100k BluePrint Warning – Read This!

79 Comments

1. Yvonne Finn

   Hello PotPie,
   Thanks for making the judgement call to alert us to this new pitfall at Google.
   I appreciate your integrity and know that this will help many of us avoid another slap from Google.

   Best regards,
   Yvonne
2. John

   “Red rag to a bull” springs to mind with this. Thanks for the warning Jen.
3. PotPieGirl

   @ Yvonne – you’re welcome!

   @ John – Exactly!

   Thanks for stopping by!

   Jennifer
4. Charity

   I have this course, but was sidetracked and never set up a site. Thanks for posting this to warn us because I was going to go back and re-read the course. I remember the content being very useful, so I will still use the info but make my own themes with Artisteer!
5. PotPieGirl

   @ Charity – thanks for letting me know that the training is good. Sounds like all that is needed is a unique theme.

   Jennifer
6. Bruce

   Thank you.
   What a timely warning.
   Checked my sites (all OK), but dumped the 100K on them I had sitting on my system – just in case.
7. Bruce

   Sorry about the spelling – can’t see how to edit so could you fix?

   Gotcha! ~ Jennifer
8. PotPieGirl

   @ Bruce – Good! Glad your sites are a-ok. Hopefully removing the footer link will be plenty to keep them alive.

   Good luck- and thanks for reading!

   Jennifer
9. Clio

   Your post reminds that there are many things we take for granted but should really look into. Luckily though, I don’t own that type of sites but will consider revising footer notes and links when setting up another site.

   Thanks
10. PotPieGirl

    @ Clio – Yes, its always something to keep in mind.

    If it was THAT easy for ME to find all those sites, imagine how simple it will be for Google to nail them all.

    Thanks for reading!

    Jennifer
11. Daniel

    Hi Jennifer, this is a great tip.

    I got a question about this though. What about all the thousands of themes out there that contain a footer link to the theme creator’s site. Is this not a problem because the website for the theme isn’t teaching people to “game” google?

    It makes me wonder if creating a theme and putting a footer in there is a possible way of doing SEO.

    Hey Daniel =)

    To me, giving credit to someone who designed the theme you are using for free is fine and appropriate.

    Jennifer
12. Jay

    That is scary and yeah I can see how that can be a problem having a link on the footer of thousands of sites all pointing back to one page.

    If that is not a target on your back I do not know what is. Just build your own blogs, and websites people it really is not that hard.

    P.S also make sure you have 100% unique content on your sites or you will get nowwhere fast in the search engines.

    I hear this program 110k adsense blueprint is a good program too hopefully they take out the link in the footer ad so no-one else gets busted who are already using their course.
13. Tom

    of course all the websites are going to look the same, they are using the same theme.
14. hagar

    thanks for the heads-up… a footer link – so simple, yet so dangerous… back to linkwheels LOL
15. Taylor

    What’s up, Pot Pie Girl?

    This is a great warning for people participating in the program. I’m not participating in any program, but I wanted to give my two cents.

    – If AdSense were to ban any of you reading this post today, would your business die?

    – If Google were to deindex your website today, would your business die?

    As an Internet Marketer, you cannot rely solely on 1 company to keep your business going. Putting all of your eggs in one basket is flat out stupid.

    Google has the right to do whatever they want, whenever they want to. Google could deindex your site or ban your AdSense account without warning.

    For years, I was relying solely on Google for my income. It had me worried sick.

    These days, I am capturing subscribers, making Youtube videos, promoting my site on Facebook, going to be doing offline promotion, using Twitter, and using Google Search. For the income revenue, I am using Team Beach Body, Clickbank, Amazon, etc.

    The more you diversify, the less you will be hit if a company decides to ban you. I recommend that you all diversify your traffic and income streams.
16. Cindy

    I too have the 100K Adsense course but never followed through on it. It does appear to be a solid course and is NOT about gaming Google. The suggestion to use their theme was a big NO-NO though for me the minute I read it!

