Ori Einhorn

Why is John McCain’s Website being penalized by Google?

Earlier this week I was researching the 2008 US presidential candidates and how their websites are designed from a marketing perspective. Generally speaking I was impressed – all are focused on getting the visitor to take action – “join the campaign” or “join the mailing list” - great stuff! Then I looked at how the sites are ranking in Google – good news again – Rudy, Hillary, and Obama are all ranking #1 for searches on their names – but where is John McCain?

A little more research shows that John McCain’s Presidential Campaign website never shows up higher than the 30th spot in Google’s search results! – Regardless of how specific you make the search result. Have no fear – Google isn’t choosing candidates here. Our analysis shows that McCain’s website has inadvertently triggered a so-called “minus thirty” penalty.

Google’s Minus 30 Penalty

Bloggers are talking about Google’s Minus 30 Penalty. Briefly it is a penalty that is casted on a certain website when the website triggers certain elements in the Google algorithm. In the case a John McCain’s Site http://www.jhonmccain.com shows all the signs of being penalized by the Minus 30 Penalty Later on in the week John McCain’s site plummeted from number 30 and cannot be found easily at all even in the top 100.

Will John McCain Loose Elections Because of Google

At the moment he is losing the online battle, it is very hard to find his election site. We know that a website is essential to a presidential campaign, from recruiting voters to voicing the candidate’s opinion – McCain is losing that Online Battle. Just imagine the battle is between Rudy and McCain for Presidency, and he loses out because 50,000 people wanted information on McCain and couldn’t find it easily and joined Rudy. The internet is powerful, and visibility on the net is crucial.

My observation is:

Are we living in a day and age that a search engine like Google not only finds us the best results for a presidential candidate, BUT also influences who is going to be the NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES… think about it…

Final thoughts

Search engines are influenced by popularity and back links. It’s Ironic but this article about McCain’s website problem can circulate and actually cure his web site. John .. You owe me one.