Why does google love my junk websites?
I really suck at building websites!
Honestly, I do.
Looking back over the years (wow, almost 8 years now…I am getting up there), I have built some of the funkiest, stinkiest looking websites around.
Graphics…bah. A waste of time right?
A fancy template with lots of bells and whistles…I had no need for that.
An ugly (by conventional rules), bare looking “homemade” website with quality and relevant content. That is what I was interested in creating.
I didn’t enjoy creating graphics and good thing…I would have likely sabotaged my sites!
I know Carson spoke to you last week about the importance of a website in this day and age. To be honest with you, I think it has always been important. What is not as important is how it looks…sites that I created in 2003 are still effective.
In fact, sites without any “template at all” are still effective. Flat white background with a small border around it with good sales copy, and relevant pages within still work.
So, if technology has produced so many killer ways to build websites with a lot of flare and a lot of graphics, why hasn’t the way people view websites changed?
Think about this for second…
If you were searching for a solution to “change your dodge caravans spark plugs” in Google and were taken to a revolving door to your solution, what would you HOPE for on the other side.
CONTENT on how to change your spark plugs.
If the content is of quality, you could care less about the picture of the caravan in the banner, the moving image on the right, the beautiful detail that went into the table layouts and graphics….YOU WANT CONTENT.
People search Google for content.
And marketers that deliver the “sought after” content are those that succeed. And that leads me to the idea of…
The Backwards Website Model
What if you were to build a website in reverse, based on what works (meaning, what earns you money).
Where would you begin to start? What lead to all your conversions?
For those of you that have been able to achieve success online, you are likely putting your hand up right now and shouting out the answer.
The answer is: THE CONTENT, THE STORY, THE SALES COPY, OR THE OFFER
All of these relate to writing, and none of them relate to graphics. If you reverse engineer any successful website out there, the graphics would be the last component to come. The content would be the first as the content is what leads to success.
And so goes the QUALITY of the content…
Ethics are still important. Content is only content if you are doing it simply for displacing money. IE, earning money without offering adequate “stuff” in return. That leads me to the fact that although websites are key, you need to think of the bigger picture when creating your content….who is reading it?
BUT…Aren’t Websites Important?
Yes, websites are key. Google no longer has love for people that direct link They don’t care for people that do redirects. In fact, they don’t even care much for affiliate link. The reason being is there is a huge gap they are seeing a need to fill between their paid advertisers and their top search engine optimized sites.
The content quality has always been much better for “natural listings”. Just a few years back, Google implemented what we call the Quality Score algorithm to try to increase this quality. I remember back in the day seeing things like an ad being listed under a a keyword like “weight loss” that was for “making money online”.
Now, this was not cool for someone doing a search within the search engine that was faced with getting an irrelevant result for their search. In order for Google to sustain their search market share, they needed to improve this.
So Quality Score came.
People then learned to “game” Quality Score. Creating relevant pages, with little or no content Quality.
What marketers would do is simply stuff in a couple of relevant keywords, and then drive their traffic to click affiliate links…in which they would earn a commission from. It worked…and people made a ton of money.
But Google Caught On!…
They found this loophole within their own Quality Score calculation and have recently stuffed a massive hole in these marketers game.
Stuffed a hole to the tune of anywhere between 100,000 and 200,000 Google Adwords accounts being shut down without warning. To the tune of advertisers losing all their Quality Score rank and having their sites red flagged. To the tune of million dollar marketers completely losing their businesses overnight!
Google now wants, really, what it should want.
Quality content. Relevant content. Enough content. AND no greasy salesmen.
Google basically wants their user experience (people searching for stuff) to be the best possible. Google wants marketers to have their own website and to put some thought into the content they write…for it to be unique, and for it to be adequate enough for a decent experience.
So, the rules of the NEW AGE are:
(1) Having your own website (a must)
(2) Having adequate content
(3) Having relevant content
(4) Having unique content
(5) Not trying to trick Google by stuffing keywords in your site
(6) Not being a smoke and mirror salesperson
You follow these rules, you are cool with Google and your are cool with me. What worked for me worked back in 2002 when I was starting out. Not because I knew some secret strategy then, I always put myself in the “searchers” shoes and aimed to make the search experience as good as possible.