    That being said, it is NOT impossible to have white hat, good quality, original content sites banned by Google though. They deindexed 78% of my sites 3 months ago and I have never been able to determine why. I submitted a reinclusion request on the 3 biggest ones but got a useless canned rejection response. So I just started over again on new domains but took a serious hit financially that I am still struggling to recover from.

    My take away from my experience with Google … diversify and reduce the reliance on search engines for traffic. I was planning on doing it eventually but Google forced my hand.

    I did not lose my Adsense account so still have that as a monetization option. But to any of your readers who either lose their Adsense account or get sites banned, DIVERSIFY … and beat Google at their own game!
17. Emma

    Thanks for the update Jennifer 😉
18. Rich

    Great write PotPie, it is good that you look out fr your readers and subscribers even if it means the possibility of dealing with backlash. I just removed the footer yesterday on some sites I built because this had dawned on me before. It was not from the 100k blueprint sites you speak of tho, but all-in-all one has to be careful about footprints overall. Thanks again!..
19. bruce

    Thanks for the info Jennifer,

    OK now the really scary part.. I basically have no idea what exactly it is you are saying lol.
    I mean I feel like a real moron here. Footer? yes I know what a footer is. link? yes i know what a link is.
    Please excuse my ignorance, but I am having a hard time grasping this situation. Footer links to what exactly? and What is the “big footprint” ? I guess this makes me happy because hopefully I will lean something I obviously should know today,
    as of this moment I am a little lost to be perfectly honest. I mean I kind of get it,but not really. Are you saying that any links in a footer are bad, or leave a “footprint”? or just this one, and if so why this particular one? Is it because it is wrong to have any type of like generic back-link? Cause I think there are some of those pre-built in to wordpress the way it is structured from the install. Please enlighten me Jennifer! Save me from myself lol

    p.s you mentioned hidden text. Is it a hard and fast rule that any hidden text for any reason is wrong period? My memory is not the best, but it seems like a recall a few instructional’s where they outlined a situation to use hidden text for a specific purpose. Also back to the footer link, here is a perfect example, I am looking at the footer of this page I am on now and it says theme by: Dezinerfolio which obviously is a backlink to dezignerfolio.com these are everywhere is this not a “footprint”? Please do not misunderstand me I am not implying that is wrong. Just simply trying to get a grasp of this. 🙂 sorry for the book and have a great day!
20. Jean

    Thanks for caring enough about your readers (like me) and not worrying about what someone else might think about your actions. Like those above, I too, bought the 100K blueprint – it seems solid, but life got in the way and it’s still sitting around almost untouched by me.

    Guess I’m lucky, and to say the least – the devil’s in the details. It’s usually something very simple, like a footer that gets us all into trouble. Will take your Post to heart & look over ALL my footers & themes. Never liked my websites looking like anyone else’s, but want to make double sure so I’m going NOW to check each and every website I have.

    Thanks again, Pot Pie Girl for caring enough to warn us. Now the ball’s in our court to do something about our sites. ….also thanks to all those comments above about diversifying – this is very good advice, too!
21. Michael Ullman

    Jennifer,

    Though I have a lot of respect for you, have followed many of the things you’ve done & written for quite a while, I’m taken aback and disappointed by your post.

    I’m the author of “Adsense $100k Blueprint”. With over 2000 students following the course, and an active forum of over 1500 members, there has been an extraordinarily low – nearing non-existent – number of people suggesting any problems due to the course – it’s methods, it’s tactics, or the theme’s we provide. And there is no lack of feedback on the forum.

    Many, if not most theme providers include a link back to the source of the theme. This is common practice. Nor do I know of a single instance of a theme link being used to penalize sites because they used the same theme.

    To suggest that this is problematic is unjustified. To post this type of blaring fire-alarm warning is both unjustified and irresponsible. Among other concerns, how many might panic and nix projects that took considerable time & effort, in some cases their first and only online success, and toss their future earnings?

