Niche Site Case Study – Week 1 Update
Ok, so it has basically been a week since I posed the question ‘Do Ad’s Affect Indexing & Ranking?‘ and launched a case study to test this question out.
If you subscribe to this blog, you will already know that within 24 hours contender 2 was indexed and ranking – but contender 1 wasn’t. Today I was to share with you how they are both traveling a week after creation, as well as the actual domain names and my plans to get them to number 1 (both will be taking a different route).
Which Contender Is Which?
If you are a little bit confused, basically I have two week old niche sites – one with ad’s and the other without. The goal is to find out if having ads (and also linking out) have an affect on indexing & ranking in the search engines.
I’ve nicknamed them Contender 1 (Site with Ads) and Contender 2 (Site without Ads).
So let’s pick up the action where we left off…
Current Rankings – One Week After Creation
Since this is a case study, I do not want to affect the results by linking to each site directly. So check the images below of the current ranks (using Market Samurai) – and you will be able to find them.
Contender 1: Current Ranking (Cruise Niche)
I am happy that it is finally indexed and starting to rank but it’s interesting that my homepage isn’t ranking for my main keyword – instead a tag is. Only 4 pages on this blog so far (and the main keyword for one is still unranked), but a positive start.
However, not quite as good as contender 2…
Contender 2: Current Ranking (Mining Niche)
As you can see, I am already ranking for the 5 pages that I have created for this site (even if it is not the pages that are ranking quite yet). The great news is that I am ranking 16 for my main keyword – and if you look over in the backlinks (BL) column – that is with no backlinks.
Interesting… But What Does It Tell Us?
I’m still not convinced that advertising/Adsense has anything to do with these results. Instead, my theory as to why contender two is ranking better is due to outbound linking in the posts.
Is it possible that when WordPress pings Google, that Google visits the page and notices (and follows) the outbound links to quality sites – giving preference to the page (because most affiliate marketers are selfish and never link out unless it’s an affiliate link). Just a thought…but the only reason I can think of at the moment.
NEXT STEP: Getting Them On The First Page…
Obviously the next thing for me to do is to get them ranking higher – so that they are actually getting search engine traffic.
So the contest is on for the two contenders, as to who get’s the first search engine visit – meaning it’s time for some link building.
Two Sites: Two Different Link Building Strategies
So recently my link building strategy has been writing articles for EzineArticles and then spinning those articles and submitting them to ArticleRanks.
Now, this method seems to be working great for me, with my cruise deal site (different site to the one in this case study) mainly using this strategy and it is already making a couple of dollars each day from Adsense.
However, especially with the latest Google updates – I wanted to test that method against something else that I have seen a lot of niche bloggers doing, and that is guest blogging.
So Here Are Each Contenders Link Building Strategy
Getting all of the same types of links is not a smart move, so each strategy will have a couple of different link building methods.
- Contender 1: (Cruise)
I am going to stick with my regular strategy with this site, as follows:- Write Articles For EzineArticles
- Spin Articlesand Submit To Article Ranks
- Comment On Blogs
- Contender 2: (Mining)
- Guest Posts
- Web 2.0 (Squidoo/Hubpages)
So those are the strategies. Simple and (hopefully) effective. I will try to be as balance as I can with how much I do for each site and we will just have to wait and see which one gets the first search traffic – and then, which can get the most!
Tips, Thoughts, Opinions?
Got anything to add? I’d love to hear what you are thinking when you read my plans – so please comment below.
12 Responses
2.1.2011
Thomas,
A very interesting competition. Since I use all the ways except article ranks (I use UAW) I am very interested to see the results of this experiments.
Looks to me like #1 has stronger and more varied linking mechanisms.
Maybe you should try a video marketing for #2 also and even the odds. Of course that brings in a whole new crowd, so maybe on second thought that might be better for a “future” contest.
Looking forward to more…
2.1.2011
Tom, very interesting! I have created BLs before with just article directories but it didn’t have much effect until I mixed it all.
I like where the series is heading. Keep us updated ;)
2.1.2011
@Steve – I think you are right about the varied link mechanisms, but I’m hoping that the guest posting for #2 will be varied enough to cover. I will make adjustments if I see it necessary.
Video marketing sounds interesting, but definitely for a whole new case study.
@Moon – Thanks! Will be sure to keep you updated.
2.1.2011
Thanks for all the info and also congratulations. I didnt know about Article Ranks before but I will surely check it out, thanks!
2.1.2011
Hey Thomas,
Have you considered doing some kind of tricks with JS to make the ads appear dynamic so they aren’t indexed? You could maybe do something where the ads are no index, no follow or maybe display through AJAX – it’s been something I wanted to try – although I’m not sure if Google would frown on that.
2.2.2011
In regards to competition amount and strength for the two what is it like in comparison? That could be why one is higher than the other quicker.
On a side note on your sidebar you have the ‘goal tracker’, is that a plugin or just some code in a text widget. Do you mind sharing ? :D I Started mine about 2 weeks ago. Inspired by your own journey but of $500 a month not $1k yet.
2.2.2011
I never used Market Samurai, i use (Google keyword tool + seo quake) to easily get into a niche.
have you tried them before ?
Thanks
2.2.2011
This is interesting, at least we’ll know which link building methods would be effective. I still think that ads would not have any effect but we’ll wait and see when this test of yours ends.
2.3.2011
Thomas,
How about competition?
From the keywords you showed us, competition in the first field may be more important, maybe more -optimised – sites are poping up trying to fill that niche, hence Google taking longer to crawl / rank new sites.
Re the second contender, also maybe this was the true niche with less sites catering for these keywords.
It’s all conjectures off course :)
2.3.2011
@Murray – I’m not technical enough for that stuff, but I think I might just wait out the couple of months and focus on building the traffic and hopefully when I finally add adverts that it kicks the sites income off with a bang.
@Donace – That could be it. But even the way and amount of pages getting indexed is favouriting contender 2. As to the section in my sidebar, it is actually just hand coded columns that I have to update manually each month. I could dig out the code, but you would have to work out the CSS to get it working for you.
@Mr Ven – I have used Google Analytics and SEO Quake, but I find that Market Samurai just makes the whole process a lot easier to work out – but if they are working for you, then I’d stick with it!
@Andrew – Yea, I’m still not convinced about whether ads have an affect, but the results seem to be skewing favourably to the adless site.
@JT – Yea, you could be right! Something I hadn’t thought about.
2.3.2011
My suggestion was going to be to mix up your link sources but looks like you’re working on that next. Great job! I’m definitely going to keep an eye on your case study as it unfolds.
For some reason I’ve always shied away from the Google ads. My preference has always been to create the site around 1 or 2 main products (or a service) and focus the content primarily around them.
3.10.2011
Tom,
Great Day! I’m putting you in my favorite’s bar.
I’ve been using Ezine’s with not much to show for it. I will be looking to spin to ArticleRanks, also.
Keep up the good work.
Live it LOUD!