I have a site (kept private for obvious reasons) which is far more relevant than any other site for my keywords.
I have a niche real estate website with over 3,000 listings for which I am paid by brokers to show to the world. The closest runner up has 17 listings.
The site is optimized perfectly - ranks #1 & #2 in Yahoo & MSN for virutally all of my keyword/phrases. And again, it should - it is well designed, optimized, and by far the most relevant. And I have more incoming links than any of my competitors and a nice internal linking structure as well.
Here is the thing. About 1.5 years ago (when I started this site) I used some "black hat" techniques to get good Google rankings - I honestly did not know I was doing wrong - I just copied what the top 5 sites were doing. So - I was #1 for sometime..then I disappeared..realized I made a big mistake..Google "banned" me. I went from a PR5 to a PR-Zero.
Well - I thought they banned me..but they let me sign up for Google AdWords and they were more than happy to take my money for those same search terms & phrases. So I guess they did not really care about the techniques I used - My Money Was Still Good @ Google! I went to work emailing them, telling them that it was a mistake and I did not know what I was doing (which was the honest to God truth!). A few months later I was a PR1...now I am up to a PR4 - but I am not on the first page for any of the keywords or phrases I optimize for (and pay for via Adwords).
So, here is what I am asking.
If you are a corporation (not a person - a corporation) and your only legal resposibility is to your shareholders and the bottom line...Your legal obligation is to make your shareholders as much money as you possibly can.
Does it make sense to put my website back where it belongs - in the top spots - when you know I am willing to pay you $500/month? How about a few or ten or twenty thousand others who have the most relevant websites which are well optimized...but they are willing to fork over money to you. I would guess it may be kind of easy to just turn the other cheek.
No one is really looking anyways - right? Who would police it. No one.
Is there anyone else out here who thinks I am on to something?
I know Google says "Adwords and Natural Results are completely seperate!" - but says who? Says them. They just want you to take their word for it..because they said so..Is there someone who checks these things?
I am one person who does not believe it - OR - they should just come out and say their search engine is the fastest but it sure as heck is not the best...their natural results are far inferior to both MSN and Yahoo! - in this case anyways.
Please tell me what you think and I apologzie for any typos, poor grammar, or puncuation problems!
That's what's working well now...
And never thought of it!
A same domain in the 1st spot in the new MSN, and does not apear in Google SERP at all. While we put $1k in AdWords for it eveny month.
It would be interesting to turn the AdWords off... but the problem is - we DO NEED that traffic...
So what does one do?
:)
Because "they" say that is the way it is. And that is all..no proof..just the good old word of Enron..oops..I meant Google...Giant Corporations always tell the truth.
I am not accusing Google of anything..I am just telling you exactly what is happening to me.
It sure looks like Google prefers to keep my site on the 2nd page of results because they know I am willing to fork over $500 every month.
If this is not on purpose - Google results are inferior to it's competitors.
But I think there is something going on.
