one.

        IMO, if Google does do something concerning WP, I'll bet a coke marketers will come out with tools that remove the WP footprint.
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  • Profile picture of the author magiclouie
    Okay, calm down everyone!

    Check this video if you have the time.

    Matt Cutts: Straight from Google

    According to him, "Wordpress automatically solved a ton of SEO issues."

    One of his slides stated that Wordpress takes care of 80-90% of (the mechanics of) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)


    Cheers,
    Louie Tugas
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    • Profile picture of the author MONEYDON
      Originally Posted by magiclouie View Post

      Okay, calm down everyone!

      Check this video if you have the time.

      Matt Cutts: Straight from Google

      According to him, "Wordpress automatically solved a ton of SEO issues."

      One of his slides stated that Wordpress takes care of 80-90% of (the mechanics of) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)


      Cheers,
      Louie Tugas
      Thanks for the link Louie, but i believe that video is 2009, ya know people have to think about all the Local Mom & Pop business sites run on wordpress etc. Matt Cutts even uses Thesis? So i guess we will know when Matt moves over to Blogger?
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    to all those who are arguing that wp is too widely used to fail.

    private companies don't recognize the relatively recent concept that something can be "too big to fail". Google doesn't care how big wp gets. If google believes that a big enough percentage of people using wp are hurting its end user search results, wp will be nuked.

    We are not really close to that yet in my opinion, but we may be close to that when it comes to some themes and plugins.
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  • Profile picture of the author larry1113
    No I wouldn't worry about this at all. Google wouldn't punish a whole platform like that. There are too many legit Wordpress based authority sites out there. Google will just punish weak little sites with no valuable content.

    If you got great content on your site then you're going to be fine. That's just my opinion though, we'll see what happens.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnnywebb
    Haha, that was a funny post. If google ever made the silly mistake of punishing wordpress then you will have millions upon millions of people, that's just a fraction of the number of people using wordpress to power their websites. But thanks for the laugh lol
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  • Profile picture of the author silverstarmedia
    Every speculative post on why Google would punish WordPress is strictly from the standpoint of theory, without any practical reasoning behind it. Whether they intend to focus on a specific publishing platform is probably only the first step in identifying whether they should rank the content of the site, which is why search engines were built in the first place.
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    • Profile picture of the author David Keith
      Originally Posted by silverstarmedia View Post

      Every speculative post on why Google would punish WordPress is strictly from the standpoint of theory, without any practical reasoning behind it. Whether they intend to focus on a specific publishing platform is probably only the first step in identifying whether they should rank the content of the site, which is why search engines were built in the first place.
      I am not sure why people actually think that site content is the only or maybe even the primary SEO attribute.

      We all know that many factors other than content affect a sites ranking, so i have no idea why anyone would think that "the platform" is totally out of bounds or would never be considered.

      Since the first of the year, i have been testing a theory that google is indeed using factors similar to this in its rankings. I do have some statistically relevant data to show that using certain ESP's (email service providers) may actually impacts rankings.

      I am not, nor have i ever been in the IM niche. But over many years, i have watched the IM niche ruin many good things.

      I rely on ESP's for my business, and I do have some reason to believe (statistics) that letting google see you are using certain ESP's does have affects on SEO.

      I am no where near ready to come out and make "the death of XXX esp" report...(i will let ryan deiss do that...lol). But you are crazy if you think google is not watching stuff like this..
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      • Profile picture of the author silverstarmedia
        Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

        I am not sure why people actually think that site content is the only or maybe even the primary SEO attribute.
        Ummm... Unless the world is on it's head, then content is still the primary SEO factor... But lets be sure we're talking about the same thing here... Content is ANY media, text, title, keyword, variant, tag, description, author etc of a developed product. It's the entire package, not just blog article or page text...

        We all know that many factors other than content affect a sites ranking, so i have no idea why anyone would think that "the platform" is totally out of bounds or would never be considered.
        I agree that it's not out of bounds, but it would only help them align their crosshairs on spammy IM sites. Just because you use MySQL with the WordPress front end doesn't automatically mean you'll get slapped by Google. Obviously if you're using a spammy plugin or code, that can have a negative impact on your rankings, but the same is true for Drupal, Joomla, Expression Engine, or any custom developed site for that matter. Even Flash based sites would suffer the same consequences, given a certain level of data is exposed for Google to index the content...

        Since the first of the year, i have been testing a theory that google is indeed using factors similar to this in its rankings. I do have some statically relevant data to show that using certain ESP's (email service providers) may actually impacts rankings.

        I am not, nor have i ever been in the IM niche. But over many years, i have watched the IM niche ruin many good things.

        I rely on ESP's for my business, and I do have some reason to believe (statistics) that letting google see you are using certain ESP's does have affects on SEO.

        I am no where near ready to come out and make "the death of XXX esp" report...(i will let ryan deiss do that...lol). But you are crazy if you think google is not watching stuff like this..
        I would be very interested in seeing this when it's ready!
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        • Profile picture of the author David Keith
          Originally Posted by silverstarmedia View Post



          I would be very interested in seeing this when it's ready!
          not to be rude, but data like that doesn't get released my friend. I am not in the IM niche. I don't train others how to make money online. In fact, it's easier for me to make money online when data like that is kept private and all the normal gurus keep pushing the standard nonsense.

          google doesn't tell IMers stuff like that because they know it would hurt their business. They keep it secret and make IMers figure it out by trial and error.

          That gives them multiple chances to make the snakes among the IM crowd show their true colors with bad SEO tactics to trick google.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    Why do people insist on thinking up hypothetical scenarios and then arguing with each other about them?

    The idea that Google would penalise a site just because it's built with WP sounds retarded. There are tens of thousands of normal businesses (probably more) that have their site built with WP. A blanket penalty wouldn't make any sense. Could they do it? sure - they can do what they want.

    I'm all for thinking ahead, but coming up with highly unlikely random scenarios and then feeling the need to try and rationalise it when challenged is a waste of time. If you have lots of time to think of things that could go wrong, surely there are other more likely things before you drag the bottom of the barrel for stuff like this?

    Worrying about things that probably won't happen doesn't make sense, just keep your eyes open and be ready to react if something does happen. No need to worry ahead of time with some real evidence to suggest things are going to change.
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    • Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post

      Why do people insist on thinking up hypothetical scenarios and then arguing with each other about them?

