thejenn
Joined: Aug 08, 2001
# Posts: 9196
|
Posted: 07/22/2003 10:34 am
so that if there is more than 10 to 15 links on any one page that it is not going to be listed.
Can't say I've heard that. I can't possibly see how it would be true.
Are they planning to delist nearly every site in existance? (Add up navigational links alone and you're likely to be over that.)
Google has published guidelines that state it's a good idea to keep the number of links per page to 100 or less.
|
 |
creativeas123
Joined: Eons Ago
# Posts: 2
|
Posted: 07/22/2003 10:41 am
It is just hear-say. And if I am not mistaken it is for URL linking only, no navigations links at all. It will be interesting if it is true.
|
|
Rezac
Joined: Jan 25, 2004
# Posts: 817
|
Posted: 02/23/2004 05:03 pm
show me one site that has been banned from google in the last two weeks.
|
|
WCGB
Joined: Mar 24, 2004
# Posts: 2
|
Posted: 03/24/2004 02:03 pm
I recommend just hanging up on them. I listened to the pitch the first time someone called and now I get two calls a week from them or a reseller of theirs. One rep even called me stupid because I said no. My email to their general sales email address bounced. Great company, not!
|
|
donaldchase
Joined: Sep 20, 2003
# Posts: 1
|
Posted: 03/28/2004 11:19 am
Even though most of the posts here are pretty old, it's great to have had the chance to read what some of the people here think and their experiences with this company.
I had someone from the company call me regarding one of my "throwaway" sites (a drink recipe site) and we started talking about some of my bigger sites. I'm at a phase where I do pretty well on my own (i.e. I'm listed 4, 8, 10, etc., but would definitely consider investing in having someone help build that up even further (obviously to top 4), so I was very interested in hearing what they had to say.
I am only at the first stage of getting sold to (a $5,000 base price which I can now get for $3500, but only if I sign up on Monday - sounds like I'm buying a timeshare) and was trying to do some homework over the w/e regarding this. I am glad to read what you guys wrote and will definitely keep it in mind.
|
|
jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
|
Posted: 03/30/2004 07:41 am
Just want to warn anyone thinking of using traffic-power.com. We signed up with these jokers 2 months ago, never had a top 10 ranking, and now our site has been blacklisted by google.
They claim we are no longer in googles index because google changed their algorithms. Obviously this is not true. I firmly believe we have been black listed due to our association with them.
BEWARE!!!
|
|
crash
Staff
Joined: Dec 02, 2003
# Posts: 10626
|
Posted: 03/30/2004 08:29 am
jennid, if you only signed up with them 2 months ago that seems like a rather short time to get anything done let alone be blacklisted.
Not saying it's not possible, anything is possible, but it's not likely in that short amount of time.
JimWorld doesn't use anything like that and we've had some pretty wild fluctuations in our ranking - going from #1 to #15 in a matter of hours on one term.
It's better not to jump to conclusions without reviewing all possibilities.
|
|
jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
|
Posted: 03/30/2004 01:49 pm
I wasn't expecting any top 10 results in 2 months, but 2 months after we installed their html pages on our site, our site was delisted from google. They used doorway pages and link farms to promote our site - I am sure this is why we were removed from the google directory.
|
|
SmartROI
Joined: Nov 18, 2003
# Posts: 288
|
Posted: 03/30/2004 04:16 pm
You're sure jennid? I wouldn't be sure about anything in regards to Google unless they told you themselves.
One time I was sure I was banned. A month or so later.. I was back. I guess my site was just down at the wrong time or something.
|
|
thejenn
Joined: Aug 08, 2001
# Posts: 9196
|
Posted: 03/31/2004 05:24 am
You're getting good advice here jennid. While it's possible that their methods have caused your dissapearance, it's not 100% certain.
Sometimes timing is just funky. I had a client completely dissapear from Google last fall during the Florida update. I'd only signed them two months earlier and hadn't really even had a chance to get much new content online. T'was sheer coincidence. Took them two months to show up in the index again.
I'd do a bit more investigating and give it a month or so to see what happens. If you're not comfortable with the company's tactics, then, by all means, work with another SEO, but I'd give them the benefit of the doubt for at least another month to see what's going on.
|
|
excell
Staff
Joined: Mar 19, 2001
# Posts: 14504
|
Posted: 03/31/2004 07:54 am
Also, if you think the pages that have recently been uploaded to your website go against Google's stated guidelines - simply remove them.
|
|
jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
|
Posted: 03/31/2004 10:14 am
Thanks. I have removed all of their htlm doorway pages and link pages from our site and emailed help@google.com with a reinclusion request. Now I am just waiting to see what happens. I appreciate your feedback - if you have any other ideas for me please let me know.
Thank you!
|
|
sisters567
Joined: Apr 02, 2004
# Posts: 1
|
Posted: 04/02/2004 08:27 am
I am new here today and I'm afraid I already signed up with Traffic Power a week ago. Has anyone been successful in getting their money back. I've already had experience with completely non relevant keywords they have suggested.
|
|
jbgilbert
Joined: Sep 16, 2002
# Posts: 321
|
Posted: 04/02/2004 08:30 am
There is actually one good thing about these guys -- they must have one hell of a sales force!
They are wearing me out.
|
|
pageoneresults
Joined: Dec 30, 1999
# Posts: 646
|
Posted: 04/07/2004 04:14 am
Has anyone been successful in getting their money back.
Yes, be persistent and let them know you are going to expose them if they don't refund your money.
Traffic-Power is what gives this industry a major black eye. I know this personally as I've had to deal with the fallout of a client who has come my way after using traffic-power. Fortunately the client came to me about 30 days after TP "optimized" their site.
