@swoops Do you think the results of this strategy might change since Google is changing their algorithm to focus on other factors like social engagement, branding, authorship, and so forth?

@swoops
Thank you for sharing this, John.
I am getting ready to revamp my blogs and combine some and let go of others. I’d rather fine tune than be spread all over the place not following my passion.
I use blogger and am currently happy with it although I’d like to get domain names for the blogs I decide to develop more.
Can some one point me in the direction of doing this.
I have done domains for web sites but not for blogger.
I am aware that a keyword rich domain name is vital.

Hi Kristi -  I hope that this post is not taken out of context.  One still needs to implement additional SEO tactics, some of which I mentioned above to rank highly in the SERPs. My point was that in my testing experience, I have not been able to rank as high by merely implementing a single technique as I have by using a keyword rich domain name. Googles algorithm focus on other factors as you mentioned is geared towards assisting in weeding out unwanted and most importantly non-relevant and non-engaging content. For too long and still today, there are a lot of “black-hat” methods ruling the SERPs and making it difficult for genuine content providers to get their information seen.  So to answer your question, No I do not feel (at this time anyway) that ANY changes google makes to their algorithms will have a negative affect on this strategy.

@swoops Thanks for the clear responses. Yes – I understand and that is OK. I always say that there is no single silver bullet in SEO – it is an accumulation of all the tactics that add up together. I have heard others swear that adding the XML site map was the clincher, or this, or that… I have seen the domain name pay off well, but with some established businesses it is just not an option – they already have the domain they will keep. and no budget / attention span for a feeder site.

Hey there Rebecca, I have never used blogger so I can not give you a good answer on the subject but I found this little article from google about using custom domain names with blogger.  Hope this helps. http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1233381&page=ts.cs  
A brief side note - for those interested in their own hosting options, I am a reseller for a very good company and can offer hosting packages with a new domain name starting at less than 15¢ a day. Drop me an email for more info.

@swoops @abigailgorton

There’s another reason you have to be careful when giving out a web address for a site like that, John. In the Fall of 2010, I was about to implement the brilliant tactics of one seo expert that I was about to duplicate, but tragedy struck… or rather Google struck… like lightening against him, all his sites, and took thousands down with him.

What did they do? Among other things, they had Adsense on their sites. Google likes their advertisers. Google wants them to keep buying ads. And when this guy and others like him were innocently instructing all their students, using their Adsense sites as examples in their lessons, of course all their students wanted to go check out the sites. So they did. In so doing, they artificially pumped up those visitor numbers. But his students weren’t legitimate prospects for the advertisers who were paying to have their ads on his site. Bam! He got busted. His site went down… then most of his other sites went down… just like others who had done the same thing, except a lot of them did it on purpose to fool Google and increase their visitor numbers artificially.

Google doesn’t play. When they slap you down, they can obliterate you and everything you touch, including all the rest of your sites with the same Adsense code on it.

So the moral of that story… well, that doesn’t really matter… but what does matter is… be careful when you promote your site address in a forum unrelated to your site’s subject and target Adsense audience. Otherwise, you can get Google slapped big time.

Since then, most site owners make sure their site is either Adsense or Affiliate oriented, keeping the two separate, and making sure they target the right kinds of customers and visitors to their sites. That’s exactly why I try not to participate in the kinds of link-sharing I’ve seen on this site in the Clubs. It’s just not what Google wants… so that means someday the day will come when those innocent little reciprical link-sharing fests WILL come back to haunt those who participate.

In sum, good call on not sharing your Golf Site web address. It may seem kind of unfriendly to some, but you know just how important it is to keep your cards close to your vest, lest you lose your whole pot to the dealer… and that would be Google.

Robin Carlisle

Robin, you are So very right in your statement regarding the sharing of website links.  Thank you for that input, maybe some others will take heed this vital information.

As far as your second post, it took a little less than 60 days, more along the lines of about 6 weeks but I can’t say for sure as I was out of town on vacation and didn’t bother to check on it as I knew when I got back with my client it would be there.  Also, I didn’t want to exaggerate the point because there are too many factors the “dealer” considers.
Thanks again for your feedback
Swoops