The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Like jilted lovers, webmasters jettisoned into the sandbox, hit with the -30 penalty, or even the -950 death kiss, like to wag an accusatory finger at Google. But, some SEO experts are saying, there is a whole other penalty webmasters are often unaware of – a penalty that says “it’s not me, it’s you.”
Threadwatch blogger DigitalGhost calls it the My Site Sucks Ass and Google Just Figured It Out penalty.
Unfortunately, that long title is difficult to make an anagram from. We tried Myss Sassagoofio, among others, but just couldn’t come up with a proper 1337 term. So, unless someone can derive a FUBAR-esque equivalent, the proposed anagrams will continue inappropriately, um, sucking ass.
So how do you know if you’re being penalized for, um, you know. . .sucking? Digital Ghost ‘splains himself:
It’s quite simple really. Google gives webmasters a chance. Also known as ‘give them enough rope’. Sites start out with an idea and a hardworking webmaster. But somewhere along the way, the content ends up being a remash of all the content that has gone before.
Ads take over content real estate. So A Widget Forum is added. And a Widget Resource page, and a Widget Directory, and soon, the site is just a replica of all the other widget sites. With fewer links and a bored webmaster. In short, the site sucks ass. But there for a while, Google couldn’t tell that it sucked ass. So they waited. (see, Give Them Enough Rope above).
Hmm, yes. Eloquently put.
Aaron Wall of SEObook.com continues the conversation by expounding on the importance of creating something of value:
. . . it is easier to create something worth marketing than it is to push something of no value. And that is probably one of the hardest things to get around as an SEO, because SEO can make it seem addictive that we can influence markets without creating real value, but the people who make growing income each and every month are generally those who have at least one real site of real value. Sure you can use SEO to boost it, but it works best if the SEO is done in conjunction with other marketing and real market integration.
So, in conclusion, a better way to know if Google thinks your site, ahem, “sucks ass,” is to ask what it is you’re trying to sell. If it’s clicks and impressions over products, services, and information, then you may have set off Google’s BS alarms.
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