      The idea that Google would penalise a site just because it's built with WP sounds retarded. There are tens of thousands of normal businesses (probably more) that have their site built with WP. A blanket penalty wouldn't make any sense. Could they do it? sure - they can do what they want.

      I'm all for thinking ahead, but coming up with highly unlikely random scenarios and then feeling the need to try and rationalise it when challenged is a waste of time. If you have lots of time to think of things that could go wrong, surely there are other more likely things before you drag the bottom of the barrel for stuff like this?

      Worrying about things that probably won't happen doesn't make sense, just keep your eyes open and be ready to react if something does happen. No need to worry ahead of time with some real evidence to suggest things are going to change.
      YES!! Finally some sense, and from the UK too
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    • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post

      The idea that Google would penalise a site just because it's built with WP sounds retarded.
      I seemed to recall hearing something like that about Blogger.com sites just before tens of thousands of them got whacked. And Hub Pages and many Article Directories and so on and so forth ad infinitum.

      Oh, and MFA sites by the hundreds of thousands...

      While it may sound retarded to you, given the history of how Google has reacted to virtually every system IM'ers have used over the years, I think it makes good business sense to stop and consider the possibility.

      As WP sites become associated with spam sites more and more, it's inevitable that Google will do something, especially as IM becomes saturated with them.

      Originally Posted by mojojuju View Post

      Lots of marketers use Hostgator, so maybe Google could put a slap on anyone who uses Hostgator hosting. Better switch hosts.
      Actually, a lot of marketers using shared hosting on HG and other hosts have gotten slapped over the years.

      Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

      Sorry Mike, but I disagree with this...By definition, a page that is "put together on the server" is a dynamic page, not a static one."
      But the moment it leaves the server, it becomes static - just pure HTML. For all intents and purposes, the page cannot be changed at that point, so it's no longer dynamic.

      Just semantics perhaps, but it's the script that's dynamic, not the HTML. HTTP is stateless with no persistence, so a served page can't be dynamic by protocol.

      Yes, we can talk about JavaScript and AJAX, but that presupposes that it's enabled and even then, most bots don't run JS when parsing the page.

      Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

      IMO, if Google does do something concerning WP, I'll bet a coke marketers will come out with tools that remove the WP footprint.
      And that is what I see as exactly the real concern. In and of itself, WordPress isn't a problem.

      The real problem is the way IM'ers focus on exploiting everything they can for traffic/profit that invariably causes problems. These are the types of things Google focuses on.

      WP is clearly the most common platform used (and abused) in IM, so I don't think it's a stretch to imagine that Google might eventually begin flagging WP sites for additional scrutiny. Every plugin or theme that's essentially built to game SERP's is going to get flagged sooner or later - I'll bet a six-pack of coke on that.

      Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

      I read Big Mikes post that inspired this thread, and his post was really directed at someone looking to start a true authority site. Mike was just raising some legit issues that using WP for such a site might not be the best idea. I totally agree.

      WP is fine for a quick site, but to base a business on that you plan to build and develop for the next 5 to 10 years is just probably not the best idea. if for no other reason than the security issues.
      For me at least, this is really the crux of the issue - developing a sustainable authority site that's going to be viable 10 years down the road.

      Honestly, how many of those today are built on WP?

      Using it to slap together an affiliate site or membership is fine - those don't need the flexibility or the control that only an original solution can provide.

      Personally, I don't have anything against WordPress as a platform, other than some developer frustration with its limitations. But it's also not a platform I'd ever recommend for the purpose of a stable, long-term authority site.

      While this thread has exploded with arguments on either side of the OP, if it's gotten anyone to really stop and think about it, then I'd say it's served it's purpose.
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      • Profile picture of the author fin
        I think a compromise is in order.

        Nuke any site using a free theme.

        If anyone is serious about there business they should be willing to make an investment, but hopefully not spammers .
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Originally Posted by Matt Ausin View Post

          As an example, you could penalize the sites that have more than 50% (an absolutely random number for the sake of example) of incoming links from other WP sites. A pattern like that would, in a lot of cases, indicate that the site in question is a "money site" (as they are called in IM) and is being linkjuice-fed from another tier of sites that are created purely for manipulating the search engine results.
          Or maybe it's a popular blog, linked to by a lot of other bloggers, without benefit of a so-called 'natural linking' campaign designed to provide 'link diversity.'

          Originally Posted by fin View Post

          I think a compromise is in order.

          Nuke any site using a free theme.

          If anyone is serious about there business they should be willing to make an investment, but hopefully not spammers .
          Jamie, that's hardly a compromise - unless, of course, one sells custom premium themes. Then it's perfectly reasonable.

          If one either acquires or buys the expertise to customize even the default (free) themes, they have enough power for most users.

          And how would you police that? Make a requirement that "serious about there (sic) business" users post a theme receipt meta tag?

          Remember, everybody, that we're looking at this through a different lens. Not everybody with a site on the net is an IMer, and we take some things as normal that 'outsiders' don't even realize exist. Kind of like the one-time felon with a guilty conscience suddenly noticing every LEO he comes across...
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      • Profile picture of the author Kurt
        Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post


        But the moment it leaves the server, it becomes static - just pure HTML. For all intents and purposes, the page cannot be changed at that point, so it's no longer dynamic.

        Just semantics perhaps, but it's the script that's dynamic, not the HTML. HTTP is stateless with no persistence, so a served page can't be dynamic by protocol.

        Yes, we can talk about JavaScript and AJAX, but that presupposes that it's enabled and even then, most bots don't run JS when parsing the page.

        Yes, it is semantics, which is the point. The pages are created by the server, therefore they are dynamic.

        A static page is one created on your computer's hard drive, then uploaded to the server. Any changes made are on the client computer, then uploaded.

        What happens when the page is sent to the browser is irrelevant concerning the correct definitions...All you are doing is confusing people with your definitions.



        And that is what I see as exactly the real concern. In and of itself, WordPress isn't a problem.

        The real problem is the way IM'ers focus on exploiting everything they can for traffic/profit that invariably causes problems. These are the types of things Google focuses on.

        The concerns/problems are only Google's. If they do something about it, then there will be a market for solutions.

