Getting Pages Reindexed Before I'm Fired!

[javawookie]

Hi All

Back in February I created a small 6 page preview site ready for the launch of a 500 + page site in August.

I figured it would take a couple of months in and out of the index and then Googlebot would come round daily and when the new site was swapped over to our main domain we would get a full index in a matter of days.

All this was going to plan until about 6 weeks ago, the whole site dissapeared from the index inc a URL search. Googlebot seems to have stopped visiting, last time was about 4 weeks ago and it only indexed the home page.

I hoped after the last update I would reappear, but only for the URL address, I can't be found under any keywords.

Has anyone got a ideas what I can do to get this site indexed again, before I got fired

Thanks

Steve

[promis]

javawookie, do you have incoming links to your 6 page site? If you have are they shown by a link:www.yourdomain.com search?

[mrguy]

I feel for you!

People say get links, but how do you get links that count anymore?

This new era of Google is for the birds.

Of course those few who have their sites showing well will tell you other wise, but the majority of people are feeling the pain.

It's such a cliche, but try to get some more higher PR links coming to the site. I'm almost tempted to say get the links to point to an internal page sense index pages seem to be on the out for new sites.

Good Luck!

[martinibuster]

Isn't it possible that your 6 page mini-site's disappearance is an accurate reflection of it's relevance for whatever keywords you are plugging?

How is it that you ranked well for keywords with a 6 page web site to begin with? Please give more details- hidden text, hidden links, cloaking... non-competetive keywords?

It's quite possible that your six page minisite is ranking where it should be ranking.

Why is this so hard for people to accept? Many people would rather assume that they were banned than accept the possibility that their site is no longer relevant.

Relevance has nothing to do with how you optimize a site, it has to do with how clearly your web site communicates it's message.

A six page mini-site?

[edited by: martinibuster at 3:09 pm (utc) on June 24, 2003]

[javawookie]

Hi Everyone thanks for your replys

promis : I get no matches using link:my url on Google.

I have not used any spamming methods to get my positions, I guess the introduction copy I have used satisfied Google enough to give me a decent position.

What worries me is why I have lost every link I used to have and that Googlebot seems to have virtually stopped coming round look at my logs below since April

11 June,2003, 9:58 am / Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)
23 May,2003, 7:47 am /bar-accessories.html Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)
26 April,2003, 4:39 pm /kitchen-gadgets.html Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)
26 April,2003, 7:37 am /buyersguide.html Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)
26 April,2003, 7:34 am /bar-accessories.html Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)
26 April,2003, 7:32 am /news.html Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)
26 April,2003, 7:28 am /themes.html Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)
26 April,2003, 6:48 am /knive.html Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)
26 April,2003, 5:43 am / Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)

[promis]

Then if you have no incoming links and Google dropped temporarily your site from its index for some reason how will they pick you up again, or even if they do, how can you expect a 6 page site with no incoming links to rank for anything anywhere? Google may have messed up things somehow lately but not by that much! My suggestion is to start getting some serious incoming links from related sites that are visited by googlebot often. From the crawl data you posted it seems you were never in its permanent index. It was only the freshbot.

[menton]

hi javawookie

I would hang in there a bit longer before getting really worried. Like you I had sites (2) disappear and both were relevant and didn't use any spam.

I came in yesterday morning, and one of my sites had come back to its old positions, even though it hadn't been seen for the competitive keywords since Dominic. The other site hasn't shown up yet.

All I can say is fight the temptation to panic and keep your fingers crossed that it will turn up over the next few days. One thing I found was that my sites did extremely well on search terms that I had decided not to focus on. Try looking for your site in this way if you have any minor terms.

mrguy, I find myself agreeing with what you are saying. I wish it was different.

menton

[javawookie]

Thanks everyone for your comments, the reason I haven't gone after links is because its a 'preview site' for the big site.

I will wait until the big site goes live then begin my linking strategies

Java

[HitProf]

I've read something somewhere about not a full crawl for whatever reason so G might not have visited every small site this time around. Did you check -cw? That one has some more pages included.

Could the site have been off line during crawl? Some joker put up a robots.txt or robots meta? August is still 2 months away :)

I still think you should try to get some incoming links before the new site goes live even if they are more off topic or from low PR sites.

Good luck!

[g1smd]

I don't know why some people here are incredulous that a six page website could do really well?

I know of a one page website at #1 for several three word phrases, and doing well for a few two word searches as well. The site has some very nice inbound links that were acquired simply by the owners of other sites seeing this informational site and linking to it. They probably found the site when it was new, by seeing the well-placed fresh listings that were in an out of the index during April. A few sites may have also noticed the new site from their referrer logs.

