Forum Moderators: open
Today, the site consists of a one page graphic stating it is "undergoing network maintenance" (and has been this way since September). No text is on the page. In the meta tags, it has two words for the keywords and a four word description.
Now, here's the interesting part. The domain name of the site matches perfectly a very popular search term. Additionally, until going out of business, the site had good content and would be on target for a search using this keyword term. The site also had a ton of backlinks from similar sites, all of which used its domain name in the link (which of course equals the popular search term).
Anyway, what is interesting about this is that Google - now in January - still ranks this site #4 for a very popular one word search term (13,500,000 results). Google shows the correct page in its cache and also displays the 4 word description tag in its SERPS. Moreover, it has been this way for the past three months. I thought it might drop the site after this update, but if anything, the site may have moved higher!
So, my point is, how can Google continue to rank so highly a site that is essentially out of business (and has been for the past 4 months!).
To me, at least, this example displays a shockingly high reliance on link analysis, PR and domain name - and shows one glaring weakness in the Google algorithim. After all, here's a site without a single word on it and that consists of one page - but still receives super high rankings for a popular search term due to backlinks from other sites and its domain name. A user who visits this site is going to be sadly disappointed since it isn't around anymore.
At a minimum, how come Google doesn't obviously check to see if there is any content on the page to verify things? I always believed before this that Google also judged a site on its content to some degree. Well, heres a site without any content at all, and still highly ranked.
This is all probably easier seen than explained, so if anyone wants to see a strange weakness in the Google algorithim, feel free to sticky mail me and I'll send over the search term and domain name of the site in question (if no moderator minds).
To me, at least, this is really bizaare. Hope someone else finds it interesting, too.
Jim
I think it really demonstrates how one part of a complicated algo can override all other factors.
It does not however mean content, as in text on the page, doesn't have an effect. Onpage factors can for example outweigh PR easily.
Specifically this example goes to show the immense power of targeted linking, as opposed to sheer PR.
Thats all there is, not even an alt tag.
Averaged out score from 3 zones = position 3 in Google.
Zones not present (text, alt, etc) are ignored in the averaging and therefore have not diluted the average score from the 3 zones that are present.
I think!
Mrs. Jefferson: George, Money isn't everything
Mr. Jefferson: Weezie, that is just something poor people tell themselves so they can get to sleep at night.
Google is just a bunch of algorithims. In time that site will probably be weeded out.
"In the meta tags, it has two words for the keywords and a four word description."
That doesn't mean much - google pays almost no attention to them...
There are plenty of pages that google doesn't EVEN READ - so it has no way of knowing if there is content on it at all.
Content is great. If you have good content - everything else will come naturally. This gives you a strong base to build your site.
However, if everything else is in place - content doesn't matter much....
There is nothing wrong with years old pages.
Old pages, as you point out, do very well in google in some cases do to their stablished links.
There are plenty of pages that rang well for things about search engines that are merely a collection of outdated links.
They are ranked well because they are listed with high ranking companies and universities.
Your case and the case in the original post are different. He is claiming the page DID change. When people change their links - the page will drop. Older pages that HAVEN'T changed - are much less likely to drop.
It had just disappeared in about June 2002 but then reappeared when Google messed with the algo.
LOL now it is climbing in the ranks and it is no longer even remotely related to the search phrase.
My only guess is it must be the anchor text from all the inbound links that is keeping it popping to the top.
