Test: I have made an impossible-to-rank website… rank!
I like to experiment. I’ve always thought that a curious approach gives each experienced person the opportunity to take that extra step on a path of skill synthesis. And it is this synthesis, for me, that is the added value that each of us can bring to others.
That’s why when Giorgio Tave and the Search On Media Group team issued the challenge last year, I couldn’t back down. The landmark Advanced SEO Tool event would be revamped by including space in the training program for case studies and tests to give birth to the first “Google smash” edition.
In thinking about my test, I had decided that it should be simple, hands-on, and involve my colleagues and co-workers. I wanted it to be an opportunity to regain a group spirit, to play with data together so that everyone could come up with extra ideas.
Well, I’ll tell you all about what I did, step by step.
To make an empty site rank, only through links!
I started here, wondering if in 2022 (the time I was preparing the test) it was still possible to influence a site’s ranking solely through links?
Last year had been marked by the release of the Content Helpful Update, and in general we know well how all of Google’s official communication has been geared toward enhancing useful and valuable content for the user for years.
On the other hand, off-site SEO and link-graph optimization are still recognized by most as an important means of giving pages authority, but they tend, on a “formal” level, to take a back seat to content.
And so, without pretending to unearth any truth, I wondered if the strength of links alone would affect SERPs enough to rank a website without any text.
The test began on May 10, 2022 when I bought and published the domain “imposable.co.uk” (now the domain has expired)
- the domain was new, with no history
- in the code I had customized title tag and meta description with “This is a Title Tag” and “This is a Meta Description”.
At this point I thought the road would be downhill. Instead, I had not set myself an upstream problem: indexing!
In order for the website to aspire to a possible ranking, the first step-which I had mistakenly taken for granted-was to index the page.
From Search Console, the indexing request had failed, as per the image, because it was marked as Soft 404 – Thin Content.
Panic, in short. My test was over before it had even begun. I decided not to give up and tweeted to John Mueller, one of Google’s spokesmen.
In the tweet I asked him if it was possible to address an empty site, despite the soft 404. John Mueller’s response was an encouraging “Sure,” – as well as a fair point in asking, “what would that mean?”
In any case, despite that “Sure,” my empty domain just wouldn’t index.
Meanwhile, thanks to the help of many, I was beginning to link the site.
This was the summary of the first part of the links obtained with the chosen anchor texts made explicit:
However, despite the incoming links, Search Console did not want to know about giving me the ability to index the site.
Now what could I do?
Indexing a page blocked by Robots.txt
To try to unblock the impasse of the moment, I got an idea from a chat with Andrea Pernici. Andrea proposed modifying the robots.txt file to insert a disallow to the site’s home page. The argument was that by doing so Google would not see that the site was empty and would therefore index it via links.
I tried that, but it did not work. I am convinced that with more time and more links, this possibility would have yielded some interesting results.
In any case, I was proceeding in sending more links to the site also trying a few variations.
In the following days:
→ I set up a canonical from another site to the domain;
→ I set up a redirect from a page on a domain that was already online and placed.
I also let a few weeks pass and then removed the disallow to restore the robots.txt to its starting condition.
Indexing a site with brand strength
As I went on from link to link optimizing each element of both the linking page and anchor text, I decided that one attempt to give authority and thus break the indexing stalemate was to work on branding.
Branding distinctively tells the story of a project or company; it is a valuable opportunity to enrich the context of a site. It is not just about marketing!
That is why in the following links, I decided to set the strategy specifically on this point:
What did I get? Nothing!
- the site still didn’t get indexed;
- the site (as a result) did not rank;
- no links were detected in the Search Console report.
At that point it was a week before the Advanced SEO Tool event where I was going to present a really unsuccessful test. However, there was one more test I wanted to do….
Positioning a site with thin content
Before throwing in the towel, I decided to play it all out.
I was left with one question to be answered:
“what if I put in real Thin Content to please the algorithm?”
What happened next is unbelievable.
The site in less than 24 hours indexed and ranked for the keyword branded, as per the image…
and not only that, also for the keyword… SEO EXPERIMENT.
The site even ranked higher in SERPs than the Advanced SEO Tool event.
What I learned from this test
It is good to remember first of all that a test — it is just a test! And my test in particular should be taken for what it was: a game with a specific context.
Context, in our SEO work, is one of the aspects that makes the most difference. I have been studying and researching in the area of content and keyword research for years, and I am a promoter of how words and their good use are at the heart of the communication and dialogue we build with others and with search engines.
My test was in no way meant to take away from the value of the importance of good content, especially thinking about how much time and energy we invest on a website, by virtue of a lasting path, resistant to Google’s mood swings and SERP variability.
In the context of this test, we saw that:
- Indexing and Ranking a Thin Content is possible;
- Links have enriched the semantic context of Thin Content;
- Google still places a strong emphasis on branding;
- Through the link-graph Google had already learned the context of the site.
“First prize” for the test at Advanced SEO Tool
It was a great thrill to present the test in Milan on October 5, 2022 in front of an audience of colleagues and experts who were enthusiastic and full of the same curiosity that I also feel is mine. Every speaker present was there to share the fruit of ideas, work and experimentation in a day that was enriching to say the least.
For this reason, too, it was a special moment for me when my case study was the most voted in the “Test” category giving me a chance to win the first prize.
Bonus track, John Mueller’s commentary
A few days before the event, I submitted my slides to John Mueller, to whom I wrested a few suggestions and hopefully a smile.
In the response email he sent me, he mentioned how links are a way for Google to discover new pages and that keywords help, but they should be put to good use and not overused. He also added, “Anyway, keep on testing & trying things out, and posting about your findings! I love seeing these kinds of presentations. When you try & test yourself you learn a lot more than just from blindly following random advice on the internet.”
Which in Italian would sound like this, “Anyway keep testing & trying new things out, and sharing about your findings! I love seeing these kinds of presentations. When you try things on your own skin you learn a lot more than blindly following some random advice from the internet.”
I join her words to remind me and all of you reading this to keep experimenting: Keep on testing!
Acknowledgements
This testing was made possible thanks to the many colleagues who supported me with ideas and links. In particular: Giuseppe Liguori, Filippo Jatta, Gennaro Mancini, Michele Senatore, Antonio Mattiacci, Velia De Laurentiis, Andrea Pernici, Giuseppe Pastore, Giorgio Tave, Antonio Papini, Alessio Pomaro, Luca Olovrap, Silvia Algerino, Piero Polito, Martino Mosna.