        And the solutions won't be that complicated...As you said, the pages are "static html" once they are sent, meaning remove the very few WP footprints and Google has no way to know if the pages are created by WP or "static" html.

        Which brings us to, it will be the "sneaky" IMers that remove the WP footprints, leaving many "honest" quality content providers on the WP platform as those that will be "punished".

        More likely than a straight penalty of WP, Google will reduce the value of certain practices WP makes easy, such as auto-blogging by tightening up on doop content found on other sites and/or constant pinging, etc, and not WP itself.
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      • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
        Originally Posted by BIG Mike View Post

        While it may sound retarded to you, given the history of how Google has reacted to virtually every system IM'ers have used over the years, I think it makes good business sense to stop and consider the possibility.
        Sorry to drag this thread up but I've been thinking about it for a while.

        I was just browsing through Allens private posts in the War Room, I couldn't help noticing this is what he thought of wordpress.

        I have a theory, and it might be totally wrong so don't believe it, but I feel too many people are using wordpress. I don't want google seeing me as 'just another funky ass wordpress site'....

        Like I said, don't believe it, because it really makes no sense at all, but I'm sticking with it anyway...
        ...and that was back in 2008.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bill_Z
    I heard Google is going to penalize sites that are on the internet. Something to consider I think.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sillysoft
    Probably just me but I enjoy hypothetical discussions. Beats the normal posts you see everyday like how to get traffic to my site or how to increase sales etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author BlackIrish
    It is possible - perhaps Google can start seeing WP as "over-optimization" especially if combined with some of the available SEO plugins.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    algorithm changes have always come with (usually) short term unintended consequences. I mean there truly is no way to test a full algo change without having a few million users give you feedback.

    But honestly, so far they have adapted far better than anyone else. IMers tried to exploit google with autoblogs and un-readable spun content, backlink farms/loops, and many many more.

    Their algo changes have managed to do a decent job of making those things a thing of the past for the most part. i realize they exist, but the algo changes have made it not very profitable for most.

    Of course some good sites always get caught up with algo changes. There is no way to avoid that. Not for google or whoever is the search leader 10 years from now.

    This idea that google is out to get people is just nuts. Those of us who run businesses that provide real value to customers see our rankings increase with almost every algo change.

    its those that are playing games that by in large get hit the hardest. And i will tell you that from my experience, google is or will be fighting a battle to largely remove many if not most pure affiliate sites from its results.

    Lets be very honest, most of those sites don't add much value. What do most of us experienced guys do when we hit what we know is a pure affiliate site...we leave. we know whats up with those sites.

    i work closely with a very big hosting company. that industry is notorious for "thin" top 10 web hosts affiliate type sites. if you were google do you really want those type of sites to be in the top 10.

    Google searchers don't want to see that crap. they either want real review sites or the merchants themselves. And lets be honest, there are very few real review sites who are actually getting their own reviews and not just republishing whats found others places like amazon.

    IMers don't like it, but a big percentage of those that call themselves IMers are not adding much true value, and google knows it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Social App Zone
    Wordpress is simply a tool for spamming Google with useless articles. It will be blocked and you would be insane to use it for your business.
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    • Profile picture of the author condra
      Originally Posted by Social App Zone View Post

      Wordpress is simply a tool for spamming Google with useless articles. It will be blocked and you would be insane to use it for your business.
      I really hope you're being sarcastic.
      Hard to tell.
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  • Profile picture of the author mojojuju
    Lots of marketers use Hostgator, so maybe Google could put a slap on anyone who uses Hostgator hosting. Better switch hosts.

    I've also noticed that a lot of marketers use Linux web hosts. Maybe Google would penalize anyone who uses a Linux web server. Better use Windows or BSD.

    Maybe Google will penalize people who use PHP, gzip compression, Dallas datacenters, favicons, blogger.com, javascript, HTML 4, PDFs, red anchor text, PNG images, or HTML tables.
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    • Profile picture of the author David Keith
      Originally Posted by mojojuju View Post

      Lots of marketers use Hostgator, so maybe Google could put a slap on anyone who uses Hostgator hosting. Better switch hosts.

      I've also noticed that a lot of marketers use Linux web hosts. Maybe Google would penalize anyone who uses a Linux web server. Better use Windows or BSD.

      Maybe Google will penalize people who use PHP, gzip compression, Dallas datacenters, favicons, blogger.com, javascript, HTML 4, PDFs, red anchor text, PNG images, or HTML tables.
      your sites ip address does already affect seo. so if you are on shared hosting with HG or any other host, then your seo is already affected by others on the same ip to a small degree at this point.

      Also sharing the same ip or even class C ip with "bad neighbors" also has negative seo affects.

      Your sites loading speed affects seo, which can be affected by lots of things related to your hosting or data center.

      blogger.com was also hit by some of the algo changes in the past.

      there are several things dealing with images that do have some affect on seo currently.

      there are some javascripts that will have negative affects on your seo.

      SEO algorithms are crazy advanced. They include all sorts of stuff.
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      • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
        Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

        your sites ip address does already affect seo. so if you are on shared hosting with HG or any other host, then your seo is already affected by others on the same ip to a small degree at this point.

        Also sharing the same ip or even class C ip with "bad neighbors" also has negative seo affects.
        Can you cite a credible source for this info? This wouldn't make sense.
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        • Profile picture of the author David Keith
          Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

          Can you cite a credible source for this info? This wouldn't make sense.
          i live in houston, i work closely with a little..ok maybe not so little... hosting company that moved from florida to houston a few years back.

          They run a side company called seohosting.com. I help them test all sort of stuff regarding these sorts of things. The whole point of seohosting.com is to provide a separation of ip addresses from sites. original this was thought to only be for link wheel purposes and "bad neighbor" link purposes , but now seems to have other benefits.

          While i will freely admit that i am not a pure seo guy, i probably test more seo stuff than most SEO "experts". With some of my contact i also have access to more data than many seo guys.

          I have personally ran tests that show my statement to be true. whether anyone wishes to take that advice or go on to do their own testing is up to them. I have nothing to gain or lose by letting people know my experience on this stuff. I am not selling seo services...lol
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    • Profile picture of the author Sillysoft
      Originally Posted by mojojuju View Post

      I've also noticed that a lot of marketers use Linux web hosts. Maybe Google would penalize anyone who uses a Linux web server. Better use Windows or BSD.
      Shared hosting can get you penalized, depending on the other "tenants".