Make sure you have some decent inbound links and Googlebot should pick you up within days. It might take up to two months to get relisted though. I would get to work on that now, so that you are already just about in the index when the new site actually goes live.

[edited by: g1smd at 11:33 pm (utc) on June 24, 2003]

[Seattle_SEM]

Dear javawookie,
I would just go ahead and resign, to avoid being fired. I've had to do this on two seperate occasions. If you're lucky, they will not dispute your un-employment claim.

;-)

[martinibuster]

You're right g1smd, it is indeed possible to score in the top 5 with a 6 page web site- I've done it myself. You make a valid point.

However, it is difficult to maintain if you don't have a growing links campaign, or a growing index of pages to support your main ones, especially in the face of a competition that is growing and collecting links. Let's face it, in a competitive environment you have to keep moving or else you sink.

Yes, I'm incredulous, it's my nature. My intent was not to accuse the orignal poster, but rather to extract more details, such as, are "these keywords competitive or not?"

Part of my reaction is attributable to the fact that the original poster was attempting to manipulate Google with a scheme to not only keep a "place-holder site" in the index until they could unveil the real site- but they also wanted to score for it as well.

Ok, it's my opinion and I realize not everybody's going to share it, but this strikes me as somewhat off- and a subsequent drop in the serps for a "place-holder site" is logical and almost inevitable seen from the perspective of relevance and the integrity of Google's search results.

It's enough that Google knows you are there, and until the real site rolls out, the serps are a non-issue. In other words, I don't see a reason for the poster to be fired just because Google's algo doesn't feel that a "place-holder site" is relevant enough.

[edited by: martinibuster at 11:58 pm (utc) on June 24, 2003]

[dauction]

I find it incredibly arrogant to assume that 6 page sites are less relevant than sites with thousands of pages of drivel.

In fact I find it incredible that Google dosent apply a penalty for sites that simplply create links and pages for the sack of manipulating Goolge's SE in order to gain rank :)

[martinibuster]

6 page sites are less relevant than sites with thousands of pages of drivel.

If you are referring to my post, then where did I say that a multi-thousand page drivel site should beat a six page "place-holder site?"

Or were you making a general statement of outrage against those awful horrible people who would champion thousands of pages of "drivel" against a six page "place-holder" site?

[g1smd]

Well, that one page wesite I mentioned was actually a placeholder page! It went online in late March. It was a page with information about something happening in early May, and it did get listed quite well most of the time (but was in and out of the listings).

On the day it did well, and has stayed at #1 ever since (except for odd days that it drops to #60 (which happens for a day or so, about every couple of weeks). There was a thread about it for a while: [webmasterworld.com...]

[dauction]

"How is it that you ranked well for keywords with a 6 page web site to begin with? Please give more details- hidden text, hidden links, cloaking... non-competetive keywords? "

You seem to be implying that 6 page sites are not worthy of placement, and to top it off you appear to be implying that it can only be done (placed well ) using hidden text, hidden links etc...which is ludicrous.

It's quite possible that people's thosand page maxisite's are NOT ranking where they should be ranking.

Why is this so hard for people to accept? Many people would rather assume that they are providing worthwhile content than accept the possibility that their sites are simply drivel who's only purpose is to achive a ranking instead of providing worthwhile content. :)

I maintain a belief that Google should install a "publishing fee" for any site over 100 pages(with of course a wide array of contributing variables).

I want google to succed at offering quality content..not quantity AND this move is the motherload revenue source that will also bring the Google on the market enriching more pockets than just SEOmasters

[martinibuster]

You seem to be implying that 6 page sites are not worthy of placement,

From my original post:
"You're right g1smd, it is indeed possible to score in the top 5 with a 6 page web site- I've done it myself. You make a valid point."

and to top it off you appear to be implying that it can only be done (placed well ) using hidden text, hidden links etc...which is ludicrous.

From my original post:
"My intent was not to accuse the original poster, but rather to extract more details, such as, are "these keywords competitive or not?"

dauction, take a moment and read my post clearly before responding to it. Take what I say at face value, and stop reading into it what isn't there. I'm not implying anything beyond what I clearly stated in my post.

Thanks.

[lukasz]

original poster was attempting to manipulate Google

If he waited until his "big" page is done, how long it would take him to just be indexed. 5 months, 6 months or more.
So I wouldnt call it a manipulation. It is simply playing by the rules - Googles own rules.

[g1smd]

I think that a "mini-site" with relevant content before the "real" site comes along is a good idea. It gets the domain "pre-indexed" so that when the "real site" launches it is already findable by people who missed what the domain was called. A "mini-site" is far better content than "This site is owned by widgets-r-us. Page under construction" anyway that you care to look at it.

