New Sites - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

I have a new website. When it launched, it showed up in the top of the results in all of the major search engines, but then it disappeared. I found it - at position number 45. What is going on?

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Often times, a new website will appear in the top of the rankings on one or all (Google, Yahoo, MSN) of the major search engines when it is launched and then fall in rankings shortly thereafter. In some instances, the new website will maintain its position in Yahoo and MSN, while loosing position in Google.

Side note - Some online searchers prefer Yahoo results because they often include newer sites; others prefer Google results because they often include trusted sites. Many webmasters argue both ways, and some condemn Google for not including the new sites. The results we have seen indicate that the top results in Google include those sites which Google has come to trust and that regularly and manually update their content, rather than those that do not.

Another side note - Regardless of the debates about results, the fact still remains that Google handles nearly 60% of all search, while Yahoo handles less than 25%, MS less than 10%, and Ask less than 5% according to compete.com (http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/comscore-sept-core-search-queries-us.jpg), which tends to report traffic numbers at about half of their actual results.

Get Trusted

Which brings us to the next topic - earning trust. If your website has been around for a while and pegs it in top position, you likely appreciate the Google trust-test. Websites trusted by Google often rank superior above those not trusted by Google. However, if your website is new, you will have to earn that trust, an exercise with a fruitful end if accomplished, but one that can take up to a year.

Focus On The Main Objective

By focusing your website on a single or few objectives, you will produce pages (upon pages, upon pages) of keyword rich targeted content, the synergy of which will combine to give your readers a better experience and your site a better ranking (providing all other factors are accounted for properly).

If however, your focus is highly competitive, then your website may require much more attention in the form of content additions and updates, as well as good relationships.

Develop Good Relationships

The third objective is to develop relationships. For the most impact and the best benefit, those relationships should be with websites of like minds - in other words, the inbound links from websites focused on similar topics will benefit you more than inbound links from websites focused on other topics.