      But I say you get penalized for using Windows anyway, so....
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      • Profile picture of the author Bill_Z
        Originally Posted by Sillysoft View Post

        Shared hosting can get you penalized, depending on the other "tenants".

        But I say you get penalized for using Windows anyway, so....
        What? Jesus the sh!t in this forum just keeps piling high.
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        • Profile picture of the author Sillysoft
          Originally Posted by Bill_Z View Post

          What? Jesus the sh!t in this forum just keeps piling high.
          Which part of my post did you have an issue with? Its true, you get penalized using windows with all the viruses and bugs you find in windows and their lovely browser MS offers in IE. So wasn't lying though it doesnt have to do with your online presence, then if your on shared hosting it can affect your site especially if your site is extremely slow due to the overload of the server. If your site takes forever to load it can hurt your internet presence. Then your "tenants" could be doing things "illegally" and cause the ip block to be black listed. So what pile you referring to?
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    • Profile picture of the author CJEmerson
      Originally Posted by mojojuju View Post

      Lots of marketers use Hostgator, so maybe Google could put a slap on anyone who uses Hostgator hosting. Better switch hosts.

      I've also noticed that a lot of marketers use Linux web hosts. Maybe Google would penalize anyone who uses a Linux web server. Better use Windows or BSD.

      Maybe Google will penalize people who use PHP, gzip compression, Dallas datacenters, favicons, blogger.com, javascript, HTML 4, PDFs, red anchor text, PNG images, or HTML tables.
      Great post. You really illustrated the flaw with the argument against WP.
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      • Profile picture of the author David Keith
        Originally Posted by CJEmerson View Post

        Great post. You really illustrated the flaw with the argument against WP.
        i give up. we already know several of the things mentioned in the post you reference do have some affect on SEO.

        Some of them are actually pretty common knowledge stuff by even non-SEO guys..

        I think sometimes people seek to be right or to affirm their pre-existing beliefs, rather than seeking to learn and understand the reality of the way things actually work.

        The one predictable thing is that Google will do whats in their best interest. If they feel WP sites / themes / or plugins are hurting search relevancy, they will get nuked.

        The only real debate is whether or not wp or various themes and plugins do indeed pose a substantial risk to googles ability to return relevant search results without penalizing people based on the use of such platforms or plugins.
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        • Profile picture of the author CJEmerson
          Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

          i give up. we already know several of the things mentioned in the post you reference do have some affect on SEO.

          Some of them are actually pretty common knowledge stuff by even non-SEO guys..

          I think sometimes people seek to be right or to affirm their pre-existing beliefs, rather than seeking to learn and understand the reality of the way things actually work.

          The one predictable thing is that Google will do whats in their best interest. If they feel WP sites / themes / or plugins are hurting search relevancy, they will get nuked.

          The only real debate is whether or not wp or various themes and plugins do indeed pose a substantial risk to googles ability to return relevant search results without penalizing people based on the use of such platforms or plugins.
          OK, you can give up if you like. The points you make in that post are valid, but the argument you made there was an illogical fallacy of distraction. You chose to address similar but different issues, but not the obvious broader point that poster was making.
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          • Profile picture of the author David Keith
            Originally Posted by CJEmerson View Post

            OK, you can give up if you like. The points you make in that post are valid, but the argument you made there was an illogical fallacy of distraction. You chose to address similar but different issues, but not the obvious broader point that poster was making.
            so do you think using WP "could be damaging your business"?

            i say yes... and have given several reasons as to why.

            what say you?... and why?
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            • Profile picture of the author CJEmerson
              Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

              so do you think using WP "could be damaging your business"?

              i say yes... and have given several reasons as to why.

              what say you?... and why?
              Well, it seemed as though the main argument was really about whether or not Google would likely issue a slap on all sites using Wordpress, and to that I say no as I said on page 1.

              Could it be damaging your business?
              Presently? No, not likely. Not if you've got it set up correctly. You'd suffer no more than you would on another CMS or HTML/CSS site, as you'd be facing the same problematic circumstances on those platforms, too.

              I agree with you though that the Google paranoia is out of hand, and Google will do what's best for Google.
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              • Profile picture of the author David Keith
                Originally Posted by CJEmerson View Post

                Well, it seemed as though the main argument was really about whether or not Google would likely issue a slap on all sites using Wordpress, and to that I say no as I said on page 1.

                Could it be damaging your business?
                Presently? No, not likely. Not if you've got it set up correctly. You'd suffer no more than you would on another CMS or HTML/CSS site, as you'd be facing the same problematic circumstances on those platforms, too.

                I agree with you though that the Google paranoia is out of hand, and Google will do what's best for Google.
                In my opinion, the history of how google handles the tools IMers begin to exploit indicates that there is a pretty decent likely hood that some sort of slap is almost inevitable.

                I will agree with you and other here that its probably unlikely to be WP wide.

                But i would not find it surprising at all for google to penalize specific themes or plugins that are widely used and abused by IMers to manipulate google or fill search results with "thin" sites.
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                • Profile picture of the author CJEmerson
                  Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

                  In my opinion, the history of how google handles the tools IMers begin to exploit indicates that there is a pretty decent likely hood that some sort of slap is almost inevitable.

                  I will agree with you and other here that its probably unlikely to be WP wide.

                  But i would not find it surprising at all for google to penalize specific themes or plugins that are widely used and abused by IMers to manipulate google or fill search results with "thin" sites.
                  It wouldn't surprise me either, especially where plugins are concerned. I agree completely.
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  • Feels good not to rely on Google anymore
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  • Profile picture of the author George Sepich
    My first post on the WF in a long long time. Just happened to land on this thread. With Google you never know. What worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. And what didn't work yesterday may work today. It's a bit dumb to speculate on all this. But I will join in the dummy speculation crowd taking place here in this thread and say that Google will not target or penalize Wordpress itself. Maybe a plugin but not the CMS itself.

