Google explains ...

[Real Estate Forum]

in a nutshell http://www.google.com/technology/index.html

[Las Vegas Homes]

Maybe its just me but they dont seem to be saying a lot there. It says they look for relevant pages, this is nonsense, I have found less relevancy in google than anyother search engine. As an example I found under a real estate search phrase a online drug order company, what does this have to do with real estate.

Google is losing market share and I believe they are trying to save face here, even though it is hog wash with the comments and suggestions they are trying to make..IMHO

[frobn]

Maybe its just me but they dont seem to be saying a lot there. It says they look for relevant pages, this is nonsense, I have found less relevancy in google than anyother search engine. As an example I found under a real estate search phrase a online drug order company, what does this have to do with real estate.

Google is losing market share and I believe they are trying to save face here, even though it is hog wash with the comments and suggestions they are trying to make..IMHO

After reading their explanation I have to agree with you. The founders appear to be trapped in their belief that linking is the ultimate test of relevancy and they treat content is an after thought. If this is true then the other search engines have a golden opportunity to bypass google for relevancy. I have go back and edit some of my other posts.

[VegasMack]

Less emphasis should be placed on back links, but Google still turns out some pretty relevant results IMHO.

And with their current market share, they can not be ignored.

~VegasMack

[Las Vegas Homes]

Google has some good results but, msn and yahoos results are better IMHO. As stated google is to hung up on BLs and not content.

[VegasMack]

I still see a 3 way battle by years end for the Top Search Engine spot.

Competition is great. It will lead to more relevant SERPS.

At this point it is anyone’s guess who will win the top honor IMHO.

~VegasMack

[Las Vegas Homes]

In my personal opinion, in order to take over from our top competitor, you would have to gain 2000 more BLs than her to compensate for the age difference in the real estate sites.IMHO.

As you once stated it is better to worry about yahoo and msn than google. I believe this to be sound advice. Advice which I intend to take.

[VegasMack]

I still believe it to be good advice and have certainly not forgotten it.

I have no intention of taking my eye off the prize. After all, I have very few distractions and plenty of time now.

~VegasMack

[Las Vegas Homes]

The prize is indeed golden, however there has already been some changes within google. I do wish you all the best and success, however I dont believe it is as cut and dry as you believe. Not just myself but also others in our real estate profession are learning how to create, design and optimize websites which only adds to our competition.

The business of real estate on the internet, not only takes time but also money. This is something that all new real estate agents wishing to get involed on the internet must understand. They must also realize once you reach that golded prize that you have to spend money to make even more and that you cant operate on a shoestring budget.

Big business is not just about making money it is about the image you present to your consumers. This is one thing that will always bring in repeat business. Those that perform in a mom and pop type shop will always be in second place.

Two things if nothing else I have learned in business: it takes money to make money and image is everything to your consumers.

[VegasMack]

Ahhh Image. Yes image is important. So is reputation.

And yes it takes money to make money. However, when cash flow is interrupted due to cooked books, a shoe string budget can get you by.

Business is about developing relationships and alliances as well as clients.

And while a steady income is great, the talent to make it pay off is as they say “Priceless”.

~VegasMack

[Las Vegas Homes]

Reputation is very important not only in business but also life. In a business everything should be shared. This includes image, risk, startup cost and work. We are running a little off course for this thread. If you wish to discuss business philosophy there should be another thread created.

[VegasMack]

I did not get off the topic, but we can start a new Thread for Business Philosophy if you like.

Should we start with Reputation, Integrity or Honesty?

~VegasMack

[Real Estate Forum]

Google loves old domains and hates new seo's. With the right content sitetutor.com would be page 1 for " San Diego Real Estate " within a week and that is based on an experiment I did.

This forum however won't rank in Google until they consider the domain "established" enough.
I also messaged them about it and brought it to their attention.

We will see what they will do in the future. I think they are scarred of bad results and focus more on the webmaster than the site. Whoever owns the domain and had it indexed without penalties gets validated for their targeted keyterms before those who haven't been around long enough or have messed up.

Digitalpoint.com has 2 threads in the first 3 page results for " Atlanta realtor ".