BTW, I have ad groups that I have not touched for the last 6 years and are still effective. They follow the convention and if you work forward using the “user experience” model, you will have a safety shield from any major Google slaps, dances and punches.
The Internet has changed, but the ideology of website success has not.
Let me say this again in another way…
The Internet has NEW RULES, but the SAME OLD WEBSITE STILL PREVAIL!
Take it easy,
Kyle
Wealthy Affiliate
www.wealthyaffiliate.com
PS. I love to get feedback…so if you have any comments, please feel free to leave them below.
I happened upon this site by accident. I don’t do marketing but I will say there are a LOT of junk sites out there. You search for your topic, select one from the search, go to the site and first thing is advertising IN YOUR FACE. Pop ups, flashing block and banner ads,Good Grief! Even if there is some good info, about 90 % of the time I leave as fast as I can. And tt’s getting worse (hear me Google?).
Dear Kyle, Carson and All of you out (or in? (: ) there!
I have discovered you just today. At about 11AM. And it is 9.30PM and I am still reading…
What a delight to meet “Internet People” with humane feelings, honesty and desire to help each other!
What an incredible hope in finding that even such an Internet giant like Google wants to get rid of all kinds of cheaters and go back to the old times when a simple hand shake used to be worth the deal carved in stone!
Maybe we all still have a chance….
My grandma used to say that everything bad is for something good. And here is my story:
I have lost a significant source of income lately. I do struggle. So, I’ve been doing what everyone would be doing in this situation. Looking for a job everywhere… Even considering trying to make money on line, but kinda reluctant to do so after all my experience with the fabricated success stories, false statements or thousands of dollars being just a click away…
However, being in a given situation, I was thinking… well, some people have been making tons of money doing it, there should be some little way to find at least some kind of income for me…and I entered the “home income profits” web site delivered to me through my e-mail web site, I guess, with a kind of “…let’s see if this one will be any different…” attitude.
I’ve read it through and since I do not buy anything without checking on it, I searched it through Google. The very first web site listed was a Reviewopedia.com. explaining the dirty techniques of “Home income profits” scam. AGAIN! At that point I was sooo ready to give up trying anything else!
Then I’ve noticed that Steve was giving away the whole e-book Internet Income Blue Print for free!! I jumped on it. I am broke. What can I loose?
And there I’ve gotten the good out of the bad. I found YOU.
I’ve read about you, I’ve looked in your eyes and I went through your blog and the reviews. And I’ve got the feeling that there IS a bright star in the scam flooded Internet!!
Dear Kyle and Carson, I believe that whatever you’ve been doing for all those years has been successful by using the only PEARL-technique possible and it is treating your customers with honesty, love and respect, while seeking always and only the good you can do for them. You have grown beyond doing business of teaching people to do the right thing. You are on a mission of teaching people to do the things right!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
PS: This is my first contribution to any blog ever. I think it is way too long. But I could not help it.
Eva
I look forward to joining you at WA!
Great post.
I know for me that I trust a site more if it looks well-written. The spelling and grammar definitely have to be up to par.
Furthermore, I do consider the layout. If it looks appealing, I trust the content more.
If I’m turned-off by the graphic design i.e. black background, difficult to read text, then it automatically makes the content weak for me – even if I haven’t read it.
@ Jason
It doesn’t take a lot of seed money to get things rolling online. There are free marketing techniques (SEO/article marketing) that you can implement when getting started to get the revenue coming on. These are taught within WA and we offer you the tools, training and services you need to get rolling with this.
Cheers,
Kyle
Listen, I’m seriously considering on signing up with the program ever since I’ve visited the website, but I have no computer skills at all. I’m 22 years old with an associates degree in nursing, and I’d like to start making more of an income. I just want to how I will be able to do this with a limited amount of money to invest in the program, and no computer skills. I’m desperately looking for some advice…
It’s plain and simple: be honest and ethical, and make yourself useful and ressourceful to others – we won’t make long term money trying to find the way to trick things and people, because we would only end up tricking ourselves. Its okay to work hard, and to work well, to earn a living in the e-commerce scene. Trying to find the way to cheat a search engine and therefore polluting the whole internet community to get rich is not.
