COMMENTS
Hi Dharmesh,
Ranking is a tricky thing, especially between, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. When it comes to the most complicated algorithms for determining rankings, Google wins and currently the others are far behind. This is what accounts for your blog not showing up in Google. You only have 24 backward links in Google, and 1837 in Microsoft. This is because Google is very picky about which links they count and which links they do not. Basically, ranking in MSN search is much easier then Google, or even Yahoo, because of the simplicity of their search algorithm. I am sure that sooner or later, as MSN search matures, this might change. Either way, please keep writing your insightful posts, and I'm sure the links will keep coming in :-)
Your Google pagerank (PR) is 3 according to http://pr.blogflux.com/index2.php, and that's actually a very good rank for a young site like this blog. So it's not that Google doesn't like you entirely -- maybe it's because of the links like the above poster noted.
You're in the Google sandbox. Google (haha) for it.
You might also find WebmasterWorld a useful resource. There is a paid, 'supporters,' forum on the site. I am not a mermber but my SEO friends swear by it. (If you decide to buy in, let me know what you think!)
I'm seeing the same thing for one of my sites (http://www.formspring.com) and talked about it here: http://blog.olonoh.com/2006/04/21/i-still-dont-understand-google/
I'm on the first page of results on MSN's search page for several keywords, yet nowhere to be found in the top 10 pages for the same keywords on Google.
I've always loved Google, but I'm starting to lean towards your theory #5. We can guess all we want about the technicalities of the Google algorithms, but IMHO, when I compare the top results for my keywords, and the onstartups.com keywords, the top results in MSN just seem better.
Thanks for the comments.
So, the prevailing theory (which is a good one) is that Google is more "sophisticated" about what it considers as an inbound link and as such, the other engines (MSN and Yahoo!) are giving more credit than the site likely deserves. This makes sense to me.
I'm not really looking to do anything about this, I was just curious (I'm a curious kind of guy).
Google is particularly harsh on blog-type sites in the first year to combate spam blogs. Looks like you registered the site last August 5th, and opted for the 1 year registration. To Google this could look a lot like a spam blog. Two suggestions: 1) lengthen the registration on the domain name -- makes it look like a site that will be around in a few years. 2) wait. At the one year mark there was a noticeable pop in our google search rankings for key terms. I have heard others report similar results.
links aside... if a site is some what optimzed i.e. matching title, description, content and <h> tags then engines will index prettty easy... I have a (3week old) hobby blog traffic around 60 a day @ http://blkjackblog.com first page on MSN optimation alon, no traffic not a popular key word:
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=blackjack+blog&FORM=QBRE
but on a good key word I got indexed but am dropping pretty quick from index at page 4 to 1 week later on page 12... no traffic
traffic drives to top once on engines is my guess.
While we're sharing, I'll confess that I have observed this as well. Some sites seem to be penalized in google, other sites with less authentic content seem to succeed.
I've also noticed that googlebot has an erratic hit pattern, hitting the same page 20-30 times a day in periods. G. seems to be about two weeks slower to update its index.
It is unecessarily rude and likely completely uninformed to claim that Ask, MSN, etc are "far behind google" and that any discrepancy in rankings could only be due to the "simplicity of their algorithms"? How could godly google be at wrong?
Based on my own, subjective, observerations, I think both Ask and MSN lead when it comes to relevance but compared to google they suffer from being smaller. They have a smaller horizon but they seem to achieve more within their limits.
Sometimes, google can be quite a mistery. I started 3 sites about 6 weeks ago. One got to PR 5 in 4 weeks with no Alexa traffic, one does not have a PR yet, but shows better in Alexa, and one is not even indexed in google yet! But curiously enough, that site gets fairly steady traffic from MSN. I'm still trying to analyze what I did differently, but so far haven't figured out what was the meaningful difference.
Most experts seem to think that you need 3-6 months to establish credibility with a new domain, and I think the my first 2 sites may have been a fluke and that the third one will eventually get there.
And FWIW, I'm not using any Microsoft technology ang get MSN traffic.
You don't use adsense and Google is penalizing you for it. The idea that Google is "impartial" is silly. Sites that use adsense definitly rank higher. Same for sites that advertise with adwords. Google is a massive business, not a charity. If you want to get to the top of the page, buy your way there.
Neil Patel:
"You only have 24 backward links in Google, and 1837 in Microsoft. This is because Google is very picky about which links they count and which links they do not."
Close, but no cigar. Google is "more picky" (ie, has a more complicated algorithm) for weighting pages, but years ago they also deliberately started misrepresenting the backlinks figure in a attempt to stop SEOers using the information to second-guess Google's PageRank algorithm. In reality, SEOers generally believe Google counts roughly the same number of backlinks as MSN - possibly many more, given the size of their database.
"Basically, ranking in MSN search is much easier then Google, or even Yahoo, because of the simplicity of their search algorithm. I am sure that sooner or later, as MSN search matures, this might change."
It does. When search.msn.com launched our page rankings shot up and down wildly for weeks, only tailing off in the last few months as the ranking algorithm gradually stabilized.
Plus, as many responders have pointed out, Google routinely "sandboxes" new domains (making it hard for them to get good rankings) for their first year or so of being listed - an attempt to fight (typically short-lived) spam blogs and the like.
My site is only a few months old and so is just starting to recieve hits from search engines.
Your article interests me as I feel my situation is the opposite.
MSN thinks I'm a pervert, Google just ignores me.
There is some good information among these comments... and some really bad information. A good place to start for Google novices is SitePoint Forums Google FAQ: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=356031
it is written by a friend of mine, and I can assure you he knows his stuff. ;)
One thing to remember is that pagerank and your page's rank are not the same thing. You might have a PR6 and rank lower than a PR4 for certain terms.
Also, about the mysterious sandbox: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=357587
It exists, but not the way most people think (no one really knows how it functions, and blaming bad rankings on being in the sandbox is probably a cop-out most of the time).
Hope some of that helps. :)
Hi, I think you might draw a parallel with one of the obstacles faced by start-ups: Prospective clients might be wary and prefer to wait for some time to see if the company is still around/has satisfied customers over a certain period of time/has a track record of good service etc. Longevitity is important in generating trust - not only with potential clients, but also with Google.
Always enjoy reading your blog - Chris
P.S.: I think this feauture of the Google algorithm is absolutely justified in that it mimics human behaviour in a way.