I got a voice mail one day from the client who stated that I was referred to them from another client of mine. They left their URI on my voice mail. First thing I did was browse to the URI and ouch! Clear gifs at the bottom of the page that led to a variety of gateway pages on site and off site.
I believe there were approximately 80 gateway pages uploaded to the clients site. These were machine generated garbage pages that made no sense whatsoever. Assembled copy that weaved the clients terms into porn and drug related terms. Links to other TP clients and their own little network of garbage. Links to illegal activities, products and services.
It was so bad that I advised the client to take legal action as their 35 year old brand was at stake. If you could see some of the Google snippets that were appearing on these gateway pages that TP developed, you would have been shocked, especially based on the clients business model. Here is a local college who now had porn and drugs showing up for searches related to their business.
Yes, the client was able to get a refund after I generated a report as backup for what TP did. I told the client to drop my name and directory as a reference. I want so bad to get these people out of the game. They are producing absolute garbage and at the same time are putting all of their clients at risk.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe they have a copy of Salsa and that is whats generating the pages. If any of you are familiar with Salsa, then you know the routine.
Stay very far away from companies like this, please!
|
|
jay314
Joined: Apr 05, 2004
# Posts: 3
|
Posted: 04/08/2004 07:51 am
Hi, I'm new here and I don't know what gateway/doorway pages are. Please can you explain?
|
|
unclegeo
Joined: Apr 08, 2004
# Posts: 3
|
Posted: 04/08/2004 11:44 am
Adding my two cents here. Got the hard sell from these guys this AM. They browse with you so you can see the wonderful sites and the "Fabulous" results. They have you go to Google and look at search terms.
They were impressive in the way they used sales techniques which activated my BS detector. They were so impressive with objection handling and attempted closes that more red flags popped up than you'd see in a Chinese Communist Party parade.
After probing me hard as to why I just would not sign up NOW I told them I never buy off a single phone call and needed to do research and would check forums (I was viewing this forum at the time)and news reports and look at other alternatives before I made a decision.
The very next question: "Who was my biggest competitor?" -as if we were going to now go look at them and see how well they showed up in the listings. I'm typing it in and immediately the guy says is "well it looks like you just aren't the right kind of person for our service, bye. I've called my competitors (we are actually more in "coopetion" and warned them.
So I guess the bottom line is that if you are smarter than the average rube they don't want you.
|
|
running_tiger
Joined: Apr 08, 2004
# Posts: 1
|
Posted: 04/08/2004 05:29 pm
Though I think that Traffic Power is using dangerous SEO techniques, I also know that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get blacklisted strictly by having link pages/farms linking to your site. Now, you may not get credit for those links if the Google algo deems that those pages or websites are violating their linking standards, so the issue would still remain of getting what you paid for, but you will not get blacklisted by having them link to you.
Think for a second. If you could get banned simply by having them link to you, then why wouldn't you set up some other site filled with link farms and purposely link to all of your competitors so that they can all get banned. Like I said, you will not get blacklisted simply by having the Traffic Power link pages linking to you.
HOWEVER, DO NOT let them place any doorway pages or do ANYTHING to your own site. If you let them place these pages and cloak your website's pages, then you CAN be banned from the search engines because it will be YOU who is in violation. If you do decide to do business with this company, let them take the risk. Just make sure you get what you paid for.
Tell them that you will be running backlink checks on your site to see if their links have been registered in Google. OptiLink software is another way to analyze whether you are getting what was advertised. They will never guarantee search engine placement because no SEO company can, but I would MAKE them at least guarantee a certain number of indexed, themed, links per keyword within a 90 day period.
They will likely offer you 40 keywords. And $4000 is about the price they like to hover around. If you paid $1 per link (which is HIGH for some text on a page), that would mean that you would need 100 links per keyword going to your site (4000 total). I would negotiate $500 up front and $0.50 per link registered with Google. If they can get 5000 registered themed links they would get $2,500.
If they balk at the idea, I’d say: “How many registered themed links am I getting? Even if you guys got me 4000 links, how can you justify me paying $1 per link? You can’t guarantee me that I’ll even be on the first page for ANY of these keywords, and therefore you can’t guarantee me ANY additional traffic. For that price, I can do a PPC campaign and be positive that I will get 10,000+ qualified people to my site.”
If they are as good as they say they are, this scenario should be no problem. Hell, if the pages were legit and the price was $0.10 per registered link, I’d pay that EACH MONTH for the links that were registered.
ALSO, remember that before you get caught up in all of the smoke and mirrors of their clients and where they are ranked. How can they prove that they were the ones that got that client that ranking? For instance, several of my sites were already ranked on the first page of Google for many of the key terms I was looking for. You can bet that they would take credit for every single ranking.
Anyway, you may deal with them as you wish. I hope this info provides some help. Bring up these issues in the negotiations. Chances are, the sales guy will probably bring in his "supervisor" to come in and answer the technical questions. It’s the basic car dealer approach.
|
|
jesbasementsystems
Joined: Sep 27, 2001
# Posts: 269
|
Posted: 04/10/2004 07:51 am
I had a guy call me and I kept him on the phone for 2 hours... just to see if he could close me into a deal. Their proposal went from $6K for one year of service to $500 for 6 months of service and double the amount of "doorway" or "attraction" or "smoke and mirrors" pages - whatever they call them today.
Total joke. Total junk. I did offer the guy a job with us as a telemarketer 
|
|
jennid
Joined: Mar 30, 2004
# Posts: 29
|
Posted: 04/16/2004 03:48 pm
Since my site was banned, I have heard from others who have had their sites blacklisted from Google after hiring Traffic Power.
If you hired Traffic Power and consequently had your site blacklisted I would like to hear from you. (If you are reading this and haven't hired them yet, PLEASE beware!!!)
|
|