    George
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  • Profile picture of the author Austin Gregory
    While doing some research on this topic, I came across a video of the head of Google's webspam team actually discussing the awesomeness of wordpress and why you're smart for using it. He does discuss the terrible sites as well. Sure its from 2009, but its interesting.

    Quite a great 45 minutes to be honest. Am I aloud to link to it? I am in no way associated with this website, its just so relevant to this discussion. Any problems with posting the link I can remove it.

    the247entrepreneur.com/jan-2010/seo-friendly-blogs/
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  • Profile picture of the author HFlame7
    Simply using the self-hosted version of WordPress is not going to damage your business by means from the search engines. It's just a blogging platform, that some people extend into being a light-weight CMS. They could attack Wordpress.com, however, but that is not the self-hosted version from WordPress.org.
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  • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
    Banned
    The idea that Google would penalise a site just because it's built with WP sounds retarded.
    Almost as retarded as penalizing sites for backlinks that site owners have no control over.

    google has its hands in a lot of things, but they know what their core business is. They are a long way from letting that fact be lost unto themselves.
    Last I checked, Google was comprised of human beings, and human beings are imperfect creatures....even those who work at Google. Plenty of big companies that also had lot's of smart people working for them have come crashing down for doing stupid things.

    According to alot of people, including myself, this recent Penguin update has continued to show that Google is in fact NOT concerned with "quality" search results.
    Penguin had nothing to do with quality, no matter how many times folks repeat it. It was nothing more than retribution against seo'ers. That's why they, in part, focused on back links instead of...you know....actual quality.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Ausin
    I think Google guys are smart enough to think of a way to use the huge footprint WP leaves without sacrificing the rankings of quality sites that run on WP.

    As an example, you could penalize the sites that have more than 50% (an absolutely random number for the sake of example) of incoming links from other WP sites. A pattern like that would, in a lot of cases, indicate that the site in question is a "money site" (as they are called in IM) and is being linkjuice-fed from another tier of sites that are created purely for manipulating the search engine results.

    That's just one example.

    The solution, obviously, is to continue to diversify your links and include sites that are not powered by WP, but are plain html, joomla, typo3 or what have you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    So just today I showed a client how to do things in minutes that they had been pulling their hair out trying to force Wordpress to do for... Months! Then had another message from a client who's underqualified webmaster had been faking their way along with no clue and in over their head (this is a seven figure business they are running) and only got the help they need when I contacted the client to let them know their webmaster was wasting their time and money. The client called in another qualified team member only to discover their Wordpress was hacked and now they need a security and recovery specialist.

    These scenarios are all too common. In fact the scenario where a blog gets hacked and the outsourced staff or owner has no clue and blames issues on third party service or plugin or theme providers is all to common.

    Sadly many of these scenarios could be fairly easily avoided with more simple business practices, better security, and smarter methods.

    The popularity of Wordpress has caused people to overcomplicate their business and negatively impact their bottom line in innumerable ways. It's a great tool when used right... The problem is many do not use it right.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Neale
    I don't think Google would ever "slap" WordPress sites in general.

    If, however, they find that 70, 80, 90% of crap sites that they penalize are using the WordPress platform then it would make sense that they would add a "flag" to take a closer look at sites using that platform.

    Add to that the preponderance of SEO manipulations being attempted by plugins designed specifically for Wordpress it would be surprising if Google did NOT do something to flag Wordpress sites and at least take a closer look.

    I do think it's POSSIBLE that it might be safer to build new sites on a different platform in the future.

    Wordpress is pretty slick but there are plenty of other great ways to build a website and many with big advantages over WordPress .

    Maintaining WordPress is a pain and really pretty ridiculous if you've been building sites for many years.

    We never worried about upgrading a website every few months before WordPress came along.
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    David Neale

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  • Profile picture of the author idoitbigtime
    Drinkning Milk Cause Worst Things
    NEver saw Saw many BS in one post
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  • Profile picture of the author R. Shawner
    Wordpress is ,from a security point of view, a remote shell with blogging features. (don't know where I heard that anymore but it makes a lot of sense actually)
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  • Profile picture of the author f1rookie
    I think WordPress more powerful for every Business. But need better theme and CMS
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  • Profile picture of the author .X.
    Too many people are worried about giving
    Google what it wants -

    And not enough people are worried about
    giving users what THEY want.

    The irony is, that latter takes care of the
    former.

    If people would simply stop trying to game
    the system with ****, everything gets
    better.

    Stop trying to dump more sugar on ****.

    In other words, Google isn't the problem
    Stupid.

    I wish Allen would emerge and start slapping
    some people around. He never, EVER, would
    have advocated that anyone build a
    business on SEO traffic in the first place.

    Am I wrong?

    You know, somewhere along the line
    the original value system of this community
    got hijacked. It's become a place full of
    people trying to get by at the lowest common
    denominator.

    Is THAT what a Warrior is? Not in my book
    and it's why I've distanced myself from the
    mindset that's now prevalent here. It's
    a virus, an infection.

    Not everyone has it - but too many.

    X
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  • Profile picture of the author Fadiz
    Ok we can't say never cause really we can't predict the future however i'm %99.999999999 sure that this will never happen, even Zillow Premier Agent Website adopted wordpress just recently, can you imagine all real-estate sites will be slapped simply cause they use "x" CMS and it would be kinda funny if matt's blog gets banned as well since he uses wp as well.
    keep in mind that the majority of sites/blogs using worpress are legit... can you see google banning techcrunch or any of the sites on here Notable WordPress Users — WordPress.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Fadiz
    wait are you talking about wordpress.com or wordpress.org ?
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  • Profile picture of the author Danielsk7
    I think it is possible that google will start to target blogs.

    Look at what happened to article marketing nobody thought that some of the big article marketing sites would ever get targeted by a google update but it happened.

    At the same time people were just posting a lot of junk in article directories trying to pass it off as "good quality content" so something had to be done about it.
    Same with blogs I'm starting to see some blogs that are just being used for that purpose.

    I think that if you are posting good quality content you should be safe. If something like this were to happen so to speak.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bruce Wedding
    Big Mike will be gone before Wordpress.

    Wow! The crap that comes out of some people's mouths. There are probably close to a billion WP installations. I use it exclusively and will continue to do so and recommend it. It rocks.