    It is equally irresponsible to suggest that Tiffany Dow had her site nixed because of this. I’ve been in on ongoing communication with Tiffany since she began reviewing A100k. We all agree, as she clearly posted on her blog, that there is no specific indication that the footer link had anything to do with it.

    I don’t know if you’ll publish this comment, and I don’t want to enter into a flame war of any kind, with anybody. You say in your post you’re more than happy to accept any flak you get, so I have hopes you’ll post this comment.

    In any event, I invite you to email me directly; if you have any evidence at all that theme links in general, or ours specifically, has caused anyone any Adsense problem, I would be eager to hear of it. As someone who both uses & teaches positive, long-term, sustainable business practices, and goes to great lengths to make that very clear in this course, it is important to me that suggestions to the contrary are addressed head-on.

    Sincerely,

    Michael Ullman
    Author, “Adsense $100k Blueprint”

    From Jennifer:

    Of course I published your comments – and THANK YOU for stopping by TO comment!

    I said it my post, and I’ll say it again right here TO you – I am SO sorry for posting this about your product. I carefully weighed my options in this situation and opted to post this with hopes that even just one of my readers sites gets spared.

    When I popped that footer text into Google (in quotes) and saw all the thousands and thousands of page in the Google index that all a) have that footer link and b) all look exactly the same – well, I knew I had to say something.

    THANK YOU for offering your members/students an optional theme without the training credit link in the footer.

    I don’t do ‘flame wars’ so no worry of that ever happening here or with me =)

    Again, thank you for stopping by and sharing your side.

    Jennifer
22. Michael Ullman

    Jennifer,

    I’d like to add one more consideration:

    The course promotes building useful, quality informational sites. Providing one follows the intentions of the course, they should end up with a site that adheres to Adsense TOS, and would pass manual review.

    Some of the sites used to develop the course use those same themes, and have been up for over two years, many of which earn more than enough to trigger manual reviews.

    That said, and my initial comments regarding your post not withstanding, I’m going to make “non-footer-link” versions of the themes available for d/l, along with the very simple instructions for removing the links as an alternative.

    Sincerely,

    Michael Ullman
23. Bob@ Parasite Cleanse Side Effects

    I do remove the footer link from my paid themes, but some of the free ones you can’t remove it, and never had problems with those. I was starting to use the same favorite theme for all my sites but will mix it up now, thanks.
24. bj

    You said, “To me, giving credit to someone who designed the theme you are using for free is fine and appropriate.”

    As an occasional free wordpress theme creator I thank you from the bottom of my heart! Love ya, Jen . . .
25. Leigh

    In my humble opinion the new method of building a helpful site about something you’re interested in or passionate about is the best way to build a long term sustainable income. It’s what Google wants and has wanted all along and maybe eventually they’ll be able to work that out in their algo.

    Those A100K sites remind of the tacky green and gold xfactor sites that are slowly disappearing from the rankings.

    Sites that are monetized only with Adsense and are set up specifically for that purpose are fair game for Google and so they should be.
26. Peter

    Hi Jennifer,

    This is a very timely email for me as I was looking for an Adsense Theme for some new sites this week. I was going to purchase the CTR Theme but I kept reading of specific individuals who either got their account banned or who received notices from Google on non-compliance.

    Seems Google is on the lookout for MFA Themes and the footprints they leave, just as you stated.
    In my research I came upon the Headway Theme at headwaythemes.com which allows you to make your own theme even if you are not a coder. I purchased it yesterday and I love it!

    I’m just about finished with my own unique template. It is a great way to make your own theme and not face the wrath of Google who are on the lookout for those 1000?s of individuals who are using the same theme.

    Thanks,?Peter
    • FH Harris

      This type of remark is absolutely one of the top problems with our industry. To put the name of a product out there and say that this product is responsible for accounts being banned or being non compliant without a shred of proof is reprehensible and actionable in a legal venue.

