My Google Penguin Experiment

[ryannull]

By now, I am sure you have heard about Google's Penguin update, and how it is ranking no content for top results. A prime example of that is the term "python hosting". No content whatsoever except for the word "Ok".

There are many theories is to why this website is ranking 1st, the most popular, besides Google's failure, is EMD (exact match domain).

So, I said screw it! I will test this theory out. I have replicated exactly what pythong-hosting.com has done. There is absolutely NO html, just the word "Ok".

I don't if anyone noticed, but python-hosting.com has no html at all. Not even html tags or body tags. It's a stand alone text in a html file extension. I did this exact thing to my test website to see if it would have the same result.

I also did some background on the python website. Apparently it was registered in 2003 and is set to expire in 2015.

It also has roughly few hundred backlinks that are aged well over a few years. I don't remember the exact number, but it also has around 90+ unique domains. So it has some link and anchor text diversity.

Moreover, my test website has no backlinks at all.

I have also pinged my website and have confirmed through my stats, Googlebot has already crawled it within minutes.

This experiment might be a dud, but I thought I would try it for the hell of it.

I will update the steps here.

4/28/12 - Googlebot Crawls

 

[deviatus]

Your test won't get shit for rankings. That python site is ranking because it used to have content and rank well. G brought some sites back from the dead.

 

[ryannull]

Your test won't get shit for rankings. That python site is ranking because it used to have content and rank well. G brought some sites back from the dead.

Maybe, maybe not.

I am not expecting anything. I just wanna see what happens, probably nothing. That is the purpose of an experiment.

 

[NeoPat]

maybe this can be the penguin thread, see what happens mate, if not try testing different forms of links on your site and keep a penguin journal, maybe through we may be able to see whats working and whats not.

 

[thetermy]

Dude, this test is a waste of your time and money.

 

[ryannull]

Dude, this test is a waste of your time and money.

No, not at all.

I have several aged names I am not using that are high volume exact match domain urls. I have lots of servers and IPs. It cost me nothing to do this.

 

[frazgta]

i'd love to see how this goes

 

[Mortz]

Some of the greatest results come from unusual sources. You might not discover the answer to Penguin with your attempt but it may lead into something positive. I think setting up tests (ridiculous or otherwise) is worth it provided you don't have heavy out of pocket expenses.

 

[ryannull]

Some of the greatest results come from unusual sources. You might not discover the answer to Penguin with your attempt but it may lead into something positive. I think setting up tests (ridiculous or otherwise) is worth it provided you don't have heavy out of pocket expenses.

I agree.

What I am trying to do is replicate what python-hosting.com has done and see where I end up after it's indexed.

Then, the plan is to reverse build the website, starting with on-page and see if anything triggers that pesky penguin.

 

[jackgb]

Don't do it man

 

[ryannull]

Don't do it man

Why not?

The domain is disposable if it goes wrong.

It is the only way to determine if it is on page or off page or both.

I have also been noticing that a large majority of top ranking websites don't have meta tags, just title.

 

[szhang]

this is exactly what we need, more people like you doing tests. I wish I had the time right now.

 

[ryannull]

this is exactly what we need, more people like you doing tests. I wish I had the time right now.

Thanks.

I like testing and experiments.

I personally think the only way to get real answers is to reverse build a website, wait for Google's response and adapt to the response.

I am sure I will get my share of criticism, but I don't care.

I will post updates as they happen.

As of right now Googlebot has crawled, just waiting to be indexed and see where I end up.

 

[SaleC]

I wish is is that easy. Good luck keep us informed.

 

[loads16017]

Thanks for the info man

 

[charto03]

Certainly do keep us informed as I will do the same. If you notice python does have a pr6 so it has quality BL's and probably hasn't done any link building in years hence not getting hit with any over-optimization or link penalties as everybody else in the field has experienced.

just my thoughts without even delving deep into it.

 

[ryannull]

Certainly do keep us informed as I will do the same. If you notice python does have a pr6 so it has quality BL's and probably hasn't done any link building in years hence not getting hit with any over-optimization or link penalties as everybody else in the field has experienced.

just my thoughts without even delving deep into it.

PR6?

According to archive.org the last time that website was archived was July 16,2011 and it was a redirect.

http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://www.python-hosting.com

So much for content is king.

It is safe to say content doesn't play a part, or not a big part, in the pagerank evaluation process.