Google Page Rank and the Hilltop Algorithm

Here is something to think about... as discussed in this article several months ago, Google's Page Rank likely means little as of November 2003 - at least to all sites that compete for the competitive keywords that were affected by last November's Florida update and the updates that followed which added even more keywords to the list.

A consensus has been pretty much reached in the SEO forums that sites affected are now being ranked by a variation of the Hilltop Algorithm and the rules for linking for maximum benefit are different.

When linking to try and raise Page Rank it does not matter what the topic of the page where the link comes from is. What matters is the Page Rank of the page and the number of outgoing links on that page. Since the Page Rank that would be passed on to your site is roughly the Page Rank of the page divided by the number of outgoing links - ideally you would look for a page with high Page Rank and the link to your site would be the only link out.

Hilltop on the other hand is topic sensitive so for starters you want your links to be on pages either about real estate or your market area at the least and ideally about real estate in your actual market area. Unlike Page Rank though, if your link out is the only link on the page it will not help you at all.

Hilltop looks for "Expert Documents" - that are about certain topics and have links out to many non-affiliated pages. So, if there are only a couple of links out the page would fail to be recognized as an "Expert Document" and your link would not be helping you. So, ideally you would be looking for your link to be placed on a page with many other real estate links.

Hilltop checks that the outgoing links on the host page all share the same broad topic classification and reject those pages that do not. This allows them to distinguish between random collections of links and pages that are a resource on the topic. So, free for all links pages are of no benefit and a link from a non real estate site's broad link collection is of no help either.

Just one more thing to look for when exchanging links :)

Expired real estate domains quickly snapped up by advertisers

In the last while I have had a few clients who have lost their domains because they did not renew them. Apparently they never received the renewal notices - which is one of the consequences of email becoming less reliable as mentioned in this blog a few days ago.

Theoretically once a domain expires you should be able to re-register it but that doesn't happen often. There is a large group of people out there who pay services to let them know which domains are expiring every day and domains like yours (even domains that are your personal name) are snapped up right away because of the link popularity of the domain.

The incoming links allow the domain to rank fairly well right away - no waiting - and the buyers usually put advertising on it or affiliate links. They can earn some easy money because of the effort that was put into exchanging links and listing in directories in the past.

Realtor domains are at the top of their list so remember to keep an eye on your domain expiry dates and don't rely on receiving a renewal notice because you may never see it.

Check Your Reciprocal Links

I just finished checking reciprocal links in the Epowered Professionals Realtors Directory and had to remove a couple of dozen Realtors from the directory because they were no longer reciprocating links.

Every time I check it is the same old story - a number of agents put a link on their website, apply for inclusion in the directory and then once they are in they remove the link. I wonder if they are just as dishonest in their dealings with clients and other Realtors?

The only city with multiple losers was San Diego - I had to remove 6 agents. What was happening is San Diego?!

I always feel bad removing agents who have been listed for a long time because they have top positions and get the most benefit from the directory listings. If they should happen to apply for reinclusion and meet the criteria they still go to the bottom because it is "first come first served" - why remove our link in the first place?

Any opinions on whether or not I should let agents back in that have already demonstrated they are untrustworthy because they removed the link previously?

As it is, all the Realtors who are currently listed are extremely honest and keep their word (compared to those I removed) so send them some business and they will do a good job for you!

Maybe it is time to check your own reciprocal links? It helps your positions - it is what keeps the Epowered Professionals Directory ranking so well :)

How Some Realtor Sites Rank Well In Google

Ever since Google's big shakeup update last November - dubbed the "Florida" Update - it has been extremely hard for individual Realtor sites in most market areas to rank highly in Google for competitive keywords. This is not isolated to Realtor sites but is a phenomenon that applies to all commercial sites in all industries.

For Realtor sites it does not apply in all market areas either. Google has a list and some market areas are not on it usually because they are very small and managed to stay off the radar. The sites that replaced the missing websites were sites deemed to be "authority" sites or directories for the most part.

Prior to last November our own Realtor websites ranked in the top 10 consistently but disappeared after "Florida". Thankfully, the program we provide for Realtors includes multiple websites and a couple of the sites included in our package are part of larger "authority" sites so Realtors on our own program still had excellent positions after last November and that continues today.

But in some market areas affected by the Florida update a lone Realtor website would survive - why? I did extensive research into this question and presented my results back in March in this forum post.

Over the summer and into the fall some other Realtor sites began ranking well too. What are they doing to achieve good rankings? There are 3 main ways sites are managing to rank well in the new Google. Almost all real estate websites that are not part of larger sites but are stand-alone sites use one, two, or all of the 3 methods.

Google is all about linking and very little about on-page factors nowadays so all methods involve linking.

The first method is the one that allowed some sites to survive the "Florida" update - and that basically involves having very many other sites link to you and not link back to them so you basically have one-way links and not reciprocal links. These sites do have links pages and did exchange reciprocal links - lots of them - but their own links pages are not indexed in Google or do not actually reside in the same domain as their website. Also in some cases the links themselves can't be followed by search engine spiders because of the scripting used so they are not reciprocal.

In the majority of cases these sites that remained were template sites and the owners benefited simply because these template sites are search-engine-unfriendly to begin with and they had exchanged many links prior to last November.

