Basic SEO Question:

“How much time is Google taking to index a new webpage, and how can we accelerate the process besides using Google Webmaster Tools?”

The simple answer is to get more links. Pages can be indexed in seconds or minutes IF you’re linked on other credible sites.

By having lots of links on other sites, you’ll be looked at as “useful” by search engines like Google and their search engine spiders will come back often to “re-index” your content, including new pages or blog posts you’ve created.

Nate’s Suggestion:

One recommendation I give clients to monitor how soon new pages get indexed is to set up a Google Alerts process.

Many Facebook profiles are not public and can’t be found.

Most links on Twitter can’t be followed by search engines, which helps prevent spam.

Google treats links from most sites the same.

A link from an .edu or .gov does not necessarily carry more weight for search engines (although I find this hard to believe).

Question: A site for my client’s competitor shows up on a SERP for keywords that never show up in the site anywhere (not even hidden in the source code).

How is this even possible, and isn’t this spam? What can my client do about it?

Here’s a real life example of what he’s talking about (test this out):

Step 1: Go to Google

Step 2: Type in Click Here

Step 3: You’ll see this:

If you were to go to the get.adobe.com/reader web page, you would find NOTHING about click here anywhere on the site, they don’t use that phrase in the Title tag, they don’t have it in the URL, NOWHERE.

However, every time you go to a site that requires Adobe Reader, it will say something like, “To Download Adobe Reader…CLICK HERE!”

The phrase “CLICK HERE” will be an anchor link to this page.

This is how sites get ranked for phrases that really have no on-site search engine optimization whatsoever.

Nate’s Suggestions:

First, a site that does a combination of on-site SEO AND the tactic that was just explained will 9 times out of 10, maybe even 10 times out of 10, out-rank the non-SEO friendly site. Do both and watch your traffic and search engine placement sky rocket!

What effects have you seen from testing this strategy?

Question: Does Google see automatically generated content as a bad thing (i.e. spam)?

If I publish uncopyrighted content on my site that is available from other sources/sites via a WordPress plugin, and Google found out, are there any penalties?

Steve from Austin, Texas

Google can see automatically generated content as a bad thing.

Automatically generated pages vs. hand made content – which do YOU think is better?

The answer is simple – hand made content is ALWAYS going to be the better option to take. If you’re “auto-blogging”, which is basically pulling content from other sites and just pasting it or feeding it on to your site, it won’t help you. PERIOD!

Yes, you might get a bit of traffic initially.

Yes, you might get a spot on a search engine for a temporary amount of time.

But at the end of the day, the sites that stay or stick are the ones that are providing good, quality, “hand made” content.

Nate’s Closing Thoughts: If you’re following the advice of a “guru” that tells you that blogging can make you millions overnight by just “turning it on” – you’re in for an eventless ride that leads to lots of unrealistic expectations and frustration.

What are your thoughts on the concept of autmatically generated content?