ezSEO Newsletter #113
March 5, 2006 by Andy
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EzSEO Newsletter # 113
Andy Williams ez SEO
ez-search-engine-optimization.com
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This week:
1. Hyphenated domains – death of MY website?
2. Cheaper alternative to Article Announcer
3. Is Adsense your thing?
Hi again.
This week I am taking a break from the miniseries as I feel the first item in this newsletter is one that deserves your full attention. As you will see after reading section 1, I am very busy, so this is a short newsletter.
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1. Hyphenated domains – death of MY website?
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A few weeks back I recommended a book by Colin McDougall called the VEO Report.
What I liked most about the book is the way Colin’s techniques for building a site mirror my own. In the book, and also in Colin’s newsletter, he talked about domains with hyphens in them. Colin has stated that domains that have hyphens will be penalised by Google.
Colin’s source seems once again to be Google engineer Matt Cutts, and Colin stated that the penalty would come into effect at the end of February, beginning of March.
Soon after Colin dropped this bombshell, I remember getting a lot of emails from people asking me if I seriously believed Google would just penalise all sites that have a hyphen in the domain name. Isn’t that just unfair? In the emails, several people cited my own ezSEO site (which has three hyphens). Is that going to be penalised?
My reply to these emails was simple. If Colin’s source was to be believed, yes they will penalise hyphenated domains. However, I had hoped that some sites would be white listed based on age, Page Rank (or TrustRank) etc.
So, why am I telling you all this?
Well, in the last week or so, my ezSEO site has suffered a drop in Traffic of about 30%. In the past, I could review a product, and get into the top 3 at Google within 2 days. The last product I reviewed on my site was CB Accountant.
That page was #1 in Google for CB Accountant Review, and #2 in Google for CB Accountant.
Check for those search terms today and you wont find my site listed at the top any more.
It seems that Colin’s information was spot on again. It might be a little too early to say that this is the reason for my site dropping, but the evidence points that way. Google PR has recently been updated in the Google toolbar, and that site still shows a PR5 (sometimes PR4). So my site has not been PR0′d, but it has lost its rankings. That to me indicates an algorithm penalty. Since I don’t (and never have) used dodgy techniques on that site, I can only assume that the hyphenated domain is triggering the penalty.
Looking through the new search results, I see very few domains with hyphens. It looks to me like:
* domains with one hyphen have avoided the penalty.
* filenames with hyphens still seem OK
I have other old websites with more than one hyphen, and they seem to be affected in the same way.
So what can be done?
Well, if the penalty is an algorithm change, you should be able to life the penalty by moving the site to a new domain. I did this yesterday for one site, and will be doing this for my ezSEO site this week. I wont go into the methods for moving a domain here, but if there is an interest in this, I will cover how I go about it in a newsletter.
In the coming weeks, I will keep you updated on the success of this switch-over, and whether the site recovers.
For those of you who doubted Google would make such a sweeping “statement”, think again, because Colin’s for-telling of doom does seem to have come to fruition.
For those who want to know more information on future changes to Google, I still highly recommend the VEO Report. It seems that Colin has charmed his way into the inner circle of a Google engineer, and really does have insider information.
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2. Cheaper alternative to Article Announcer
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Since its release, I have used Article Announcer.
for promoting my articles. I still do use this tool, but realise that its price is well above what most are willing to invest in their business when just starting out.
Recently, a friend recommended I check out a new tool for submitting articles.
This tool works in a similar way, and has 188 article directories and 51 mailing lists which you can submit your articles to.
One difference that I would suggest you use cautiously (if at all) is the automatic posting mode. This allows you to submit to all selected directories with a single click (unlike AA and other similar pieces of software) that force you to visit each site. It is ALWAYS advisable to read the posting guidelines on the sites you post to.
If you are looking for a way to get your articles out easier and quicker, I can highly recommend this tool.
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3. Is Adsense your thing?
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Are you creating websites that focus on Adsense revenue? I know this is an increasing trend amongst webmasters, so I thought I would mention an interesting tool that I have been playing with. This is another keyword research tool, but, where it shines is in the Adsense Market. Imagine being able to search for keywords with a maximum keyword bid over $20. How about $30? How about more? How useful would that be in planning a website.
The people responsible for this tool are the same guys who brought us Keyword Analyzer, and at the moment, they are even giving you a copy of that tool as part of the deal.
To read more on this tool, I suggest you read this page.
Well, that’s it for another issue. If you want to read the recent issues of this newsletter, you can read them online here at my blog:
http://ez-search-engine-optimization.com/blog/index.php
For older newsletters, you will need to visit the old archives at:
http://ez-search-engine-optimization.com/archives
Have a great week!
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