The second method also involves having non-reciprocal links and that is buying text link ads on thousands of web pages - usually on just a couple of websites where the links appear on every page. Realtors are paying hundreds of dollars a month for this and when Google discovers a site is selling links it has been known to then start ignoring those links causing the rankings to drop again.

The third method is where a group of agents all agree to exchange links on a sitewide basis - that is they put true reciprocal links on every page of their respective sites thereby giving each participant hundreds of links. It works even though the common thought in SEO forums is that it shouldn't and that Google will put a stop to it. I personally would not use this strategy unless you are prepared to trash your domain and start all over because it certainly appears to be against Google's rules and in the past their penalties for linking schemes has been a permanent penalty for all sites involved.

There is a fourth method that a few Realtors are using (and more are starting to) and it is likely the best method because it is honest and will not get you in trouble. All you need to do is exchange links with sites where your link will actually count (see this article for instructions on how to do this - and provide a real link on a beneficial links page in return.

It is honest because unlike method one above you do exchange links and you do really reciprocate so both parties benefit and not just one. While exchanging true reciprocal links also cultivate a few one way links by listing your site in various directories.

Also, participating in forums like http://www.agentsonline.net and posting your comments in Blogs - like this one for example - is a great way to gain one way links that will be picked up by Google!

Email less and less reliable

Remember when you get hit the "send" button and not have to worry about your email reaching its destination? Remember when someone sent you an email you always received it unless they entered the wrong address?

Those days are long gone I'm afraid to say - killed by spammers. Not a day goes by when I hear that someone has been sending me email that I have not received and likewise for emails that I send. These missing emails are seldom found in a spam filter - at least not one that you or I can access. Rather they disappear into the ether - most likely stopped by an ISP or hosting company's software.

That certainly devalues email and since email is such a big part of the internet - the incentive to use the internet as well. I understand Bill Gates is working on a solution to replace email - it can't come soon enough.

From my own observations it seems that web mail has a better chance of getting thru than mail from an email program residing on your own computer - not because it is on your computer but because the email is not going thru your ISP and/or web host. Maybe it is a good thing that Gmail, Hotmail, and others are now offering better services for free. I may have to abandon using Outlook and Thunderbird and try using web mail full time.

Link Exchanges That Are Of No Benefit

I can't believe how many requests I get for link exchanges that are rejected because they are of no benefit. I bet I reject 80% of requests and you probably should be doing the same. If you are wondering why your search engine positions suck - you should pay more attention to this issue as outlined in this posting at agentsonline.net

When someone contacts you regarding a link exchange you need to:
a) Make sure their links page is actually listed in Google
b) Make Sure the links themselves are indexable - i.e. not in script but plain html.

Instructions on how to do that can be found here.

Awaiting Google's Annual Shakeup

Am I the only one waiting with nervous anticipation for Google's annual fall shakeup? Remember the one last November that was dubbed the "Florida" update? Whoo Boy! That was a doozie!

Apparently Google reps have said that future shakeups will not be as dramatic as "Florida" - I don't know whether that is good or bad. With Google's current situation maybe this year will be the first year without a major fall shakeup.

Google must be as happy as a clam as their Adwords revenue is producing record profits and a skyrocketing share price. Since they stopped ranking newer sites for competitive keyword searches the only alternative for some is to purchase Adwords. Where is Google's incentive to fix their index?

Gee, I wonder if it is just a coincidence that having an old stale index that doesn't rank new sites also happens to increase revenue?

A few years ago when Inktomi was king they broke their index and then charged for the fix - paid inclusion. They had good revenues as result too until searchers noticed that their results were no longer relevant and left in droves to the new kid on the block - Google. Now Google is following the same path as far as I can see.

That leaves a great opportunity for MSN's new search engine!

When is it a good idea to turn away a customer?

I was reading an article today in the National Post - a national Canadian Newspaper. The article states something most of us already know - that it is not a good idea to just take anyone on as a customer. This is something that applies to the web site business, the search engine marketing business, and also the real estate business of course.

The articles lists 7 reasons to say no to a customer:
1) When your gut instinct says no
2)The customer does not appreciate the value of what you offer
3)The customer expects you to invest time and resources in pursuing his business without any financial commitment on his part
4)The customer does not treat you in a courteous or professional manner
5)The customer asks for products or services you do not provide
6)The customer's requests are too large for your operation
7)The customer does not share the same values as you

Saying NO can help keep your business in the black ink and makes for a more enjoyable life too!

I must admit to saying "no" a lot because I generally just work with one just Realtor in each market area and I usually get some emails from others wanting my services when they see the results. I also tend to discourage any potential clients who I do not think will be happy with what I offer as I have learned that it is far nicer to have happy customers than a customer who really was looking for something a bit different.

I have also noticed that potential clients who demand to be phoned rather than communicating by email almost never turn into clients. It seems that the reason they want to be phoned usually has to do with one of the seven reasons listed above. After all, if the client does not feel comfortable communicating by email they will never be successful on the web. So, I must admit that those who demand to be phoned are often at the bottom of my list of priorities.

If I have been tardy in phoning you as requested I apologize - but if you read and respond to your email you would have had all your answers already:)

Welcome!

Welcome to the Real Web Results Blog - where issues pertaining to producing, maintining, and promoting websites for Realtors are the main topics of conversation. I hope you find some tidbits here that are helpful and please feel free to contribute your own comments as well.