    My latest trend domain, South Beach Cannibal » Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The South Beach Cannibal - With Pictures is ranked #3 in Google a week after I bought it. There ain't no easier/better way and there likely never will be.
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    • Profile picture of the author BIG Mike
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Bruce Wedding View Post

      Big Mike will be gone before Wordpress.

      Wow! The crap that comes out of some people's mouths. There are probably close to a billion WP installations. I use it exclusively and will continue to do so and recommend it. It rocks.

      My latest trend domain, South Beach Cannibal » Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The South Beach Cannibal - With Pictures is ranked #3 in Google a week after I bought it. There ain't no easier/better way and there likely never will be.
      You obviously didn't read the entire thread - at no time did I ever say or suggest that WP would be gone.

      But then again, maybe you are right about the crap that comes out of some people's mouths :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author anymore
    GOOGLE BLACKLISTED MY WORDPRESS BLOG BECAUSE IT WAS INFECTED WITH MALWARE

    They completely removed it from their search engine listings

    Protect your blog before it happens to you!

    Below are a few free wordpress plugins that should help.

    bulletproof-security
    limit-login-attempts
    wordpress-firewall-2
    wp-security-scan

    The best way to solve this type of problem is to always have a complete
    backup of your blog.

    This way, if you can not remove the malware, you can always delete the blog
    and restore the complete blog system
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  • Profile picture of the author keithotzkie
    Bad idea.. Most of the websites nowadays are using wordpress..
    What will happen to those sites now?
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  • Profile picture of the author Stevie C
    I'm no expert I've been at this game about a year and in that time have seen so many changes in the algorithms it's hard to keep up with it all.
    I think Google are capable of implementing major changes at any time, it's not about hating the 'little guy, it's not about improving the search engine results - it's all about the filthy lucre! the bottom line for Google is making money.

    I also have read on a couple of the post penguin analysis reports [ sorry I can't remember where] that some of the cookie cutter 'review site' WordPress themes may have been penalized in the latest algo change..so maybe the writing is on the wall.
    Personally I hope Big Mike is wrong because I use WordPress exclusively but using other platforms as well as not basing my income around Google are two areas I'm seriously looking into.
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  • Profile picture of the author callseller
    Matt Cutts uses WordPress on his site. He uses a Thesis Theme.

    Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO
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    Get 35 Video Scripts for WordPress 3.4 Free

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  • Profile picture of the author Simon Ashari
    This is only the case if you depend on google.

    Apart from that, this is the usual 'death of' scenario that gets posted regularly on the warrior forum.

    Like everything with google, if you provide quality, google will reward you.

    Sure, spammy pages with scraped content (from that new plugin you just bought) might get hit. Otherwise people should be okay.

    -Simon
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  • Profile picture of the author MarvyDery
    They are very powerful and great looking websites built with wordpress. Some of these sites are been run by big corporations. The fact is, because wordpress is free, many spammers are misusing it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
    Originally Posted by Gaz Cooper View Post

    Just read a post that BIG MIKE made mentioning in passing that using wordpress for your business could be detrimental in the very near future and I am inclined to actually believe this because and have already started using a different platform to be ahead of it if this does happen.

    What are your thoughts on this do you think Google could just slap a teddy bear SLAP on all sites hosted with Wordpress. .

    Kickin it on Amazon

    Gaz Cooper
    Amz Training Academy
    Google owns Blogger.....therefore, I can't see that happening without google getting slapped around by certain government organizations for antitrust behaviour.
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    • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
      Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher View Post

      Google owns Blogger.....therefore, I can't see that happening without google getting slapped around by certain government organizations for antitrust behaviour.
      Forgive me Floyd, I may have missed something but this is about Wordpress, which Google doesn't own, not Blogger.
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      Wibble, bark, my old man's a mushroom etc...

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      • Profile picture of the author Alminc
        Take this for granted from a guy whose website once was #2 in Google for 'online business' and #4 for 'make money online'.

        Google will always do anything in their power to get rid of any kind of websites they don't like.

        Repeat this as a mantra until you start believing it's true.


        Now let me explain.

        If Google don't like your website, it does not matter what you or anybody else have to say about the quality of that website. Consider all your seo efforts and money invested in rankings thrown down the toilet if Google just don't like your site.

        There is no way to 'secure' first page rankings in Google, and here's why: Your site is a parasite. You have no power on your own to keep your site being 'welcome' on 1st page in Google. Google and only Google makes that decision 24/7. Algorithmically or manually, it doesn't matter.

        Google is, just as any other company, always acting in their own best interest, not yours.

        If Google decides that, for any reason whatsoever, wordpress or any other platform is capable of gaming their algorithm and working against their interests, they are going to kill it. Sooner or later.

        Therefore, your websites that are (hopefully, and only for the time being) gaining some traffic from Google, should be of secondary importance for your business.

        The real question is not what platform you should use.

        The real question is: should you base the vital interests of your business on rankings in Google?

        Or should you finally start looking for other, more reliable sources of traffic?

        Just look at all those old threads that are selling link building services. They are all suddenly 'panda and penguin proof'!

        C'mon guys, use your brains.

        There are many other better sources of high quality traffic that you can use in your business: PPC, PPV, banner advertising, solo ads, content syndication, integration marketing, video marketing, etc. etc.

        The point is, SEO traffic is far from free, you must know that if you have ever ranked for any decent keyword. It costs a lot of money to get there and stay there. And you have no control whatsoever.

        Why not then switch to paid traffic that you can control, instead of temporarily parasiting on Google and praying for the best?


        Just my 2 cents.


        .
        Signature
        No links :)
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      • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
        Originally Posted by Richard Van View Post

        Forgive me Floyd, I may have missed something but this is about Wordpress, which Google doesn't own, not Blogger.
        Ok, and if google is slapping wordpress, and thus favoring blogger, don't you think people will suspect something highly fishy going on?
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      • Profile picture of the author Schmeckel
        Originally Posted by Richard Van View Post

        Forgive me Floyd, I may have missed something but this is about Wordpress, which Google doesn't own, not Blogger.
        Give it time....give it time...
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  • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
    Why would Google punish WordPress?

    Because...

    Google = The #1 Dominatrix of the Internet

    Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author Invert Planet
    I don't think it will "slap" wordpress as a platform. That just won't happen. What may happen, is that you will have profiling, and wordpress sites may come under more scrutiny than usual. I'd expect to see a great number of sites drop off the map because of the profiling.

