public domain article websites, bad idea?

[cmscode]

I have a ? about public domain article websites, Is publishing these types of articles bad for ranking?

I did a little experiment with about 8,000 articles I pulled down with a nifty little python script I wrote, and even with the 'search this site' with google It continually reports no results found for articles I know are on the site. I am a google adsense client and I asked google about it, they gave me the usually ambigouous (useless) response... My site is crawled like clockwork every week by googlebot, and it registers enough hits to verify it's getting the articles crawled, but It's either not including them in the index, or they have been placed in the queue.

Also, It's only been a few weeks, do new pages like that have to sit there for awhile before they are indexed, however low on the totem pole? or can a site be banned or highly degraded for having articles that are everywhere else?

Sorry for the verbosity but I want to provide the full story...

Thanks for any and all input!

[damarzee]

No matter what the content, a few other things will still weigh heavy on Googles decision..or any search engine, when selecting to list your pages and at what level to list them.

1. 1. The articles need to be of the same topic line, to some degree. If the articles cover every topic possible, you have effectively shown no unique concept, no unique reason to draw traffic and no real reason that you would stand out in a search engine algorithm.
   
   2. The articles still need to be on well written html pages that makes all the proper uses of keywords, metatags, alt tags, etc...without going overboard either with keyword spamming.
   
   3. It's helpful if the navigation for the articles allows the search engines to find the individual pages from more than just one reference. It also helps if some articles are also linked from other websites. This use of Deep Linking helps to show real interest in your website content.
   
   4. As with any website, intense use of proper search engine submissions and the use of RSS feeds could and should be used to provide traffic that will help improve popularity much more quickly.
   
   5. The website in general still needs a healthy level of IBL's and OBL's as well.
   
   6. Lately, I have noticed Google taking months to list things...and more specifically, over a half year to provide page ranking for new pages.
   
   7. Finally, so that it doesn't matter so much that these articles also exist elsewhere, spruce up the articles. Add images, include extra quotes, add a personal comment, etc. All these little pieces of information will help your article to not be viewed as a cloned article that has little or no importance of its own.

Overall, tons of content or not, if you have designed the site and your primary interest is to attract the search engines, you have missed the boat. Search engines are helpful, but the site needs to be built to be useful and practical so that people bookmark it and return. This effect goes a long way in how the search engines will view the content and will make a big difference whether your content is in the top 100 or bottom 1,000,000 when a search is performed.

[Keimos]

Cmscode,

Welcome to webproworld!

How can we give advice if we cannot view the site?

Normal time span to get listed is between four and six weeks. Unless you pay for it.

Being found is also a huge matter of relevancy. Who is looking for your articles?

Maybe knowbody is looking for your articles?

Some thoughts to get you thinking.

I thought all web sites were public domain? You been on an Intranet to long or have I missed something?

Keimos

[marcel]

if you want your site to appear "busy" to humans, you can use public domain and reprint articles.

But that won't fool robots. Smart Robots want fresh content.

My theory, based on other people's opinions.

[cmscode]

Excellent feedback, thanks!

ok here it is in all it's 'glory':

http://www.cmscode.com/free-articles/articles.php

I agree with damarzee, Homegrown styling is the (only?) way to go... you really have to give things that personal touch. There are a countless amount of sites out there that just link to other sites w/a bit of their own spin on things, and they do great. What is the web after all but a place to find stuff, and making it easier for people is what it's all about.

I noticed I DID make one huge error in this regard, just sticking a blob of stuff up all at once was the mistake, and not adding any personal touch. (well, I did actually, a bit, dynamic meta tagging and titling)

Being a Coder helps in this biz, but having the savvy to add the personal touch w/o looking like you have a gen'd site spit out by code is the elusive part for me, b/c I love to automate.

thanks again -

ben
www.tierralogic.com
www.cmscode.com

[chadhaajay]

Interesting Topic! Watching It.

By the way, i have a suggestion for you. Display the article links on the webpage rather than in the drop down menu. It seems that artilces are not there at all because unless you notice the dropdown menu, it seems the page is blank.

For an examplen, See PHP Knowledge Base Software at http://www.knowledgebase-script.com to know how I'm suggesting you to display articles.

[kidsfreesoul]

I agree with Ajay - Pls do remove the drop down menu. It's been confusing...one finds only adsense ads to click...good for impressions but only no show again.

I went through some of the articles and find the fonts too small. Right side look more empty. Why don't you make it 'centered'? Loads of content but make sure people visit again with something new too...

I have my few articles submitted at www.goarticles.com. put my name in Author name search:ilaxi

- ilaxi
Edited my mod Webnauts. Links to you web site may only be in your signature.

[cmscode]

Hey thanks for the feedback!

One thing I'm noticing is these pages have a zero pagerank, and so do other pages that have the same articles. Zip. Zero. Nada; which leads me to believe these articles are spammed all over the net using that silly affiliate driven 'article generator' software you see out there. funny b/c I wrote the python code to build my site in an afternoon.

I know the design and layout could be better ( I was going to put my own search stuff in it), but what concerns me most is that having this content will apparently get no search engine traffic :(

So the solution, again, seems to be to put my own twist on the articles and drive traffic the homegrown way.

I, like most people, would really love to get some traffic to SOMETHING i have hosted, b/c damn!!! people are paying crazy money for links these days! I had 8 clicks the other day show up in adsense and I made $7! sheesh!

well, thanks again for the feedback, much appreciated!

ben

[dannywirken]

PR takes a while on new pages, it will not come overnight. There is a dispute if duplicate content gets you a penalty but if you read Matt's blog on Google there is no yes or no either way. Any one else?