      Jen’s remark didnt sit well but she at least pointed out an issue that combined with other issues (none of which are recommended in A100K) could identify a perpetrator. This remark about CTR is totally without foundation and there are tens of thousands of users who can verify that this theme is compliant and would and should in no way be considered the reason why a site would be banned.

      As someone above said look at the hundreds of thousands of sites using the xfactor non-theme. They are not getting banned (for that reason) but as a micro niche they are being replaced in the SERPS. CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT. Not graphical themes.

      And no I am not affiliated with the publishers of CTR. But after 17 years on the net I get real upset seeing unfounded swipes at products being written as if they were fact.
27. Dan

    I am so TIRED of the sanctimonious pots from people that say “if you rely total on google” or “if you write good content and don’t try to game the system”.

    Guess what. Lose ALL your google traffic and you will be crying. Do everything by the book today and Google can still change the rules tomorrow (like “farmer”).

    Seriously, knock off the holier than thou crap and realize we all succeed or fail at Googles whim.

    Taylor this means you. If you think your “immune” to the next Google change, think again.
28. Jeff L.

    Jen,

    I would like to say as an owner of the system that it does NOT teach you how to game Google. What it does is teach you how to create a quality site that uses Google Adsense as a way to make money from it. It does not teach you to make “MFA” sites. “MFA” sites are usually very thin in content to begin with. In away it teaches you to build LARGER sites; authority like sites in fact.

    Everything it teaches is totally on the up and up; no black hat stuff involved at all.

    However, I do agree that “foot prints” left by a lot of generic themes should be something to look out for.

    Yes, people who create sites with generic themes should spruce it up a bit and make it their own anyways. I hate using themes where I do not have control over layouts; widgets; ad placements etc etc.

    — Jeff
29. Craig

    LMAO, what a way to make people follow YOUR affiliate link instead of this other company. I don’t personally use either purely for the fact that you are all con artists.
30. Rick

    I’ve never heard of those sites. I guess that’s a good thing.
31. Leo

    Thanks for the heads up Jen!

    Quick question though – Won’t your website be affected by having mentioned the keyword in this article? Or is it just if it’s a link?

    I did an EXACT search for the keyword and you rank #1…

    Thoughts?
32. Faith

    Awesome catch and thanks for the heads up. IMO, this is actually a big problem amongst many of the “training” programs out and about. I, as many others I’m sure, have tried several different ones and it always seems that they want you to do exactly as they say in everything and neglect to mention that you really need to put your own imagination into them. IDK, maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always thought that each individual site should not only have unique content, but LOOK unique or at least somewhat unique as well.
33. Jeff L.

    Craig: If they are all con-artists then why are you following PPG’s blog then?

    Leo: She is talking about the link. It is a footprint; basically what happens is that Google starts seeing sites that do not meet standards, and if they see a “theme” or “foot print” as it is called it will look at those sites harsher in comparison with others. That is the general idea anyways. You would have to personally ask Google if that is what they do.

    Faith: I agree with you 100% Even if the theme is not unique make it unique by trying to customize the layout; adding a header graphic things like that.

    — Jeff
34. mohan

    Thanks for the timely warning. I have a few 100K sites and I need to take action now else lose them. Thanks a ton again.
35. Ian Whyte

    Jennifer,

    Thank you for your timely advice. I note there are a number of contrary comments here but your guidance has always been most valuable.

    I have been a sideline follower of you ever since I completed your One Week Marketing course over 12 months ago. And I like the company you keep like Unstoppable Affiliates and Mark Ling

    I recently completed the 100kAdsense course and felt that it offered a system that had some real value. I also built a site based on their Blue Template which as you have noted had that footer in it. And ever since I built that site it has been something of a problem.

    First it took an inordinate time to load the Adsense ads ( as did some other sites) but after much searching I established that it was likely the AVG2011 LinkScanner causing the problem. Once switched off all returned to more or less normal

    But around the same time I found that my site http://www.atticsolar.com was receiving exactly zero traffic in Google Analytics. And it has stayed that way ever since – flat lining every day.