Shawn himself said in that thread " Google loves digitalpoint ... j/k"

Well he wasn't kidding and shouldn't be even though I like that humble gesture.
Once you have proven yourself with Google, a snowball effect kicks in.

if you have a clean, old domain , I would focus on it and build a lot on it with subdomains as well ... it works!

[Las Vegas Homes]

Yes those threads in there for Atlanta Realtor were my threads I started when I lived in Atlanta and that was my user name..lol that is to funny you use that as an example.

[Real Estate Forum]

That is too funny. I should have known but honestly did not :)

[VegasMack]

Back on Topic – While Google places too much emphasis on back links I have found several sites highly placed without many back links, so I don’t think it is all about back links.

Good SEO practices still play a major role in the Google SERPS IMHO.

~VegasMack

[Las Vegas Homes]

Using as an example www dot mslasvegasrealestate dot com
It is not good seo but backlinks. This site has climb very fast into the top 20. Yet when you look at the site the only reason is it has a ton of backlinks from a netscape store, where using the anchor text Las vegas Real Estate is plastered on every page of that site, thanks to one seo guy. The site has about 1800 backlinks indexed in google, which as we know is only a sampling of BLs. I would venture to say knowing how seo guy operates, that site has more like 15 to 20k in backlinks.

This will get this site ban in google if they dont change it, I should know, it happen to my atlanta site and that same seo did the same thing to it.

So my point being is that even though SOME seo is important with google, mainly the most important thing with them is BLs.

[Real Estate Forum]

I believe that it is a combination. More important are backlinks with good anchortext but I also know that have you have great structure and content, you do need less backlinks to rank high.

[Las Vegas Homes]

I agree with you mike about the structure, but in the example I have used many times that online drug order company showing up in the top 15 for a major real estate market key phrase, kind of tells me that content is not a criteria for googles algo or it holds very little weight.

This site I was referring to had less than 100 words for content.

[Real Estate Forum]

Yeh, the linking thing is really priority. after all http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22search+engine%22 Google ranks for "search engine" without the term appearing on their page.
Number 1 is searchenginewatch.com which has sites link to it as " search engine watch " and not " google " (ppl link to Google as "Google" and not search engine ).



Btw this is pretty funny http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/001639.html

[CTABUK]

Now, I'm going off topic, this forum is being picked up by Google for backlinks, well done everybody!

[ffang2]

Using as an example www dot mslasvegasrealestate dot com
It is not good seo but backlinks.

Wayne,

Thank-you for your phone call and for your concern.

As I told you on the phone - we will look into it. Much of what you state is not accurate; but, MS Las Vegas Real Estate holds itself to the highest level of Ethical Standards and Practices. We believe in elevating both our business and the PROFESSION of Real Estate and as such we do not intend to engage in an ongoing public discussion of our business or the businesses of our competitors. It is true that unless you are totally beyond reproach yourself you should carefully consider your actions prior to throwing stones from your glass house. Some other things for consideration:

Will Google find our site out of the millions in its index and penalize us? Is it a more likely scenario that a competitor might contact Google and let them know of these violations? Having said that, what level of interest would Google have in sites that:

a) Blatantly "spam" their engine with multiple web sites for the same real estate market, and then target the same keywords with these spam sites in an attempt to deceive their search engine users?

b) These spam web sites have all the same content, only changing up a few words per sentence?

c) Loading the same exact pages into different frames on their respective web sites?

d) Are interlinking these web sites to each other to gain relevance and PR, and getting away with it because they are hosting these spam web sites on different Class C IP addresses?

e) Have the same EXACT domain name registrant information for each of these spam websites?

It is very likely that you will post a big long opinion regarding the above, save your time, the highest and best use of my time is to focus my energies on my clients and my profession.

Let me just repeat:

MS Las Vegas Real Estate holds itself to the highest level of Ethical Standards and Practices. We believe in elevating both our business and the PROFESSION of Real Estate and as such we do not intend to engage in an ongoing public discussion of our business or the businesses of our competitors. It is true that unless you are totally beyond reproach yourself you should carefully consider your actions prior to throwing stones from your glass house.

