Using the term "Official" makes Bots Skip?

[shamarkaleo]

Hi All,
I heard something this week that I'd like to confirm/debunk.

One of our author clients sent me a message saying she'd just been told by an "expert" that you should "NEVER name your website the official anything because the bots will go right on by you."

Is this true? I'd never heard this in all my Search Engine studies, but wanted to run it by you guys for feedback.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Kelli

[incrediblehelp]

Never heard this before.

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by shamarkaleo

Hi All,
I heard something this week that I'd like to confirm/debunk.

One of our author clients sent me a message saying she'd just been told by an "expert" that you should "NEVER name your website the official anything because the bots will go right on by you."

Is this true? I'd never heard this in all my Search Engine studies, but wanted to run it by you guys for feedback.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Kelli

Would your friend be so kind and tell us who is that guy claiming to be an expert?

And Google confirms that is is not true. I made a search for "star wars" and look what I got:
stars wars - Google Search

Is that expert probably one of those very well known scammer SEOs?

[microtekblue]

I hope not...I am using "Official" for one of my forums.

Although, I think it may be possible, because if every site decides stating they are the "Official" whatever in a field, then a bot may consider it spam, and completely ignore the word.

Bots are also smarter now, and even if you are stating you are the "Official" authority or site regarding a topic, then bots for no reason at all won't just ignore the word. They will take the word into account.

IF you are claiming to be the "Official" site for Britney Spears, that may bring problems I think, as you are not the official site for Britney, unless SHE or her company etc created it, and so a bot may have better judgement and consider the word "Official" in your title as being irrelevant and completely skipping it.

I can see that happening to help filter spam for bots, but other than that I think its not really a big deal.

[kgun]

I would be more careful with the term the "world's best ...."

Make the following search: "Financial stability"

This FSF - Financial Stability Forum: Home is the site that I personally relate to the "official" site on the very important concept of "Financial stability."

There can be other related sites, that you find along the right edge on the first site in my signature. But I could personally be very skeptical to a site that uses the term.

This is the official site for subjects related to "Financial stability".

[interupt]

The "Star Wars" query shows an example of the term "official" in the page Title, but some people may wonder whether having the word "official" in the domain name triggers any type of filter.

There are of course tens of thousands of "official" sites that are parked, like:
www.official-flowers.com
www.official-fashion.com
www.official-cameras.com
www.official-cooking.com
www.theofficialbabysite.com

After a looking around for a few mintues I found a few real sites that have the word "official" in the domain. I excluded domains where "official" was actually the name of the company (which is just one good reason why search engines wouldn't want to implement such a penalty)

Basic Google Information Below:

www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com [Indexed: 630] [Links: 97]
www.officialgreenpages.com [Indexed: 7290] [Links: 0]
www.daughtryofficial.com [Indexed: 54000] [Links: 251]
www.carrieunderwoodofficial.com [Indexed: 2670] [Links: 224]
www.fantasiabarrinoofficial.com [Indexed: 4] [Links: 40]
www.officialtravelguide.com [Indexed: 315] [Links: 206]
www.officialworldgolfranking.com [Indexed: 5350] [Links: 25]
www.officialbiodiesel.com [Indexed: 67] [Links: 0]
www.officialbrettfavre.com [Indexed: 1660] [Links: 43]
www.theofficialcatholicdirectory.com [Indexed: 1] [Links: 0]
www.official-athlete-websites.com [Indexed: 1] [Links: 0]
www.official-directory-hotels.com [Indexed: 0] [Links: 0]
www.official-golf-hotel.com [Indexed: 4] [Links: 0]
www.theofficialcalistaflockhartfanclub.com [Indexed: 53] [Links: 0]
www.theofficialdatingrulebook.com [Indexed: 0] [Links: 0]
www.theofficialdirectory.com [Indexed: 13] [Links: 1]

Though it isn't an all encompassing rule, most people who by these domains are either Domainers or sneaky SEOs that are trying to capitalize on a highly searched topic or keyword and possibly use the word "official" to trick unsuspecting users into clicking their listing in the search results over some other site (even if the other site really IS the official site). This technique (in addition to purchasing .org domains to make the site appear more trusted) has seen limited success.

Considering the objective behind the purchase of these domains, more often than not some questionable tactics may be used on these types of sites or the domain may have a lack of content or links. They are often build as low-maintenance sites meant to make a quick buck.

So the appearance of any penalty, filter, or lack of rankings that would be applied to domains with "official" in them may be a result of the type of people who tend to buy such domains and either the shady SEO techniques used or the lack of effort applied to the website.

There are of course legitimate sites that also use the word "official". It isn't the domain name as much as how you develop the domain that will ultimately determine your success in the search engines. Whether or not you can entice a few more people to click on your search engine listing because you have the word "official", that is a debated topic on its own.

Anyone can make the argument that certain keywords can "trigger" the all powerful search engines to hand down the death strike to your website. But 99% of these rumors are fear tactics handed out by SEOs who are looking for a job, or the search engines themselves who want to continue to lead everyone into believing that what they have "behind the curtain" is super complicated and can destroy your business at any time if you step out of line.

Take this domain for example:
www.kidsexchange.net [Indexed: 41] [Links: 3]

Is it "Kids Exchange" or is it "Kid Sex Change"?

How about:
www.penisland.net [Indexed: 7] [Links: 172]

Is it "Pen Island" or "***** Land"?

I do not believe that Google or any other search engine will destroy you just because of your domain name. There is too much evidence to the contrary.

Bots don't analyze legal implications either. That is not their business or function. If there is a trademark, copywrite, or publicity right infringement, they have other methods of reporting it. The bots do not make those decisions on the fly. There is no way for them to say that you AREN'T the official site on a topic. The word "official" is actually very arbitrary. What is "official" to me may not be for someone else.

[shamarkaleo]

This information is excellent. Thanks, everyone.

To clarify one point, the term "official" is not used in the domain, but rather in the page title. This is a site for an author, and we wanted to make it clear that this is the real site for the author, not a fan-run site, etc.

Thanks again for your posts!

Kelli

[MrGamm]

There goes my nest egg...

anyone want to buy...

official-official-official.com

CHEAP!