Oh no! Google is Punishing me...

Today I want to discuss about a topic that comes up form time to time within conversations I'm having and I wanted to shed a some light on how Google Ranks websites and how "weighting" works in regards to your website ranking in the Search Engines.

I'm going to answer a few common questions and clarify how Ranking Algorithms work and what Google does and doesn't do.

Let's Talk about Backlinks

A backlink is simply a link from another website to your website. This is referred to as a back link becuase ithe website is linking back to your site. An example of a backlink is when you link from an Article Directory to your website.

Backlinks are a hot topic because everywhere you look uninformed and inexperienced "Guru's" are telling you that you need back links, no wait, now you don't need back links, no wait....backlinks will kill your business...umm...

In other words, they have no idea what they are talking about...and have never known what they are talking about :)

There was a phase a few years ago when a backlink counted as a lot of weight and the more back links you had from relevant websites, the higher you would rank. Google quickly caught on to this hole in their ranking system and changed things up and many people lost their rankings. People all over the place were losing traffic, and their businesses were in jeopardy Of couse, all of the Guru products that pushed backlinks went under and the people promoting them changed their view yet again!!!

What Google changed however, is where the confusion comes in.

Here's the Deal:

A backlink that used to give your website some weight, now doesn't. A website is not getting black-listed, they are not being punished, and you are not getting substantial "negative" weight from those old backlinks. What is happening is that Google simply doesn't give weight to backlinks like they used to.

So, can a competitor screw up your website rankings up by sending a bunch of low quality backlinks to your site? The answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT. Backlinks are weighted so low that someone is not going to be able to hurt you by buying a bunch of paid backlinks from a known spam source.

A ranking algorithm that gives significant weight to negative points doesn't make sense because, as mentioned above, someone could actually HURT your website. The reality is that Google simply doesn't give weight to backlinks like they used to.

Where a website may have ranked before because of the weighting backlinks provided, that isn't the case now. You are not being punished, you're simply not getting the weighting points.

Exact Match Domains (EMDs) - Do they still carry Weight?

An exact match domain is a domain that has your intended keywords within the domain name. For example if I wanted to target the phrase: "How to lose 100 pounds fast", I would buy the domain name: www.howtolose100poundsfast.com, .org .net, etc.

The answer is YES...Exact match domains do carry weight but not as much as they used to. Last year you could buy a domain, create a website with little to no supporting content, and get ranked at the top of Google for the phrase (if the competition wasn't too high). Google made an adjustment to how much weight Exact Match Domains carry.

There are people out there (misinformed self-acclaimed "experts") telling folks that Exact match domains can KILL your business. No freakin' way!

Relevancy to an audience is the #1 most important thing when choosing a domain, so anyone that tells you that you will be punished for using exact match domains is in the WRONG! The bottom line is that EMD's once held more weight, where they hold slightly less weight now when ranking in Google.

Google will never "punish" you, they simply wont' give you points for certain things. NO one can sabotage your rankings by sending backlinks to you...no one can sabotage your website rankings at all.

How do You Rank and Get AWESOME Traffic?

The simple answer is write helpful, original, and engaging content on your website. Google will rank you very quickly if you are publishing content regularly and are focusing on writing with the intention to inform and help people. The training here at Wealthy Affiliate will teach you this!

So, that's my take on "Google Punishing" websites.

Have you ever purchased backlinks? Do you feel your websites have lost traffic and been "Punished" by Google? How are your Exact Match Domains ranking?

I'd love to hear "your take" in the comments below :)

Carson