    As for using it for a business; I'd have to agree with Mike on this one. No. Many businesses do incorporate WP into their sites, but the core content isn't based on WP. It just looks bad and unprofessional. We use it because it it is so user friendly, but it is very restrictive. I personally, hate it. I do like the pages feature in it but not the "blog" portion of it.

    Will WP get waylaid by Google? Probably not. Will sites that use WP come under scrutiny? It is quite possible. Will your site get de-indexed because of this? That is also a possibility, however correct or incorrect it may seem. After the latest update, my main site took a tanker for a while and happened to bounce back better than ever. That is the ebb and flow of these updates.

    "When you're pulling weeds you're going to get some grass". That is the nature of the business.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Invert Planet View Post

      As for using it for a business; I'd have to agree with Mike on this one. No. Many businesses do incorporate WP into their sites, but the core content isn't based on WP. It just looks bad and unprofessional. We use it because it it is so user friendly, but it is very restrictive. I personally, hate it. I do like the pages feature in it but not the "blog" portion of it.
      I'm not sure you can make a blanket statement like "all WP business sites look unprofessional." With proper planning and execution, WP can be used as the engine driving very professional-looking business sites. Do it right, and only an expert inspecting a page or post's source code can tell WP is the CMS.

      With that said, I will stipulate that WP makes it very easy to create sites that look unprofessional or worse. Look at all the threads just in the forum asking about "free [niche or market] themes." They grab the same theme as hundreds or thousands of other sites in the same niche based on pretty pictures, without realizing that many of these are either shoddy or even infected with stuff they don't want.

      I'll also stipulate that too many people try to force WP into doing things it was never intended to do. Take the humble squeeze page, for example. Why would anyone go through the bother of setting up a database and CMS for a one or two page site? Seems like that would be like trying to enter a Clydesdale in the Kentucky Derby.

      But I can't agree with the blanket statement that using WP for a business site is unprofessional.
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      • ----->>>>> You guys are missing the bigger picture. <<<<<-----

        You've probably never noticed this, but nearly all IM sites are built using the letter "e".

        Yes, that's right, the innocent-looking letter "e" COULD BE DAMAGING YOUR BUSINESS!

        Oh, I know you guys thought it was hip and trendy to traffic in suspicious vowels. But the Googyman's gonna get you, I just know it is! I'm not going to wait for the inevitable Google bite, I've got too much at stake.

        I'm going to tak action now. Tomorrow may b too lat .

        Hurry hurry hurry and sav yours lv s!

        fLufF
        --
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        Love microjobs? Work when you want and get paid in cash the same day!
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        • Profile picture of the author fin
          Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

          ----->>>>> You guys are missing the bigger picture. <<<<<-----

          You've probably never noticed this, but nearly all IM sites are built using the letter "e".

          Yes, that's right, the innocent-looking letter "e" COULD BE DAMAGING YOUR BUSINESS!

          Oh, I know you guys thought it was hip and trendy to traffic in suspicious vowels. But the Googyman's gonna get you, I just know it is! I'm not going to wait for the inevitable Google bite, I've got too much at stake.

          I'm going to tak action now. Tomorrow may b too lat .

          Hurry hurry hurry and sav yours lv s!

          fLufF
          --
          Maybe you were joking (let's say that you were) but you make a great point.

          People who use letters (e,x,i, or anything else) after a keyword rich domain deserve to be thrown of Google for having such an ugly, untrustworthy abomination on the INTERNET.
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          • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
            Originally Posted by Invert Planet View Post

            You misquoted me even though you quoted me. :confused:
            Sorry about that, chief...

            Should have left the quote marks out.

            Originally Posted by Invert Planet View Post

            In my opinion WP sites for business don't look as good as those made from scratch by developers. There is simply no comparison. But we're talking aesthetics and divert from the main topic.
            Your opinion and you're entitled to it. My opinion is different. A properly designed and executed WP theme can equal anything made from scratch. The key, often ignored, is 'properly designed and executed'.

            I do agree that this is just a sidetrack to the main line. Agree to disagree?

            Originally Posted by Invert Planet View Post

            Ditto, with the rest of your post.. rehashed, re-used and redone content with WP seems to be the norm.
            Hard to argue this. But it has nothing to do with WP as a platform and everything to do with the user.
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      • Profile picture of the author Invert Planet
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        I'm not sure you can make a blanket statement like "all WP business sites look unprofessional."
        But I can't agree with the blanket statement that using WP for a business site is unprofessional.
        You misquoted me even though you quoted me. :confused:

        In my opinion WP sites for business don't look as good as those made from scratch by developers. There is simply no comparison. But we're talking aesthetics and divert from the main topic.

        Ditto, with the rest of your post.. rehashed, re-used and redone content with WP seems to be the norm.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Woolard
    I've already taken preemptive measures against the god awful design of wordpress and maybe even blogs in general.

    Google likely ALREADY DOES PENALIZE for wordpress blogs...They have nothing against Wordpress or the number of people using it. It's all about the internal SEO design.

    You have your main PAGE....You put a post. It gets put on the main page, category page, post page, and author page...So there are 3-5 pages where the same content gets repeated (same site duplicate content can't be good...This is totally different from article syndication) depending on your setup.

    Many who are semi-aware use post snippets on there main/category page, but this isn't a 100% solution.

    I use 1 Post on Main page that has a noindex attached to the actual POST page. Its uncategorized and I exclude this category from XML sitemap.

    Then my category page also has one sticky post on it and also a noindex to that stickies POST page.

    All the other posts, are regular single post pages, and they just link to the home page and category page...These posts literally only occupy one page on the site, as they dont get displayed on it's parent category page like a normal blog does.

    Then I remove all other pages like author page+archive pages.

    And my XML file only shows the pages I want and excludes the duplicate content for a bonus.

    Just something to think about.
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  • Profile picture of the author rontheitguy
    I think there's way to much speculation going on in this thread! Whether or not Google (or any other behemoth company) comes along and screws stuff up is out of our control, so I don't see the point in stressing over something that may or may not even come to pass. I suppose if you have the time and resources to convert all your sites to something else, and you rely heavily on Google, go for it! But you won't hear me complaining or worrying about it.

