I've thought I've heard of every Google penalty theory under the sun but I was wrong.
The other day, I spotted a thread at the Google Webmaster Help forums by a webmaster claiming to have a "Trademark Suppression Penalty."
I kid you not, click over to the thread and you will see he named his penalty the Google "Trademark Suppression Penalty." How does he define this type of penalty? Well, he said he was told the definition by another SEO. He said:
Well according these SEO experts, its when your SITE's HOMEPAGE cannot rank in the first page or #1 for its domain name (minus the extension) AND it main product or service ( for example) if your domain name was http://fastguitarlessons.com and the main service is GUITAR LESSONS, then YOUR WEBSITE'S HOMEPAGE should rank #1 or at least on the 1st page if you query Google: >> fastguitarlessons "guitar lessons" In MY case, when I do that exact GOOGLE QUERY and substituting my site, my homepage is NO WHERE to be seen in the first page, or any other page for that matter!
Confused? It is okay, most people in the thread are including the person who posted on this matter.
He basically blames the SEOs in this help forum for his penalty, while Google's JohnMu defends those helping him in the forum.
It is a fun thread to read if you have some time to kill and need a laugh. Of course, it always saddens me to see someone who isn't doing well in the search results, but some do not deserve it.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
