Sometime I just don't get Google rankings

[oznappies]

We currently rate #10 on google.com.au on Modern Cloth Nappies and the #4 site is a dead link to a page http://www.modernclothnappies.org/ who's total content is:

Index of /

<address>Apache Server at www.modernclothnappies.org Port 80</address>

<address></address>

<address>They have been at that rank for a quiet a while and even the cached version is full of broken links.</address>

<address></address>

<address>It seems Google is quick to jump on low value sites or ones with duplicate content, but what about stale links and sites? Has anyone else had similar experiences of being out ranked by domant or dead sites?</address>

[RyanKent]

Thank you for sharing Sha. I find this very interesting.

I trust the information Matt shares, but I also wonder if he might think the forums work better then they actually do in this case.

[ShaMenz]

Hi Ryan,

This has been mentioned a few times in the Google Webmaster help videos by Matt Cutts. This  Google Webmaster Help Video on fixing incorrect results in the SERPs is one of them.

Hope it helps.

Sha

[oznappies]

Thanks for that info. I will look at that option.

[RyanKent]

Hi Sha.

Can you please reference any article from Google which suggests sharing the bad result screenshot in Google Help forums?

I have repeatedly seen the opposite advice. The Google help forums either educate posters on how the system works, or will advise posters to use the existing tools. I am not aware of any case in the past year where a staff member replied to a post and said "I'll ask the team to take a look at it". It seems to be a mostly community run forums with relatively few replies from Google employees.

[ShaMenz]

Hi There Oznappies,

Hope its warmer in your little spot in Oz than down here on Kangaroo Island!

Google has a team of people who work on developing algorithms to find this according to Matt Cutts who talks about these crypto 404's in the linked webmaster help video.

I have also seen Matt mention in a number of other webmaster help videos that if you see something that is just plain wrong when sites are returned in Google SERP's that the quickest way to deal with it is to grab good screenshots (of the SERP and where it takes you) and then post the problem in Webmaster Central Help pages. By doing this it will be seen by either Google staff or moderators who can escalate the issue to get it dealt with.

This is prob your best option. Buying the domain won't guarantee that you keep the ranking - eventually it would get dropped anyway and/or you would have to put content on it, optimize and build links etc.

[seoninja20]

You could try reaching out to them and buy the domain.

Registrant Name:Shane Fletcher
Registrant Street1:PO Box 2061
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Milton
Registrant State/Province:Queensland
Registrant Postal Code:4064
Registrant Country:AU
Registrant Phone:+41.9873843
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:shane@firechildcreations.com
Expiration Date:16-Nov-2011 06:18:07 UTC

[RyanKent]

Google will remove the site, but it will take longer then any of us like.

When Google visits the site, that page returns a 200 response, not a 404. A 404 response tells Google the page is not found, and allows them to take faster action.

I think many of us see this issue every day. There is absolutely nothing we can do except be patient. You know the page will fall off the ranks, and when it does you will be bumped up a position.