7 replies to this topic

[bobmeetin]

The business owner for one of my projects has asked me talk with, possibly enlist the services of, a contractor who does SEO for a manufacturer whose website has been around for at least 10 years. He has gotten their key phrase to the first page and sometimes top result of google for a batch of local areas, some large metros:

• keyword phrase baltimore
• keyword phrase washington dc
• keyword phrase annapolis
• keyword phrase ...

The results I see are organic, not local.

 

The claim seems to be fairly well substantiated, however ... I did a quick look-through of the website and see major infestations of Penguin.  It has a box above the footer which lists:

• keyword phrase baltimore
• keyword phrase washington dc
• some client keyword phrase
• etc.

These are links that take you to many almost identical pages.  They seem to be doing well, however what I am seeing seems to be a lot of keyword stuff (links) and a ton of duplicate content pages, spamming techniques.

Is this eventually going to catch up with them, or because they are a major manufacturer, can they get away with this?  I'm somewhat apprehensive about taking their advice or methods verbatim. Other feedback?

[qwerty]

I'd like to be able to say that the day will come (and come soon) when they'll regret this, but it does seem to me that the bigger they are, the more they can get away with.

 

And I don't want them to get hit because they're evil and deserve to be punished. I just don't want people seeing this sort of thing and concluding it's safe for them to do it too.

[bobmeetin]

Ditto ditto.

 

No they are not evil and the manufacturer provides a worthwhile service, but this certainly has Penguin written all over it. 

 

Business owners such as the one in question, unfortunately, they only see the output and want to know if you can take the advice with results that follow suit.  It is working for them ........ I'm anticipating a "just do it" as opposed to a safe route. Perhaps over-anticipating.

[bobmeetin]

I'm seeing more of this as I research competition my eCommerce, local services project.

 

Business A has created 30+ pages by city names and replicated the content perhaps 90% from one page to the next.

 

Business B is using a feedback page per city.  They display testimonials for each city and in the testimonial name the service category and service type with each testimonial.  This version seems to be marginally more relevant even though replicating the category and service is marginally spammy. But it seems to be working.

 

How does google know where to draw the line, relevant content vs spam?

[Michael Martinez]

Their algorithms are not perfect but I think people forget they are not just trying to measure what is WRONG; they are also trying to measure what is RIGHT.

 

Would a typical consumer, landing on that Website, be able to take care of their needs relatively quickly and easily?  If so, that might be enough to justify ranking the site above others while ignoring the bad stuff.

 

Just because a Website uses keyword stuffing or manipulative links doesn't mean that the search engine will automatically penalize it. They may just ignore the bad behavior and judge the site on everything else.

[torka]

That's something I often have to caution people around here about -- when you look at another site that seems to have good rankings for one of our desirable keywords, understand they may be ranking well in spite of some of the "techniques" you see on their site, not because of them. That's one of the dangers of blindly copying elements you find on other sites without understanding both what they are trying to accomplish and the risks they carry.

 

My

 

--Torka

[bobmeetin]

Yes, I hear what you and Mike are saying.  As I alluded to, the testimonial method feels more legit than duplicating pages and swapping a couple city names.

 

Slightly off-topic --> With regard to Penguin penalties, if they do come into play (why didn't G call it Albatros) if a penalty were enforced would it be for a specific page or key phrase mixture or would G apply it to an entire site.

Edited by bobmeetin, 05 April 2013 - 11:12 AM.

[Jill]

With regard to Penguin penalties, if they do come into play (why didn't G call it Albatros) if a penalty were enforced would it be for a specific page or key phrase mixture or would G apply it to an entire site.

 

When it comes to duplicate content, Google has stated (somewhere) that now it can in fact affect an entire site, rather than just the particular pages it's on. I've seen lots of evidence that this is true. (Although, if anyone likes to make distinctions, I believe that's Panda, not Penguin.)