That is why I chose WA. They are no nonsense, ethical, and they truly are givers. That’s what makes them wealthy. Their wealth comes from who they are, and the passion they have for what they do. Not from the last recycled trick. They deliver, and they deserve what they earn. I intend to and will ultimately do the same, in my own way, in this e-commerce jungle. And sure their expertise will help me, and *many* others!!!
Thanks a lot Kyle,
cheers!
@ rufinus
Yes, WA hosting does support WP blogs.
Cheers,
Kyle
Nice,,
what am not sure about is, DOES WA, free HOSTING HOST WORDPRESS BLOGS??
C-PANELS, THEMES, PLUGINS …E.T.C,,,,,
I SEE A LOT OF PPLE LOVE WP.
@ Richard
I believe a lot of our spelling problems are stemming from the fact that most of our “writing” these days is spent texting, instant messaging, and facebooking. People no longer have to articulate themselves when they write and are taking shortcuts…i mean, wut dz it mttr if you can rght nemor. lol, lmao.
Great points.
Cheers,
Kyle
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for your great community. But don’t go thinking like the USA, feeling you are the be all and end all! We can always get better.
Fred’s site was cool, at No 1 as he said. Simple and creative, and probably adequate for his needs.
Yes, keeping things simple is a lot of needless headache off.
Suzi is right you know. We are writers, artists. We create beauty where others may not see ‘em! So, let us do a little more editing. What we are creating is called “intellectual property” and they will out-live us. To the limit of our vocab, let us write to make reason. Typos do exist, but not as flippantly created as some did following Kyle’s comment as if it’s become a fad. If bad grammar were okay it’d be accepted in schools. Lets not turn errors into fads, it’s lazy. Anyone keen on doing that should go pick up a shovel.
The info on google clamp-down is a relief to some of us who felt intimidated by such under-handed strategies as people were getting away with back then. And now let us write for real.
Thanks for letting me talk though ‘am not in yet.
well written blog. Im glad that I could find more info on this. thanks
@Niko…the intention is not to make your website UGLY on purpose. If you can make a nice looking so, do so. The point of the post is to state that you do not need some amazing looking website in order to succeed. Quality content can lead to success, regardless of the package in comes in.
Cheers,
Kyle
Very interesting indeed.
Personally, I do think that most of the sales pages I see look absolutely dreadful.
I guess I should ask for a clarification then:
Do you think the squeeze page needs to actually look “UGLY”? Or just simple?
…because there is a huge difference.
You can make “simple” look nice.
I’m just curious now, as I really wanted to focus on making pleasant-looking sites (yes, obviously content comes first).
NIKO
It would appear that simplicity is what Google wants.
I designed and put up this web site for a friend of mine less than 3 weeks ago, (it’s hosted here at WA), and as of this morning it’s in number 1 position on Google, (out of 2,160 results), in a search for thai massage in Haliburton which are the keywords I was targeting.
If you take a look you’ll see just how simple it is!
Fred
P.S. at least 2 of my own sites linking to this one are also showing up in the top ten.
Nice post! Thanks for that Kyle
I really really LOVE this post and will keep coming back to it (repetition is key for me lol). I worry so much about perfection and my pages being good to look at.
Thing is that’s what takes me soooo long while actually getting into people’s heads, listening and really getting a hold on what people want are the things I do best in my other none IM work (though I’m rubbish at sales!).
Thanks again for a great and timely post Kyle.
Paula
great posting Kyle,
simply put…marketers don’t have to be web-techie. Just write good, quality & relevant content.
This blog and WA itself already is the best thing out there.
Hi TheSue =)
I can answer #3 for you. You said….
“3. Do not want to mention names, but a well known and much loved WA guru has just put out a whole free guide on direct/cloaked links. from informative relative content articles. Does this mean the new Google love will ignore them?”
In the guide you are referring to, it isn’t necessary for Google to “love” the link. Google is not in charge of that traffic – your articles are. That isn’t something you are trying to get ranked, nor is it something you are trying to get a good quality score for to use PPC/paid advertising.