[dauction]

You clearly stated that you think "mini sites" should not rank well.. you made that very clear.

I clearly stated that most enormous sites are drivel and that their main purpose is gaing rank..not quality content.

Thanks

[g1smd]

*Thwack!*

Now Behave.

[martinibuster]

The place-holder site is a great idea, I admit.

My objection comes more from the posters need to score with it- and their subsequent disappointment that their placeholder actually lost positions in the serps.

Part of my reaction is attributable to the fact that the original poster was attempting to manipulate Google with a scheme to not only keep a "place-holder site" in the index until they could unveil the real site- but they also wanted to score for it as well.

I then go on to acknowledge that there will be others who don't share my opinion.

Hey, it's a place-holder. It's not the site itself. As long as it's holding the place, this should be enough and the person shouldn't lose their job over it.

And dauction, I would appreciate it if you stopped putting words into my mouth, I do well enough on my own.

It's happy hour!
;) Y

[taxpod]

Hey, can we get back on topic? Google is now busted for more than 2 months? Seems this specific event has been seen before. Each time the guy with the busted site tells surfers that they are improving the search, just be patient. Again, these guys are not the first to claim this. Maybe they'll fix things and maybe they won't. It's none of my business if they end up piled on top of AV on the SE junk heep. Believe it or not, people will not hang around for junky serps. Something else is due to capture the public's imagination and a new star will be born.

It's time to figure alternatives. For searching, I've deleted the Google toolbar as it is too easy to use this. I'm now using my bookmarked SEs for reliable serps. As for sources of traffic, I'm now seeing significantly more traffic from Inktomi serps than I am with G. I've wasted too much time trying to aim my efforts at the oh-so-mysterious G algo. It is time to branch out for other sources of traffic.

[martinibuster]

Topic: Does anyone got a ideas what I can do to get this site indexed again, before I get fired

Not a discussion of Google Algo, Inktomi, AltaVista, or branching out for other sources of traffic... ;)

[mil2k]

Do you have other websites Properly indexed in google? If yes give one way links to this site of yours. There are ways to do these sort of thing. First one is read these forums regularly. Second one is contribute as much as you can. How this will help? Your profile page(PR 6) enables to give a link out to your home page which is applicable if you are a regular poster. Once you have 2 or more PR 5 sites you can use them to give one way links to your website to get it Pre-indexed before their launch. HTH :)

[javawookie]

Hi All

Looks like i've stired up a hornets nest!

I've several other websites with PR's of 4 - 6.
Which are linked to this site.

My strategy behind creating a mini site was not to get any decent rankings, but just to get Google to index it and visit on a regular basis, then when I swapped over to the large site, it would hopefully reindex in a few days.

If I had waited until the large site when online then submitted to Google or swapped links I reckon I would still be waiting at Christmas.

Not really sure what I should do, I don't reckon many people or Directories are going to link to a 'Preview Site'.

Java

[mil2k]

I've several other websites with PR's of 4 - 6.
Which are linked to this site.

Ok then I suggest you to wait till this update completes.

[aravindgp]

Dear Java,
>>>Not really sure what I should do, I don't reckon many people or Directories are going to link to a 'Preview Site'

Firstly , what you did about Mini-site is good as a start idea, but it would have greatly helped you if you could add page a day yes every day(Read Brett's 12 month successfull site ..if you have already not done so)this helps in content building slowly and making googlebot visit regularly as well,googlebot according to my knowledge doesn't visit sites often which are not regularly updated.Infact this is the case I observed with Fast Bot as well.

Secondly,you could start adding as many preview pages of the new site.This is what every site does I belive, they keep adding content to already exsiting page.

Lastly, What you can do now?
1.Keep building incoming links.
2.Try to speak to resource-zone.com DMOZ editors.Build relationship with the editor explain about your site.Find out is there any precautionary steps to be taken.Remember Don't submit underconstruction site.It will never be approved.
3.There are many people here who get sites indexed faster.Find out how they do it.Take up research on what is the frequency of GoogleBot for various sites, what do they update what do they change.

Submit this as project plan at the place you work, explain them your strategy and Actionplan.Discuss time frame.

I hope this helps,

Aravind

[javawookie]

Hi Aravind

thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

You have some interesting ideas

Java

[onlineleben]

>>you could add page a day yes every day<<

Although a page a day may against your concept of launching the big site in full in august, you could start applying smaller changes to the pages you already have. Post something like news about the upcoming event (website launch) and other stuff on your pages, so that the bots see FRESH content and get accustomed finding fresh stuff. Later when you launch the full site, you don't have to wait that long anymore for to come along.

Good luck