[frobn]

...the highest level of Ethical Standards and Practices.

I think it can be said that the majority of people want to do the right thing. Whether they end up doing the right thing is another matter. I haven't followed the discussion here but I assume there is a disagreement. Sometime ago I commented on a similar situation in a different forum by saying the main problem with the internet is that there no Professional Bodies that set a standard. Now I know real estate professionals do have a code of ethics, if it is anything like that for psychologists, my previous profession, then it would be something like this: if you suspect a fellow professional is involved in an unethical practice your first assumption should be that they are doing so out of ignorance and it is your obligation to let them know privately and in a courteous (non-accusatory) manner. If the practice continues there are steps one would follow, but probably not in a public forum.

[HHI Golf Guy]

Back on Topic – While Google places too much emphasis on back links I have found several sites highly placed without many back links, so I don’t think it is all about back links.

Good SEO practices still play a major role in the Google SERPS IMHO.

~VegasMack

Google appears to be adjusting their algo to prevent the Google bombing that took place in the past. My own opinion is that G will continue to place importance of the relevance of sites with reciprocal links.

Why place added importance of relevance on recip links and not one way links? Because many, if not most, one way links are paid advertisements. G would not want to penalize sites that have made legitimate marketing investments.

This is just my opinion - and I have been spouting it for the last 18 months. Am I right? Who knows? But I do know that my sites did not get buried with the latest tweaks to the Google algo :D

[San Diego Real Estate]

HHIGolfGuy ...that is a very good point! Once again I think you have hit this on the head...I guess time will tell! ;)

[VegasMack]

Google appears to be adjusting their algo to prevent the Google bombing that took place in the past. My own opinion is that G will continue to place importance of the relevance of sites with reciprocal links.

Why place added importance of relevance on recip links and not one way links? Because many, if not most, one way links are paid advertisements. G would not want to penalize sites that have made legitimate marketing investments.I came to the same conclusion some time ago after experimentation.

That is another reason I do not get involved in 3 ways.

~VegasMack

[HHI Golf Guy]

That is another reason I do not get involved in 3 ways.

~VegasMack

That and it makes your wife jealous of the other woman :D :D :D :D

[VegasMack]

LMAO - shhhhhhhhhhh


~VegasMack

[frobn]

As long as google believes that they can manage link relevance, whether reciprocal or one-way, though some sort of manipulation then there will be a vibrant cottage industry that manipulates google. I don' think that either one will survive in the long run because the other search engines will figure it out and strive for a more natural approach to relevance. A dark horse, Become.com, may have already done so. It will be interesting to see where they go by this time next year.

In the meantime, I think a prudent approach is to incorporate a mixture of reciprocal and one-way links and keeping the emphasis on good content.

[Las Vegas Homes]

Wayne,

Thank-you for your phone call and for your concern.

As I told you on the phone - we will look into it. Much of what you state is not accurate; but, MS Las Vegas Real Estate holds itself to the highest level of Ethical Standards and Practices. We believe in elevating both our business and the PROFESSION of Real Estate and as such we do not intend to engage in an ongoing public discussion of our business or the businesses of our competitors. It is true that unless you are totally beyond reproach yourself you should carefully consider your actions prior to throwing stones from your glass house. Some other things for consideration:

Will Google find our site out of the millions in its index and penalize us? Is it a more likely scenario that a competitor might contact Google and let them know of these violations? Having said that, what level of interest would Google have in sites that:

a) Blatantly "spam" their engine with multiple web sites for the same real estate market, and then target the same keywords with these spam sites in an attempt to deceive their search engine users?

b) These spam web sites have all the same content, only changing up a few words per sentence?

c) Loading the same exact pages into different frames on their respective web sites?

d) Are interlinking these web sites to each other to gain relevance and PR, and getting away with it because they are hosting these spam web sites on different Class C IP addresses?

e) Have the same EXACT domain name registrant information for each of these spam websites?

It is very likely that you will post a big long opinion regarding the above, save your time, the highest and best use of my time is to focus my energies on my clients and my profession.