Hope that makes sense =)
Kyle – GREAT post, as usual. I really enjoy the way you write.
Jennifer
~PotPieGirl
PS – I forgot to answer #1. You are correct – you can no longer advertise, talk about, or promote WA on Squidoo.
The person who said too much information is right on! I keep forgetting about this blog–and it has the exact right amount of info. I am taking a week and re looking, re-reading, re-doing the action plan—so I can write down an improved plan for my campaigns. Got to understand backlinks….. I am pretty sure all I need is in WA and in the member training so I do not need to buy fancy stuff— that is everywhere this week.
Comments:
1. I thought Squidoo no longer allowed WA promotions– due to overload
2. There is a WA tutorial on how to use Blogger as a landing page–no ads, just looks like a good simple landing page. Then after a few weeks, if it looks like the traffic is good– make a WordPress site and buy a domain.
3. Do not want to mention names, but a well known and much loved WA guru has just put out a whole free guide on direct/cloaked links. from informative relative content articles. Does this mean the new Google love will ignore them?
4. As with anything, balance is the key–a simple graphic can enhance— eye catcher– the article and content need to keep them there. What a relief to know fewer hours can be spent on looks!
5. You may have done this a thousand times, but on the Google site they claim people mis-use the term duplicate content. They spell it out, the difference between an author submitting their own work more than one place and blatant copying , but I keep reading duplicate content warnings. could be a nice topic to follow up this Google love post. Use their words and your explanations?
I promise not to forget about this blog—- With the size of WA it is your best way to connect with us. I wish I could be your assistant for a month and really learn it all– but alas— This blog will be the next best thing.
Awesome post Kyle! Thanks for lot of great content i feel i have learned some new stuff. I will try to put on much more quality content so Google will be happy.
Good share,you article very great, very usefull for us…thank you
Great post Kyle!
Can’t wait to get my hands on your new site buliding tool because that is what I truly need. I will how ever follow through on the employment of a young webdesigner. Together we will be able to do so much more.
Please let me know what (if any) I can do to qualify for the beta testing…
Regards,
I will join you guys very soon. I am working currently in my job but when I do join I am going to take it very serious!
Thanks!
Exactly Kyle,
People should stop striving for perfection in their websites. As long as the content and relevant message is there then you will get (a) sales or (b) opt-ins.
When I first met my wife, it was her well-designed layout that caught my eye, BUT, it was her honest, sincere, and real content that captured my 20 years of brand loyalty.
Content is King! (or Queen)
@ suzi
Content and sales pages are really apples and oranges. Content could be anything, whereas a sales page (like you mentioned) is simply a type of content. Sure these sales pages have scam written all over them and yeah, they probably are a scam in most cases. However, what I am referring to is content relevance and content quality to the visitor on your page. If someone is looking to “carve a canoe” and they come to your site and you are selling canoes, you have missed the mark by a long shot. Google may see this content as relevant even. BUT, it is wasted traffic because it is not relevant info to the initial search.
I agree with you on spelling errors…in MOST CASES. If you are coming across as a professional or you own the product and your sales page is riddled with typos, then yeah, it is a bad thing. If you are taking the “average joe” approach, then the odd spelling mistake can make you seem “real”. I am not saying to purposely spll somtheng wrong but the odd mistake can take a lot of the robotics out of a “personal branded” website.
Cheers,
Kyle
@ Brad
Probably wordpress…the learning curve is much shorter and the management is much easier once you have it set-up. Dreamweaver can have it’s advantages if you are a product owner, but as an affiliate I would hands down say go the WP route.
Cheers,
Kyle
Kyle…
You are so true but I think that you are leaving out a point that was made by Carson I think on his March 24th blog… Where he talked about making your website or e-mail marketing talking to them as a friend… He used the example “moving a couch”… Need to add that rule to your list that your content need to be solving the problem and talking to them as an old friend. People always do their message with the end result of just making $$ and not looking at the long term of building trust as a long time customer that will come back and believe and buy from you…
So what am saying is to your rules lets add that to “building a Website”…
Thanks for hearing me out…
Chow
Reg B.
Hi Kyle.
