Friday, April 18, 2014

Alert: Googlebot can't access your site.

I decided recently to simply let a number of domains go that I don't use and aren't generating any traffic. Some months ago I also decided to delete all the domains I'd entered into Google's webmaster tools.

I came then as a surprise that I got a message from Webmaster Tools with the subject 'Googlebot can't access your site.' The body of the email contained the following.

Over the last 24 hours, Googlebot encountered 1 errors while attempting to retrieve DNS information for your site. The overall error rate for DNS queries for your site is 100.0%.

The problem isn't that Googlebot can't access the site. I know that. I've let the domain expire and so I expect the website is no longer available. Nothing new to me. What is new however is even though I deleted all records for all sites in Webmaster tools many months ago, Google is still tracking those sites and associating them with me. You would think delete means delete. No so with Google.

Before entering your domains into Google's Webmaster tools decide whether or not this has any long term implications for you. For most people it probably doesn't. My concern with Google is the more they know the more I can be disadvantaged by the data they collect on me. I've noticed multiple times once I get a good presence in Google they cut my traffic in half or less. I don't know if that is a deliberate strategy to encourage me to spend money on Google advertising. I've tested Google's paid advertising in the past a number of times and the cost far outweighed the return so no matter how Google decides to gut my traffic it doesn't help them get business. All it leads to is distrust of their services.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for IT support.

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