Let me just repeat:

MS Las Vegas Real Estate holds itself to the highest level of Ethical Standards and Practices. We believe in elevating both our business and the PROFESSION of Real Estate and as such we do not intend to engage in an ongoing public discussion of our business or the businesses of our competitors. It is true that unless you are totally beyond reproach yourself you should carefully consider your actions prior to throwing stones from your glass house.


As I had relayed ffang2 I have been down that road with the same person you are dealing with. My Atlanta site was penalized for the same thing he is doing to your site it rose to number 3 in google in a matter of 7 or 8 weeks for my primary key phrase and fell just as fast. The only reason I called you is, I know what this guy charges and when it happens that the site gets penalized, you would be out a large amount of money.

With 80% of your backlinks from this Netscape store you will be penalized, I know from experience. My comments to you were meant as a good gesture to help you avoid this. It is only advice, if you choose to ignore it that is none of my business nor is your website.

Please except this advice in the kindess gesture it was meant to be. As for glass houses, with multiple sites that is something you might want to speak with Vegasmack about, that is his structure not mine.

You also did not seem to have a problem with those when you joked about buying those sites ranked in Yahoo and MSN. In This Thread (http://www.national-real-estate-directory.com/real-estate-forum/showthread.php?t=99)

Best of luck to you and I truly do hope that none of this happens with your site, however since I get the impression you are not open to suggestion, I will not make any more to you pertaining to your site. I have been down the raod with seo guy and it is a quick fix and fast fix but an even faster fall. Once again Best of Luck.

[Real Estate Forum]

After warning VegasMack and Las Vegas Homes and consulting with many people (my partners, forum owners and many members here) and seeing this last post, me and my partners from SiteTutor, Inc. have decided to revoke Las Vegas Homes' Super Moderator status since we no longer feel he is having the best interest of our community in mind.

I have sent out the same PM to both mack and Wayne stating
" as a forum owner I do not take sides, but if any of you starts this again, I will do so based on that."

I am very sorry it had to come to this especially since Wayne has been a great help and support from day 1.
However in recent developments me and my partners have unanimously decided that in order for this forum to run well, las Vegas Homes can not be a moderator at this time.

I wish everyone the best and in order to help make that happen, I am doing what appears to be in everybody's best interest.

Everyone feel free to PM me if they have any questions.

Mike Dammann
Site Tutor, Inc.

P.S.: The ban is only temporary and a precaucion done by my partners until they feel comfortable to move on without any further problems. My email is sitetutor@gmail.com

[VegasMack]

As long as google believes that they can manage link relevance, whether reciprocal or one-way, though some sort of manipulation then there will be a vibrant cottage industry that manipulates google. I don' think that either one will survive in the long run because the other search engines will figure it out and strive for a more natural approach to relevance.I think we will see many changes in the Top 3 this year in an effort to improve on relevance to keep visitors coming back.

I for one like the competition and feel the Internet will be a better place for it.

~VegasMack

[Las Vegas Homes]

From my understanding google is going to release an aglo that will make Hilltop and Florida look like a walk in the park in April. I get this from a very good source that has a relative working at google. I guess only time will tell.

[Real Estate Forum]

I am on aim with a friend of mine who runs one of the best search engine companies in the nation ( he doesn't let me mention his association because of my previous war at the DMOZ forum :rolleyes: and no, it's not Morgan )
He told me, yeh an algo change is coming soon but who cares, focus on good content, good structure and good links to and from good sites.

basically when you hang with the best you will be a part of the best....

Qualiy survives.
Stay away from bad neighborhoods, sites involved in random link exchanges with garbage links solely placed there for the purpose of gaining SERPS.

It is like having a magazine about vacation rentals and featuring run down buildings in bad neighborhoods. Eventually people will say your magazine is garbage.

The best thing to do now is cover your bases and then let the search engines do the rest.

[VegasMack]

Good advice Mike. ;)

~VegasMack

[Real Estate Forum]

Thank you, Mack :)
Remember, the search engines are in charge, the " experts " are not.
I am trying to put myself in the search engines way of thinking every day and of course the average surfers. We need to help the search engines find us.
They spider the popular sites and when they find your link on them, they will validate your site as well.

Keep your thoughts coming, guys! I love these conversations :)