Hi, This is my first post here! I recently purchased a domain and set up a site, and i have a few questions that might not seem very clever, but i'm rather new to SEO so bear that in mind - The name of the domain is the two word phrase I wish to be ranked well for. - It's a .biz tld (all others we're taken). - I found out that the domain was registered before, but was dropped about a year and a half ago. I couldn't find any evidence that it was banned by Google or any other search engine. - The domain has about 20 pages of content (good content in my opinion, that i wrote). - There are no internal links yet (planning on adding those soon) - I managed to get about 20 backlinks from directories and article directories pointing to my home page with an anchor of the 2 word phrase (name of the domain). The problem is this: one of the pages on the site (not the home page) is ranked 214 (I assume that means my site is out of the google sand box??). But the home page is not listed in the top 1000 search results at all. What can that mean? is just the home page banned? or is that kind of thing considered normal for a new site?
It could mean 1000 different things. Provide your home page URL, the 2 word keyword phrase you are trying to rank for, and the URL and corresponding keyword phrase that ranks 216... and perhaps we can help. I am puzzled by a few things and have comments on others: If you have 20 pages of content on the site, 20 backlinks ONLY to the home page, and none of the pages are interlinked (home page doesn't link to those 20 pages and visa versa) then how the hell did Google find your other 19 pages? Someone must be linking to the page that ranks 214. If not your home page then it has to be an external site. PS: I would strongly suggest that you NOT build all of your links w/ the same link text. It does not look natural. Build them "mostly" w/ your targeted keyword phrase, but also include slight variations of the phrase... If the home page were banned then it would not even be indexed. If you can search Google for site:homepageURL and you see it indexed then you are not banned. The home page could still be under penalty, however. Google can impose penalties at lots of levels... IP address, individual sites, one or more specific URLs on a site, one specific URL for one or more specific keywords, etc. Assuming your site IS indexed at least: If your site is example.com then search for "example"... Does it show up anywhere? Search for "example.com"... Does it show up at #1? Copy a unique sentence of content off of your home page and search for it in double quotes... Does your page show up in the results? If not you're likely penalized. If you bought a site that you don't know the history of and you can't get your home page to show up in the above searches, you may want to submit a request for reconsideration with Google JUST IN CASE explaining to them that your recently purchased the domain and suspect the previous owner may have had some type of penalty against it. Let them know that you have a new site and that you don't believe you are doing anything which violates their Webmaster Guidelines. They will manually review the site and likely lift any penalties, if applicable.
Thanks for replying guys! Sorry, i meant that i didn't link from within the text on the pages, there are links on the side menu... i get two pages ranked #2 and #3. the homepage is in the supplemental results when i click the link under #3. yes, it shows up with the rest of the pages.