BANS (Build a Niche Store) Sites - Dropped by Google???

[Linda Buquet]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/1506867892/"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/246/1506867892_f08d49f861_m.jpg" alt="drop the hammer" align="left" height="240" hspace="10" width="180" /></a>Is Google dropping the hammer on BANS sites??? For some BANS (Build a Niche Store) owners, it’s been a pretty tough last few months. Back in August <a href="http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=520001583&amp;tstart=40&amp;mod=1221761605456">eBay expired hundreds of affiliates</a>, many reportedly had BANS sites. Now according to many affiliates "Google has been either penalizing or out right de-indexing BANS sites from the SERPS."

I'd like to stress that if you are just whipping up a bunch of out-of-the box BANS sites, then those would be seen by Google as "thin" affiliate sites. I assume site's like that would also be counter-productive to eBay's "effort to focus on delivering the highest quality buyer traffic." If you want to use something like BANS or other datafeed tools you need to customize and offer some type of VALUE ADD on your site. The article below offers lots of suggestions.


Don from AffiliateWatcher offers a list of reasons why he thinks BANS are getting del-isted, suggestions about what you can do to stay in the serps and offers some alternatives to BANS.

<strong><a href="http://www.affiliatewatcher.com/will-google-deliver-the-death-blow-for-bans-sites/">Will Google Deliver The Death Blow For BANS Sites?</a></strong>
"I’m knocking on wood here. If you remember right from my initial Build A Niche Store Review, my goal was to build 100 BANS sites. Now I’m thanking my lucky stars that I have AMADD (Affiliate Marketing Attention Deficit Disorder) and only made it to 30 sites before I lost focus and went off doing something else.

<strong>My Theory On Why Google Hasn’t De-Indexed All BANS Sites</strong>
Even as far back as when I bought the Build A Niche Store program, there was talk about Google finding the footprint of all the standard BANS templates and possibly penalizing them. It seems this bird has come home to roost. From the start, here is what I did to try and make my BANS sites unique from all the other cookie cutter BANS sites."

Have any of your BANS sites been dropped? Weigh in below.

 

[jazzguy]

Yikes...I had thought early on about checking out the BANS program and seeing what could come of it. I'm glad I didn't...I also realized that BANS may not be the program for me since I much prefer content/information sites that I feel much more comfortable designing and unleashing onto an unsuspecting public... Thanks for the heads up Linda. I'd be curious to see how this develops and I hope that those who rely on these types of sites don't lose their shirts. Take care and all the best.

ps: Nice graphic...

 

[Rob_TID]

This makes no real sense to me (though i am not a bans user).

Ok, if you use it straight out of the box, there are probably going to be a heap of footprints that google can find and algorythmically ban your site. So here's a wild idea - adapt the software and add your own touches to the sites it creates. This ain't rocket science. Google can only see the source code - if yours is the same as everyone elses you deserve to be banned.

Secondly, I can't see why Ebay would not want this traffic? I mean it is search traffic that converts into bidding customers on their site?

I am probably missing something but my general hope for the affiliate industry is not at an all-time high this week as you may have noticed.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Well I was just largely reporting about Don's story, which was his viewpoint and he's a BANS user. So he could maybe elaborate if he sees this post. I didn't get a chance to contact him, but hopefully he'll see the trackback and come over.

The Ebay deal though, if you follow that link I gave to the eBay forum you'll get some insight. From what I remember back when it 1st happened, they dropped about 300 affiliates. My GUESS is that a % had some BANS sites and if they didn't think they were doing anything else wrong, assumed (rightly or wrongly) that BANs is what got them canned. A few started talking about it and then it mushroomed on forums into "everyone with a BANS site got canned." (Just guessing) You know how that goes.

Try not to get discouraged with the industry Rob. There is ALWAYS something in this biz. But if you were a farmer you'd have famine, drought and insects killing your crop. Sorry too tired to finish my thought. May have more thoughts tomorrow.