    One thing that I never quite came to grips with was the fact that the 100KAdsense Blue Theme which I used appeared to have more than 3 Adsense ad blocks displayed

    So based on your comments maybe the reason is more to do with the footer. As per your advice I have swapped the theme to the WP default one and will wait a little time before introducing any Adsense.

    It is also interesting to note that the owners of 100kAdsense have been quick to comment here. It would have been helpful if they had answered the couple of questions I sent them as I built my site – (one being about the number of Adsense blocks displayed) but to date there has been no response whatsoever.

    Keep up you good work
36. nette

    Jen,

    Maybe you can teach us different ways to promote our sites and not depend on Google too much? A step by step maybe?

    I haven’t really seen anything like that, yet. Not in great detail, anyway.
37. Pavol

    I think you did the online marketers a big favor when you posted this post. Not just to warn people who may be affected, but also to show, that there are still marketers who stay in line with their moral compass (so to speak).

    I personally do not have 100k blueprint. In fact, having the name “100k blueprint” would make this an unlikely candidate for me to purchase…

    But I do have another adsense system in place. But it is not a program, but rather just a wordpress template that simply makes it easy to add Adsense. And I modify the theme of each of my blogs. But it too may leave a footprint, as the participating blogs also create a backlinking network. So I’ll be watching it closely.
38. Richard

    Craig: A certain amount of cynicism is healthy, but I think you’ve taken an overdose. Sure, Jen, knows how to monetize, but she also has a track record of providing very useful insights on what the Big Bad G is up to. And, besides, she’s so darn cute….

    To suggest that her blog post was motivated by a desire to maximize her affiliate revenue from promoting this program is over the top. (At least you didn’t go so far as to suggest that the exchange with the program’s creator, who has just responded, was all staged.) Scaring people away from a product is not the most obvious sales strategy, unless you want to argue that the creator’s offer to modify his product was designed to assuage those fears. How Machiavellian (or Karl Rovian).

    Sorry, dude, I just don’t believe she’s willing to jeopardize the relationship she has with her subscribers by playing those kinds of games. Take your cynicism over to the Warrior Forum where it belongs. (Of course, they won’t post your comment like Jen did. They’ll ban your a$$ if you say anything remotely negative about their little WSO racket.)

    Everyone else: A lot of sensible comments here about theme differentiation, to which I would add one more thought. An awful lot of IM folks use the Flexibility theme. It is recommended by Andrew Hansen in the (generally very good) Unstoppable Affiliate course (yes, Craig, the one that Jen is linking to at the top of this page.) I refuse to use Flexibility on the grounds that, sooner or later, Google is going to see that theme as a big red flag that the site in question is intended primarily to make money.

    As previous posters have said, I customize my themes extensively. You have to be comfortable working in the editor and/or ftp to make your theme unique.
    • FH Harris

      Your Quote
      I refuse to use Flexibility on the grounds that, sooner or later, Google is going to see that theme as a big red flag that the site in question is intended primarily to make money.

      Can you introduce a single shred of intelligent proof to back that statement up?

      If I had a dollar for every cry like that I could retire.

      Since when does Google feel that making money is bad?

      However if there is no intent to educate inform or entertain in addition there might be a problem. There are tens of thousands of folks making a full time income from the proceeds who are unaware of this type of post who go merrily on their way cashing checks. QUALITY UNIQUE CONTENT!
      • Richard

        @FH Harris – In addition to your response to me, above, you said this to Gary, below:

        “I have yet to hear of a single site that was quality getting banned, deindexed, or even losing rank due to a theme.”

        With all due respect, it is well-known that Google is on the lookout for certain themes that it suspects are hiding sponsored links. (Google does not want anyone to buy rankings in the SERPS by paying for do-follow links, whether overtly or covertly. But if you buy an Adwords position from them, they’re totally cool with that.) Matt Cutts discusses the problem of hidden links here, and subsequently endorses the view of Matt Mullenweg on sponsored themes. Mullenweg has warned WordPress users away from certain theme-distribution sites, like Blogstheme.com, whose themes often contain hidden code.

