I have been very busy this last month running around removing all of my keyword linked phrases from all over the net in a bid to make sure I don't get penalised for what Google now considers spam.  Content is, so we are told, the only criterion for deciding the fate of your website now.  I am not convinced!

It seems posting the same article everywhere is also problematic.  Sites like HubPages only want unique articles and the Google bots will ignore, or so we are told, a duplicate article posted anywhere else.  Of course there is still a benefit in posting the same article in various locations because it will have a much larger audience.  The link may only be counted once for Google search engine placement, but the link will be visible and garner traffic. 

Talking about HubPages they seem to be being more awkward recently.  I have never had a problem posting there until this week when one jobsworth got into their head that I was over promoting my website.  There was one small paragraph at the end of the article and only one link.  I didn't waste time querying the problem or pointing out that in the past I had used the two links allowed.  Instead I removed the article and posted it on another site, one with just as high a PR.  The problem may have been too many words in bold, but there was no specific mention of that being the case.  If Google are now just using content as the criterion then presumably the bots ignore emphasised words and phrases?  So again where was the problem?  Oh well it was HubPages loss.  

The latest advice I have received from Alexa is that web masters should concentrate on the long tail when targeting search phrases and instead of linking the search terms, a simple click here link in the sentence will ensure the traffic!!  Oh well lets see how long that remains the advice.

Google, Google, Google!

Why do they make it so damn hard for us new website owners to get noticed?!  Have good content they say... I have.  Write articles and press releases we are told... I have written numerous.  Use linking phrases in your articles we are told... so I do.  Use linking phrases for the terms you want to be searched for... so I do! But now we are told we cannot use the same linking phrases because they will be considered spam.

This is the point at which I started hysterically screaming and cursing.  The big boys do not have to jump through the numerous hoops that the little guys do and their sites are guaranteed constant exposure.  Of course they advertise on Google which helps, but they do not need to do this because their brand name is all they need.

If you have read my previous blogs you will know I have been attempting for a while to get my site noticed and reap the rewards with thousands of hits.  Blizzard will be releasing an expansion to World of Warcraft very soon and it is unashamedly targeted at the Chinese market.  I would like to be very visible for this launch but I really don't know what more Google want from me.

Most of the sites I am competing against do not market the brand new player niche and many of the guides that are written have very poor content.  Indeed some of the sites are appalling and the content is threadbare, yet I cannot compete for the term "World of Warcraft Guide" or even "New to World of Warcraft".  The latter is the name of my website, so you would have thought that it would be a fairly simple process to rank on the first page for it, but the last time I searched I could find no trace of my site!  As I said in a previous blog, these two terms are the only ones that have significant traffic for my niche so it is imperative that I rank highly for them.  However "world of warcraft guide" is so damn generic I have no chance whatsoever of ever being able to rank for it, and the term is not very useful anyway because most of the traffic will not be new players.  

According to the Google keyword tool my previously favoured search terms "new world of warcraft player guide" and "world of warcraft beginners guide" do not get searched for.  To be frank I cannot believe people do not refine their searches to try to find what they are looking for.  I know I do and surely I am not unique?!

Anyway back to Google's decision to penalise websites for spamming the same linking phrases.  What I want Google to tell me is what the damn difference it makes?  How is it any less spammy to use "world of warcraft guide for beginners" than "world of warcraft beginners guide"?  The point I am making is; how the hell do I get the right exposure and traffic for my hard work without getting penalised?  I feel Google are unfairly restraining my right to "trade" and are creating barriers to entry into the market place.  Apart from Google's obvious domination of the search engines, and hence the Internet, what legal right do they have to restrain trade the way they do?

I know we do not want the Internet to be dominated by useless affiliate advertising only websites and that quality should be the objective of all website developers, but I seriously wonder whether it is right that Google alone should decide.  I would like to see a bit of democracy in action and I'm not talking about democratic capitalism, because money is not the webs raison d'etre.

So it has to be World of Warcraft Guide!

