Hospitals & Asylums
Surviving Google's Aging Delay
By Lawrence Deon
Google has always
been the search industry's innovator and that's just what Google's aging delay
symbolizes, the evolution of search innovation… yet another significant step
forward for Google. Google's success as a search engine can undeniably be
attributed to its ability to consistently return the most relevant search
engine results. That's what kept the search giant on top of the pack and
leading the multi-billion dollar search industry & that's what's going to
keep them there! Now that
said, is it any wonder why Google incorporated the infamous aging delay into
their ranking criterion? The simple truth is, Google's aging delay is a full
frontal assault on artificial link inflation. With the induction of multiple
clever off-page reciprocal-linking strategies engineered to artificially
inflate link popularity and PageRank, Googles aging delay wasn't only necessary
and long overdue; it was the next logical step in the evolution of search. The
confusion and misunderstanding of the aging delay among site owners is nothing
short of amazing. Many of my clients are confounded because their new sites are
well positioned in Yahoo, MSN & the other large search engines while
they're site is no where to be found in Google's search engine result's pages
(SERPs)… except for perhaps on the most obscure search terms.
Current
and unconfirmed speculation has been misplacing the blame on Google's ‘sandbox'
effect. While this is a possibility I believe it's also highly improbable. The
sandbox holding period is typically anywhere between 90 to 120 days, the aging
delay appears to be much longer. I've seen new sites delayed for up to 6-8
months. The premise of the sandbox delay theory suggests that new sites are
being penalized for gaining too many links too fast. To date I haven't seen a
scrap of evidence to support that claim. The sandbox theory is further
disproved by the fact that newer sites engaged in procuring relevant links
experience the same delay in climbing Google's SERPs as other new sites
utilizing scores of purchased text links. This lends credibility to my thought
that new sites are not being penalized on the premise of acquisition or
quantity of inbound links and; supports my theory that it's the reciprocated
links that are being delayed by an aging filter. It just doesn't seem
‘reasonable' for Google to penalize sites for acquiring legitimate directory
listings & building an optimized reciprocal link based network. In my
opinion, mainstream SEOs are confusing the existing sandbox effect, with
Google's new ‘aging filter' that arrived on the search scene earlier this year.
It
seems more likely that Google's aging filter is weighing the ‘maturity' of
inbound links and not the new site itself. Meaning that in addition to the
traditional ranking criterion, the age of a sites inbound links are also now
considered. My own theory is that newly acquired inbound links are
placed on a ‘probationary' status until they've ‘matured' before they're
considered. For example, a new and relevant inbound PR 6 link would not be
given the same weight or consideration as a ‘grandfathered' PR 6 link until the
aging delay expired. By placing newly acquired links on a probationary period
and delaying the ranking of newer sites Google has effectively offset the
instant free ride to the top of their SERPs. Purchasing volumes of brokered
links to that end is now a moot point. After all, your site will still be
delayed regardless of the amount of links you purchase and you won't see any
return on investment (ROI) for at least 6 - 8 months.
Existing
Site owners interested in immediate (ROI) are now strongly motivated to build
new pages or expand existing sites in order to avoid Googles lengthy aging
delay. With the ‘all-the-rage' mini-network strategy shifting to more of a
long-term commitment it seems likely that's exactly what will happen! Whether
by clever design or not, the only alternative to riding out the aging delay
that produces immediate results in Googles SERPs is to advertise through
Google's AdWords Program. So it seems that Google's solution vis-à-vis the
aging delay has turned out to be an excellent vehicle to promote Googles own
AdWords Program as well. Hmm…
How do
you survive Google's aging delay? By taking pro-active action! I haven't seen
any new sites with new domains appear at the top of Google's (SERPs) since
early to mid 2004. I've consulted with and tracked many of my clients' new
sites and despite the fact they have hundreds of #1 positions in Yahoo, Alta Vista,
AllTheWeb & MSN for their keywords I've yet to see any remarkable results
in Google until the 6 - 8 month period. The trend I've noticed suggests that
new sites are initially indexed; ranked accordingly in Google's SERPs for a
week or so and then literally vanish from the SERPs for several months. In most
cases they can't even be found with the most obscure search terms… including
their own name and address.
If
you're launching a new site don't panic. Once you've registered your domain
name and configured the hosting, you should set up a few temporary pages.
Obtain links to them from other sites in Google's index to start the aging
delay count down. I recommend launching a site immediately with enough content
to set up and facilitate the requirements for directory listings to start. The
sooner Google is aware of your domain the better. Just don't hold your breath
waiting to see results… It could be as long as 6 - 8 months! Gauge your
optimization efforts by where your site ranks in the other search engines.
Provided you're not engaged in unethical practices and followed Google's
Webmaster's guidelines this should give you a ballpark indication of where
Google will rank your site after the aging delay, just be patient. To that end,
don't keep tweaking and changing your pages source code and trying to
manipulate your rankings until your site has been in Google's index for at
least 6 - 8 months. In other words, there's no need to reinvent the wheel here
because it doesn't seem to matter what you do, your site will still be delayed
regardless.
Don't
keep submitting your pages to Google either! It won't make any difference. Check
your server logs to confirm Googlebots' crawl and then forget about it.
Googlebot will find your site again if you're actively reciprocating links so
your time would be better served building an optimized reciprocal link network
to get your site out there and linked to as early as possible. If traffic from
Google is crucial to your marketing and promotion plan, and I don't know anyone
who would argue otherwise… budget to run an AdWords campaign for a few months
until the site is indexed and positioned. You might even consider running an
Overture campaign as well! If you purchase non-directory links, reallocate that
budget to Adwords advertising. It's pointless to purchase links when you can
invest in an AdWords or Overture campaign. Purchasing links is an investment
you won't see a red cent ROI for at least 6 - 8 months while an Adwords
campaign will drive targeted traffic to your site that can convert immediately.
Keep in mind that Lycos, HotBot, AOL, Ask Jeeves, Iwon, Netscape & Teoma
also receive paid results from Google! MSN, AllTheWeb, AltaVista & Yahoo
receives paid results from Overture.
Do
other search engines have an aging delay? Google provides primary search
results to other search engines. It only seems reasonable to expect that your
site may be delayed in Google's partner sites as well. One-way you may be able
to work around this, and I can't emphasize this enough; is to make sure you
submit your site to DMOZ, the open source directory. Google, in addition to the
other major engines, receives directory results directly from DMOZ. Yahoo and
its partner sites don't seem to be utilizing an aging delay, nor does MSN, so
focusing your early efforts on these search engines might give you a
competitive edge in the Yahoo network. At the end of the day when it's all said
and done surviving Google's aging delay is just a matter of time. The days of
purchasing instant link popularity and PageRank are over and in due course you
will see Google give your site the recognition it deserves.
Lawrence Deon is an SEO/SEM Consultant and author of the popular search engine optimization and marketing model Ranking Your Way To The Bank. http://www.rankingyourwaytothebank.com