Under construction site ranks No1

[PhilRobinson]

Hi

Thought you would be interested to see this search:
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=dalai+lama

Even though the No1 page contains only the words "under construction" in the body it still ranks No1.

Notice that the URL returns contains no word breakers (eg www.dalai_lama.com) so I guess that Google auto fragments the URL or the page ranked based purely on the title (doubtfull) or there is human intervention (doubtfull).

Obviously there are LOADS of sites with textually rich info on the phrase "Dalai Lama" :)

My guess is it ranks No1 mainly due to the domain name. This spins me out a bit as it flys in the face of what I thought.

Your thoughts?

[cbp]

My guess is it ranks No1 mainly due to the domain name.

Nope. It ranks number one purely because of all the keyword rich anchor texts pointing at the site in the backlinks. It much have been a site that was taken down for "reconstruction"

CBP

[Wotan]

This can easily be explained by looking at these 2 URL's
http://www.google.com/search?num=100...Adalailama.com
AND
http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...ilama%2Ecom%2F

All the old pages still exist and many pages have direct links. I suspect Google will remove the home page link shortly and the old pages will disappear shortly after.

Interesting aside, something I noticed recently is that Google very quickly de-indexes sites or pages that disappear. I recently moved a load of domains from one host to another and some domains were in DNS limbo for around 48-72 hours but I noticed they completely dissapeared for about 4-5 days from Google but were back in their original positions just days after they were back online.

Regan

[cbp]

I suspect Google will remove the home page link shortly and the old pages will disappear shortly after.

Not going to happen as long as all those keyword anchor text links are pointing at the page - there are 1000's of them!!!

CBP

[PhilRobinson]

I can see why having many sites linking to you page would increase relevancy but it has NO content.

This flies in the face of relevancy because most people would say that page is irrelevant for someone looking for information on the Dalia Lama cos it has no information.

[cbp]

I can see why having many sites linking to you page would increase relevancy but it has NO content.

Its been said a 100 times in this and other forums - "anchor text rulz" - that makes this page incredibly relevant to the search term

I do agree, that it should not be there, but this is how Google ranks sites. How else do you think Google bombing works? (we have had lots of threads on this) - remeber the 'out of touch executives' and the George Bush 'miserable failure' one..

CBP