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TST in Google

Look at this google search: http://www.google.com/search?q=the+sand+trap+.com. Where is http://thesandtrap.com/ in the search results?

The Sand Trap .com is the exact name of a site that resides at http://thesandtrap.com/. You know, "the sand trap .com" - the same URL as the words broken apart.

Oh well. I guess Google isn't always as smart as you'd think it should be.

5 Responses to "TST in Google"

  1. At least this search yields a bit better results. Still puts this ahead of the actual site, though.

  2. For the search you tried you are on the second page of results, about rank 13. Don't forget that Google cares about more than just what is on your page - your PageRank is highly dependant on the volume, quality, and title of links to your site from other sites.

  3. I suspect that the word "the" is being counted for less since it is a common word, and indeed a search for "+the sand trap .com", which forces Google to consider the "the", puts the site higher. Some of the other sites you're losing to also have "sand" and "trap" in their titles and URLs, have huge Google Juice like Snopes.com, or are highly relevant to the search terms (some, for example, are actually about sand traps which arguably is a better match for the search). If you specify that you are actually looking for a site with those words in the title, Google gives you exactly what you're looking for: "allintitle:+the sand trap +com"

    Also, it's important to note when discussing exact search result positions that the positions change frequently and may not even be the same for two people searching at the same time -- when I first read this post, TST.com was in the top 10 for your original search term, but I just checked again and it's back to the second page. My guess would be slightly different results returned from different load-balanced servers.

  4. I have the same sort of problem with a site I worked on for a client. Unfortunately old school SEO just doesn't work anymore. However changing the text behind the main heading (I'm using an image replacement technique) to include the space has helped a little, but it's still not where is should be. Though the site just launched after a soft launch so now that people have something to link to, it might start picking up some steam.

  5. I had the same problem with shorty114.net until a few days ago (at least, that's when I discovered it).

    A search for shorty114 came up with forum profiles, and what not.

    I somehow got back into Google, but I suspect it's because I had a huge links page.

    If my memory serves, wordlog.com (an unofficial WordPress news site), had the similiar problems.


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