So if I had to make a choice of where to start my learning curve in site building where would you suggest?
HTML
DreamWeaver or similar
Wordpress?
I am finding this to be an area loaded with far too much information.
Thanks.
Hi to all of you from little me in the UK, a brand new WA fan and squeaky clean brand new to this whole online marketing.
As I am currently in the research phase I have been trawling all kinds of sites and here’s what strikes me about affiliate sites promoting money earning on line.
Firstly, a lot of content is very lengthy, following the same formula (hard luck story, “stumbling” across amazing product, now making millions, showing pictures of houses boats etc then showing how reduced the product price has been dropped down to etc). My point being is too much content boring us to click off?
My second point is that a good deal of the content contains spelling errors and missed capitals. I totally agree that quality content is king (next to cash I suppose) so everyone needs to edit, edit and edit rather than rushing to get it done. I write fiction as a hobby and my current employment is as a private patients manager, including transcription of medical reports from emailed dictation. Consequently typos really stand out and shout “unprofessional!” to me.
In conclusion I would suggest that content needs to be concise, informative and correct.
Regards to all and thanks to Kyle and Carson for encouragement, support and education – I need all of it!
Good information and good job by google.
So, finally there would be a level playing field.
Good post.
Hi Kyle
Agree 100%. Its about time Google took to these people.
Trying to compete with them has been an uphill battle. Maybe now the field will be a little more level
I can agree with content being more important than a beautiful website with relatively little information. However, websites that look clunky, or unkempt really bother me. Same goes with the token effort for graphics that are broken, unrelated, or don’t load. If you can’t be bothered to make sure your limited graphics work, how can I trust your content?
It’s not hard to make a simple, clean looking page that’s full of information. Like you’ve said, a simple background that looks good will be all you need. Wikipedia comes to mind as a website that’s not graphics heavy, but still cleanly laid out. Nothing fancy, just decent looking to house information.
I remember a gal who was selling niche blogs a few years back, and I checked out a couple of them. The lack of graphics at all bothered me a little, but after some thought, I realized it was the lack of information that bothered me more. I think if I’d seen more graphics, I might have dismissed the lack of content, but I wouldn’t have returned to the site. I remember the site being about dress sizes, and it was essentially the same information on every page, just modified for the specific size.
I’ve been trying to get a couple niche blogs up and running, and once I find a basic WordPress Theme that relates, my graphics work is done. And, if I find I’m spending more than 10-15 minutes looking for said theme, then I quit and go back to writing content, and look another day. People aren’t going to care if my background’s red, plaid, or clouds, if there’s no content to read.
@ Joan
Yeah, there are definitely applications for design….and by no means am I knocking down well designed sites. A product owner is much different than an affiliate in this respect where the merchant should be showcasing their products within a high quality site. However, when people are in the “not so mature” stages of their research and looking for information, they care about just that: INFORMATION.
The best of both worlds is a nice looking clean site, w/ superb content. However, a site with Quality Content and no graphics will supersede a Graphic Intense site with low quality content any day of the week.
Cheers,
Kyle
Hi kyle I just claimed my first squidoo lens, still working on it as we speak .The reason i am building this lens is to promote W.A. as a affiliate. Being a newbie with W.A i,m still trying to put the links to the all ready great content available about W.A on my web site at www,newbeescan.com. I plan on using the site builder on the W.A. to promote W.A also.Then use what i have learn so far to drive traffic to them both. Thanks for all you do.
I’ve heard other people say this too. Hmmm… Is it a disadvantage to make a good looking site? I’m serious here.
If you are selling design, then you have to look like you know something about design. If your audience is design oriented, they are visual people and they want the visuals. For a product site that sells well designed goods, a good looking site is part of the content, it’s just visual content. Doesn’t have to go overboard with flash and bells and whistles. That’s distracting to the product anyway.
I sell cutting edge well designed products. But I include a good amount of written information too. I agree wholeheartedly with your value and quality content statement. Even agree with Google. Also agree that sometimes all you need is written content and nice clean readable pages. I look forward to putting up some of those sites as well, especially if they sell really well.
