Rank for Own Domain Name

Discussion in 'SEO' started by iShopHQ, Dec 2, 2005.

0
  1. #1
    I know it's been asked before, and I'm a little embarrassed to ask again since it's something I should know..... nevertheless

    When you type in your domain name, i.e. site is www . WidgetPlace . com, and you search for WidgetPlace, and the actual site is low in the rankings, does that mean you are sandboxed?

    Right now in Google my site ranks 47 for it's own name....

    In MSN, I'm #2

    In Yahoo I'm #116

    I know for a fact that Yahoo is degrading my page in the results, though they won't tell me why. I used to rank well, traffic stopped coming in, I wrote them and they replied with their usual BS - fails to meet our quality requirements. I've looked at theri list and there's not a thing on it I'm violating.....
     
    iShopHQ, Dec 2, 2005 IP
  2. mjewel

    mjewel Prominent Member

    Messages:
    6,693
    Likes Received:
    514
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    360
    #2
    There is no absolute test to tell if you are in the sandbox. The sandbox has to do with the age of the domain and where google will not factor in your backlinks when calculating SERPS. The backlinks show, PR shows, they just aren't used for certain keywords... competitive or semi-competitive. Matt Cutts has recently said that what could be considered the "sandbox" does not apply to every site.

    There are also penalties or filters that have the same effect as the sandbox but aren't based on the age of the domain. If this is an older domain, I would rule out the sandbox.
     
    mjewel, Dec 2, 2005 IP
  3. megri

    megri Active Member

    Messages:
    367
    Likes Received:
    12
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    58
    #3
    There is lot of discussion at webmasterworld.com on Matt cutt says there is no sandbox
     
    megri, Dec 2, 2005 IP
  4. iShopHQ

    iShopHQ Peon

    Messages:
    644
    Likes Received:
    33
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #4
    What would cause a site to rank so llow for it's domain name then? Below sites who only have a link to the domain?
     
    iShopHQ, Dec 2, 2005 IP
  5. mjewel

    mjewel Prominent Member

    Messages:
    6,693
    Likes Received:
    514
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    360
    #5
    Matt Cutts did not say that. He said they have something that could be considered the sandbox but that they do not call it the sandbox and that is does not apply to every single website.
     
    mjewel, Dec 2, 2005 IP
  6. mjewel

    mjewel Prominent Member

    Messages:
    6,693
    Likes Received:
    514
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    360
    #6

    I have had domains that ranked #1 with google for it's title (and continue too) within a couple of days of domain creation but didn't rank for any other keyword for 3 months because it was in the sandbox.

    You could have a penalty. Google is really cracking down on hidden text, over optimization, keyword density, etc. Other sites ranking ahead of yours isn't uncommon. How many relevant backlinks, age of domain, etc., all factor in.

    Matt Cutts recently talked about abuse of h1 tags on his blog. They can detect css manipulation and hidden text (according to him). Of course I don't know what domain you are talking about so I'm not saying that is what is happening.

    If it is the sandbox, there is nothing you can do about it. Google constantly tweaks it algorithm and perhaps a "trying to hard to rank filter" got triggered. Hard to say without a url, but even then it would just be guessing. MSN is the spammy search engine and is easiest to rank with. It's very hard to rank well with all three because MSN and Yahoo allow higher keyword density. That can trigger a spam filter with google.
     
    mjewel, Dec 2, 2005 IP
    iShopHQ likes this.