    Here's my philosophy: Life is full of bumps in the road, some we can see, some we can't. So just pay attention, be a courteous driver and watch out for the old the young and the drunk!
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  • Profile picture of the author koolphoto
    So, I guess all these users are going to be screwed!

    Notable WordPress Users — WordPress.com

    I think this thread should have been started on April 1.
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    My name is Ken Katz and I am a Web Designer and Photographer. My motto: "If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse." -Jim Rohn

    Celebrity Portrait Photgapher - My Photography Portfolio.

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  • Profile picture of the author locke815
    I don't think using Wordpress would damage your business. It's one of the best CMS around and big sites like Mashable are using Wordpress so i don't think it would actually damage your business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ashera
    While there are a hundred strong points in this thread, Google isn't one to just slap a large flux of websites because of a certain platform. As much as people complained that the latest Penguin/Panda updates killed internet marketers... it only killed the ones taking shortcuts.

    I've started diversifying almost all my traffic over the last 2 or so months from 99 percent organic down to about 50 percent. Needless to say, if you are providing extremely great content it WILL get shared. Even on my completely Amazon product review sites I see tons of referrals coming in from email clients and random websites linking to my review.

    It was said in here before- stop trying to think about what Google wants and look for what your user wants - that's ultimately what Google wants anyways...
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    If you don't change direction, you'll end up where you're going.
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  • Profile picture of the author nasuryono
    I personally wouldn't think Google will do this in the near future. There are so many websites with great quality content that is hosted with Wordpress.

    By doing so, Google is only hurting their own business.
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    • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
      Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher View Post

      Ok, and if google is slapping wordpress, and thus favoring blogger, don't you think people will suspect something highly fishy going on?
      Sorry Floyd.

      Reading what you originally wrote again I can see what you said. I didn't read that as you wrote it I'm afraid.

      I stand corrected .
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      • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
        Originally Posted by Richard Van View Post

        Sorry Floyd.

        Reading what you originally wrote again I can see what you said. I didn't read that as you wrote it I'm afraid.

        I stand corrected .
        Ah, no biggie.......I'm dense as a brick myself most of the time.....the point I was making needed further refinment so you can see the whole picture.

        Hey Mike......been thinking about you while looking at the news on Greece...how are you holding up over there?
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  • Profile picture of the author Palusko
    I can't see Google punishing sites based on what platform they are built on. However, I could see how they can start having a closer look at sites using certain plugins, or incorporating techniques like exit pop ups, or having several sign up forms on every page etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author mosthost
    It would be nice to see Google die a painful, fiery death. Go Duck Go!
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  • Profile picture of the author maxibrian
    Can you link us the article please?
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    • Profile picture of the author sallan
      I think some people here are over estimating the impact that small time IMers and their content have on the larger online ecosystem.

      I have only recently started to look at IM again seriously after a break of a few years. Outside places like WF no one cares what you are doing or thinks about IM. They might use the services offered by IMers but they are not thinking of you as an industry anymore than they ponder the visual merchandising industry when they go to buy some cereal. We are a tiny drop in a very large ocean filled with all types of content delivered by all kinds of platforms.

      Sure some IMers are a pain in the ass for search engines, but they are not going to punish all users of a particular CMS (54% of websites running on a CMS are WP) we are not that important! Imagine the party Microsoft would have if Google slapped a huge chunk of the online environment and suddenly there was a reason to use Bing!

      If you are really worried about Google penalties then ask yourself why? If you have good content, a well built site and are not using unethical or unnatural looking ranking practices you should be right. (If you have picked a popular niche you might not get to page one, but life is tough sometimes)

      If your content is copied and pasted content with a bit of spin and some extra keywords stuffed in, your site is hard to navigate and full of broken links or your idea of SEO is linkfarms, blog spamming or link blasting software, then clean up your act and sleep easier.
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      • Profile picture of the author koolphoto
        I think the problem with many sites being discussed. especially IM sites, are that they have little to no value. They are all about making money for the owner, not to give value to the reader. Though for some reason the owner's are under the false belief that they are giving value with their words.

        The content on these sites is poorly written as well as poorly executed. That is why these owners complain about Google slaps, updates etc.

        Google's goal is to present the most relevant site for the searcher. They tell you that their goal is not to present spammy, re-written sites that contain a lot of words on it, with hollow recommendations to an affiliate offer.

        Whether these pages are presented in Wordpress, Joomla, PHP or just plain HTML doesn't matter.
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        Celebrity Portrait Photgapher - My Photography Portfolio.

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  • Profile picture of the author totozip
    compared to the blogspot in my opinion much better and is powered by wordpress
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  • Profile picture of the author carlajoyce
    Just started back using WP niche sites, i am a moderate expert with Wordpress going back some 15 years but got a bit disillusioned with it and started building HTML sites. However, recent updates to both WP and niche marketing tactics have got me back on the WP bandwagon.

    I now love WP again and think that for ease of use and flexibility it has got to be the #1 platform for bloggers and IM sites. Just a word of caution you do need to have a good web host and not install tooo many plugins as it can speed down your site and Google monitors load speed as a post Panda ranking factor, so be aware.

    Also, recently purchased the AMZ training academy for some research into my own Amazon niche sites membership program and have to say that Gaz's training is first class, well done Gaz

    Carla J.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anoopchawla
    I don't believe its true, wordpress is just a platform like blogger. It would be unjust to penalize sites just because they are hosted on wordpress, besides it doesn't make much sense.
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  • Profile picture of the author richardpm
    I doubt Google will punish website owners using wordpress, particular plugins or themes maybe but not the platform. Wordpress powers something like 16% or more of the worlds websites, there is little to no chance Google is going to slap wordpress users!
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    Easy Niche Sites - Get 10 Amazing Niche Websites With PLR Articles & Full PLR for a measily $5.00! ==> Easy Niche Sites
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  • Profile picture of the author nasuryono
    No, I don't think using WP can be damaging to your business.

    There are a lot of sites using Wordpress already and most of them have very high quality. Slapping the engine that runs the site will not do Google any good.

    However, it might happen that Google will slap a site that runs spammy content using Wordpress.

    It's not about the engine that runs the site, but its more about the content.
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