I will have to echo what someone else posted about being a graphic designer. My degree is in Graphic Communication. When I started building web sites, I was caught up in the look and feel of a web site. I would look at sites created by other company and say how could they charge so much for ugly work. Then I learned that they were also charging for results. A pretty site is pointless if the client isn’t making any CASH! Thanks for the post.
@ Catriona
No, those free sites are fine. One thing that you should know is that you lose a lot of money through “traffic” leak on many of these free sites because they are ad supported. A good percentage of your traffic never clicks through your links…instead clicking on one of the ads within the page. Squidoo is a good example of this.
Cheers,
Kyle
When you say must have a website are you saying that Squidoo, Hub pages and other free sites no longer work as substitutes for those of us still scared of committing to a website
@ stewkelly
Yeah, people have a short attention span…but not if you are answering the questions before they know they need to ask them. The best thing is to put yourself into a consumers position…actually, not even a consumer, put yourself into someone looking for “info”‘s position. What would they be looking for in terms of help. Why are the frustrated? What is the real root of the problem, is it because they need to go on a diet, or is it because they weren’t able to fit into their upcoming wedding dress”. You are the person that needs to find the solutions. Be real. Be helpful….and then the customer/marketer relationship will naturally follow.
Cheers,
Kyle
@ Jerry
Thanks for the feedback Jerry. Yeah, we can definitely give you a hand…and again as I stated to Kelly, relevant content is one thing for getting the approval of Google, but the quality of the content will lead to the sales. People don’t want to be sold…they want to get trusted advice from a friend. Think about that.
Cheers,
Kyle
@ KellyK
A sales message requires content. Google does not mind a sales message if it is relevant to the initial keyword search…either within the SEO world or within PPC. The flow of relevance from the keyword -> to the website is what Google wants…and if you are providing people with adequate content whether it is a sales message or otherwise, then it is OK.
I guess the question is, what is the best way to sell something online? It isn’t necessarily an aggressive-natured sales page. People want to be pointed in the right direction, but people also want to feel comfortable getting “direction pointing advice” from the website they visit. That is where the relationship building through value comes into play.
Cheers,
Kyle
Hey Kyle,
Yes, content is still king. People are coming to your web site because they are looking for something. If you have nothing of value to them then they leave faster than a butterfly on a dry flower.
I am less concerned about “giving content” the problem for me is getting inside my visitor’s minds so I give them the “right content”
Using your analogy of changing a spark plug, you can see if you start talking about the right tool, spark-plug brand, etc it might be too much given most people have no-attention span.
I don’t know where they lost it:)
I’ve been following you guys for some time now and have not had the balls to anty up and get on board. My partner and myself have been with another company that has promised the sky but so far have only given up the ground. I have done a lot of work on this site of ours and have yet to make a sale. I truly believe that we have quality and relevant content and we get a fair number of visitors but yet not a sale has been made. I think it is time to jump on board and give you guys a try. Really like reading your blog BTW……..Jerry
Hey,
can you elaborate on the salesman part? I think you didn’t cover that too much.
Like what is acceptable salesmanship?
I’m almost about to run a adwords campaign and I don’t want to get banned.
Do you mean hard-selling?
A site that’s 100% of a sales message but zero percent content?
There’s a lot of ways you can interpret this so please elaborate if you can more. But in humble opinion, I think google should allow some level of salesmanship in your websites – because then their advertisers will not win. You have to sell somewhat. I mean adwords is advertisement and advertisement is salesmanship.
Great post Kyle.
I have also found my bad looking sites to do better. If i monetize them via adsense, it is even better.
For affiliate reviews, the bad looking ones still do good for me. Unique and quality ontent is very important as you said. For people like me who invest most of the money into content, it is good to hear that google lays more stress on content.
When I first started with internet marketing, I was coming from a career of graphic design, so it was extremely hard to essentially water down my websites as building graphically oriented sites was hard coded in me.
It took a plethora of website failures and some consistent reminders within the wealthy affiliate members area that I needed to focus more on the content than graphics.
Eventually, I started to create simplistic sites using WordPress with the original template and some quality relevant content and the conversions went through the roof.
It took the success of simplicity to make me realize that complexity is too distracting and ineffective.
Thanks Kyle for a fantastic post.