Optimize My Website - New Sites & Google

New Website Aging Delay with Google

You Need to Pay Your Dues

Many site owners and (Search Engine Optimization groups) SEOs are worried because their new sites that rank well in Yahoo and MSN, are not doing well in Google. There are different theories, from which we have been experimenting with. A probationary period makes sense, but the pattern to this does not. Here is what we have found...

6 Months For Results in Google

I have not seen any brand new sites with new domains appear at the top of the search engine results pages (SERP) since early in 2004. There seems to be a delay of about 6-12 months. I have checked with many site owners and SEOs and I have not found anyone who has gotten a brand new domain ranked well in Google. If there is a magic bullet no one is sharing.

What happens is new sites get indexed after the normal 90 day probationary period, they appear for some obscure queries and they may appear at the top for a week or so, but then they drop to the bottom of the SERP for several months. The page shows a PageRank in the Google toolbar, as well as backlinks. Everything else works fine but it just does not rank well for any terms in Google. Many times, not even the company name.

If you have a brand new site, stop driving yourself nuts wondering what you are doing wrong! Stop tweaking and changing things, trying to influence your rankings; until the site has been in the index a while, it does not seem to matter what you do to it.

Why an Aging Delay?

My own theory is that the age factor for new sites is Google's answer to mini-networks and other multi-site strategies intended to artificially inflate link popularity. Many people divide what should be a single site into multiple sites in order to capitalize on the links that are exchanged between them. Others build a series of small sites that are only designed to add link popularity to the main site.

By delaying the ranking of brand new sites, the mini-network strategy becomes more of a long-term strategy than a quick jump to the top. Site owners who might have started new sites are going to be more inclined to build new pages on existing sites in order to avoid that delay.

Plan Ahead for New Sites

If you are launching new sites for clients, make sure you set the expectation that it is likely to be 7-8 months before the site achieves any real results in Google.

We used to keep a site under wraps and launch it once it was perfect. Now it makes sense to get a few pages up for your new site as soon as you complete them. The sooner Google is aware of the domain, the better.

As soon as you have a domain name, get the hosting set up, put up a temporary page and link to it from another site in Google's index to start that clock ticking.

MSN, Yahoo, and AdWords

When launching a new site, if traffic from Google is critical to your plan for success you need to plan ahead. Get the site out there and linked to as early as possible and plan to run an AdWords and/or Overture campaign for a few months until the site can be established in the editorial results. Yahoo and MSN do not have this delay built in, so focus your early efforts on these engines.

Do not worry, Google will eventually give your new site the respect it deserves -- just give it time.

Written by Administrator
Thursday, 02 August 2007
New Website Aging Delay with Google You Need to Pay Your Dues Many site owners and (Search Engine Optimization groups) SEOs are worried because their new sites that rank well in Yahoo and MSN, are not doing well in Google. There are different theories, from which we have been experimenting with. A probationary period makes sense, but the pattern to this does not. Here is what we have found... 6 Months For Results in Google I have not seen any brand new sites with new domains appear at the top of the search engine results pages (SERP) since early in 2004. There seems to be a delay of about 6-12 months. I have checked with many site owners and SEOs and I have not found anyone who has gotten a brand new domain ranked well in Google. If there is a magic bullet no one is sharing. What happens is new sites get indexed after the normal 90 day probationary period, they appear for some obscure queries and they may appear at the top for a week or so, but then they drop to the bottom of the SERP for several months. The page shows a PageRank in the Google toolbar, as well as backlinks. Everything else works fine but it just does not rank well for any terms in Google. Many times, not even the company name. If you have a brand new site, stop driving yourself nuts wondering what you are doing wrong! Stop tweaking and changing things, trying to influence your rankings; until the site has been in the index a while, it does not seem to matter what you do to it. Why an Aging Delay? My own theory is that the age factor for new sites is Google's answer to mini-networks and other multi-site strategies intended to artificially inflate link popularity. Many people divide what should be a single site into multiple sites in order to capitalize on the links that are exchanged between them. Others build a series of small sites that are only designed to add link popularity to the main site. By delaying the ranking of brand new sites, the mini-network strategy becomes more of a long-term strategy than a quick jump to the top. Site owners who might have started new sites are going to be more inclined to build new pages on existing sites in order to avoid that delay. Plan Ahead for New Sites If you are launching new sites for clients, make sure you set the expectation that it is likely to be 7-8 months before the site achieves any real results in Google. We used to keep a site under wraps and launch it once it was perfect. Now it makes sense to get a few pages up for your new site as soon as you complete them. The sooner Google is aware of the domain, the better. As soon as you have a domain name, get the hosting set up, put up a temporary page and link to it from another site in Google's index to start that clock ticking. MSN, Yahoo, and AdWords When launching a new site, if traffic from Google is critical to your plan for success you need to plan ahead. Get the site out there and linked to as early as possible and plan to run an AdWords and/or Overture campaign for a few months until the site can be established in the editorial results. Yahoo and MSN do not have this delay built in, so focus your early efforts on these engines. Do not worry, Google will eventually give your new site the respect it deserves -- just give it time.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 02 August 2007 )