Oh well back to the drawing board... I decided to have a look at the Google Keyword Tool and duly entered the keyword phrases I told you I was targeting in my last post.  Well according to the tool my searches do not register at all, so it seems it is pointless to be top of Google for the phrases I am using, because no one actually enters them into Google :-(  Apparently the phrase people enter 823,000 times globally per month is "World of Warcraft guide".  I would have thought that this term is far too generic for a new World of Warcraft player to actually find a guide tailored to their needs?   Actually it is far too broad, which is why I thought my phrases were more likely to attract the right people to my website.  It seems however that Google shows people are not that logical in the way they use the search engine.  So it appears these linking keywords to my site will be my best bet: -


New to World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft guide

Well I hope this will soon come to fruition and I find myself on the first page for these phrases and get a share of the 823,000 monthly visitors :-)

I'm Top of the Search Pages

Yeah!  Well seems my hard work is starting to pay off, at least in terms of visibility which is the first obstacle in establishing a successful website.

I have a number of search terms I have been targeting for my niche, which is aimed at new World of Warcraft players.  If you copy and paste the following terms into Google you will find I am listed at number one:

• best free guide for new World of Warcraft players
• best free World of Warcraft beginners guide

I also rank highly for other terms as well.  They are mainly a variation on the above themes.

If you are a new WoW player and need some good easy to follow advice then I highly recommend visiting my site.  Even if you have been playing a short while you might pick up some useful tidbits.  Just click on link below and take a good look at the various pages...

http://new2worldofwarcraft.com

I hope you like the site and pick up oodles of helpful World of Warcraft tips :-)

My New Wordpress Blog

Can be found at: New to World of Warcraft Blog

I have started this up solely because of the need to have fresh regular content on my website.  Google Blog is great but it is not entwined within the actual web structure of my site and therefore it is not recognised by the bots as part and parcel of the New to World of Warcraft website.  I am hoping a Wordpress blog will increase the SEO value of my site and improve its page ranking.

World of Warcraft Battlegrounds, a Series Continues

I have been very busy since I last wrote here promoting the site through link building, primarily through writing articles and publishing them on various sites.

I have met a few obstacles on the way, nothing new there then, the main one being that article publishing sites are claiming that Google Panda means that they can only use articles specifically written for them.  This Guardian newspaper article explains it well...

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/dec/05/google-panda-update-endangered-species

The problem this creates for me and thousands and thousands of other site owners is that we have to have back links from other sites in order for Google to list our sites.  We have to be on page one of a chosen search phrase to have any chance of getting the numbers required to make the site a viable business.  The advice has always been to write articles and to syndicate them.  Now Google is playing silly buggers because its search engine monopoly is being threatened by EU and US government scrutiny.  Quite how article sites can still have contracts with publishers like me saying they reserve the right to circulate my articles, is a bit of a contradictory mystery.

The whole point in writing the article is to have that back link to my site. Google bots pick up on and follow the link back to my site. The reputation of the article site enhances the link and gives my site a higher page index. To show you what I mean: in the author resources box of an article I am allowed to to use phrases you would would put into Google to find information you are after. I use the following linking phrases to my site:

new World of Warcraft players
new World of Warcraft player
World of Warcraft beginners
World of Warcraft beginner's
World of Warcraft beginner's guide
World of Warcraft beginners guide

Oddly enough each of those terms will give different search engine results.  Try them yourself to see what I mean.  Just look at the number of search engine results.  The link itself goes to my site of course but I'm referring to the phrases used.  What the link tells Google is that I want people to find my site using those phrases  Google tell us that we need lots of legitimate back links to our sites.

Be very wary of companies offering to give you thousands of back links.  If Google does not like the back link it will hurt rather than help your page ranking.  Quality is better than quantity, although Google wants quantity as well :-(

Anyway the latest articles I have written in my World of Warcraft Battlegrounds series can be located on HubPages:

Not any more as I've moved them to here https://game-guru-4-you.blogspot.co.uk/ and here https://learn-to-play-wow.blogspot.co.uk/

I hope you enjoy them and can find enough people to listen to you in the Battlegrounds!