Google Checker Software Application Not Necessary

The following quoted comment came from the LED discussion list this morning.

"... a free Windows app that will take a list of web sites and see if they're indexed by Google."

The following response is mine...

There is no need at all for a "Google Checker" software application to see if your site is banned. All you need to do to find out, not only if you are indexed by Google, but how many pages from your site they know about, is to use the query operator "site:www.foo.com" - (remove quotes) replacing "foo" with your domain name.

It isn't surprising that a software application was developed to perform a simple domain search because so few people are aware of these powerful search operators offered by Google. A list of special search operators. If you simply visit the "Advanced Search" page at Google and fill in the proper boxes, they'll form many of the special queries for you:

"On top of that, [Google Checker Software App] will crawl your site(s) and check all of your outbound links to see if you're linking to any sites banned by Google, which can damage your pagerank."

If you think you are possibly linked to banned domains, then you probably fell for one of those ridiculous linking campaigns pushed by link sellers or linking software that links indiscriminately to anyone who links to you. Don't link to anyone if they are not a customer, a testimonial or an informational site relevant and useful to your own site visitors.

If anyone emails you asking for a link, visit their site to see if it is useful and relevant to your site visitors. Make sure they are not competitors and see if they are included in Google using that "site" query and while you are at it, check them with a "link" query if you consider giving them that link. If they have useful and relevant links, have good PageRank and could be useful to your visitors without competing with you, go ahead and link to them.

I've got a page at my site with my linking policy on it - basically it says I don't link to anyone unless they provide a useful article, whitepaper or some other valuable content for my site.

Once most people hear that, they inevitably drop the request for a link from me. If they respond with an article that fits my site - I'll usually post it and link to them. Nobody gets something for nothing. If the article or report they provide is not useful to my visitors or is simply a sales letter for their product, then they don't get a link either.

ALL outbound links you place on your site should be visited manually - by you - before linking to them to check for value and relevance to your site visitors. If you suspect they may be banned from Google, use the "site" query operator on their domain name - if they don't show up in Google results (using the "site" query operator) with at least one page, then they are banned.

If that site is not a client or a relevant related business that is useful to your site visitors and you haven't visited to check that value - why are you linking to them? Of course some worthwhile domains you've linked to in the past may be sold or may have expired when the company owning the domain went out of business and if you have hundreds of pages with outbound links on old pages. This feature of that software app may be useful. Dead links are harmful to your ranking. I may try it myself for this feature.

Mike Banks Valentine