        Thus, themes can absolutely be a liability, and it is irresponsible to suggest otherwise. Many of Jen's followers are at the other end of the experience scale from you, and they need to be steered away from practices that could destroy their hopes. They could invest a great deal of time and effort creating fine sites, only to be deindexed because of links hidden deep in the theme's code.

        Now, have I gone too far in worrying about Flexibility? Note I did not say that Flexibility is problematic today; rather, my concern is for the future, and stems from a nervous expectation regarding algorithm changes to come. I completely agree with you that Google has no problem with profit (especially for themselves) when a site adds some kind of value, but – as this thread illustrates – plenty of people are using WordPress blogs to put up dross. Thinly-veiled affiliate sites are already likely to be deindexed. Since Google is already looking at themes, I prefer to avoid themes that could find themselves tainted by these rotten apples. Risk-aversion is a matter of individual preference, thank you.
        • Richard

          Sorry, Jen, I messed up the html for one of the links in this post. Hope you can fix it – all links point to either Cutts or Mullenweg – no hidden code here! No need to publish this reply, either.
        • Michael Ullman

          @Richard~

          There is no ‘hidden code’, ‘hidden links’, or anything like it in our themes, nor has there ever been. One is based on a very popular Creative Commons License theme, the other custom built by us to duplicate the layout, color scheme, etc. of a particular site design we had developed as a static HTML site.

          Michael Ullman
39. Paul

    I think this is another reason to watch footer links, sidebar links, and links that come from many automated plugins which Google (and other search engines) could easily pick up on.
40. PotPieGirl

    Thank you ALL for your comments and feedback! I had a few comments get caught in the ‘spam’ filter which meant I needed to go in and approve the “real” comments. They should be showing now.

    I know this is a touchy subject, but hopefully we all learned a little about making our sites unique and more “ours” than making them look like everyone elses.

    Again, I want to apologize right here to Michael Ullman (creator of 100k BluePrint). It’s NOT fun when someone does this to your product.

    I also responded to Michael back up above (directly under his first comment). He was very gracious and came by to leave his thoughts – and that is most appreciated.

    He also shared that he is now offering another optional theme that does not have the footer link in it. That’s awesome!

    From all the feedback here in comments, it sounds as if 100k Blueprint is a solid course – and that is GREAT news!

    Thank you everyone!

    Jennifer
    ~PotPieGirl
41. Taylor

    Dan –

    Hey brother. You are so mistaken, my friend. My website is brand spankin’ new, and I have 40 Aweber subscribers over the past month. (Just look at the second slide on the slideshow on my homepage, brother. You will see a screen cap of my subscribers.)

    My site is barely getting any traffic from Google, brother. Even when it does begin to get Google traffic, I will have my Youtube videos. (And if Youtube bans me, then I will post videos elsewhere). I will also have many other marketing strategies in place (which is what is getting me subscribers anyway.)

    Because of the fact that I am doing something amazing (building 20 pounds of muscle from home in a certain time period), I plan on having my videos go viral. (Just like my Proactiv videos). Search Proactiv on Youtube, and I am number 1.

    I do not need Google to succeed, brother. There are tons of marketing methods (such as media buys, offline promotion, GUEST POSTS, Facebook, etc… the list goes on.)

    I’m not even getting 5 unique visitors from Google per day. I don’t need Google to succeed. The fact that I have 40 subscribers in about 30 days without Google is proof of that.

    I used to believe what you believe though, Dan. I used to rely solely on Google for everything. The truth is, you really do not need Google. As long as you have a means of getting traffic and capturing subscribers, you do not need Google traffic.
42. Abhishek

    thanks for the heads up! I have been following your blog for the past 2 months but this is the first time I am commenting. Love the way you write and all your tutorials are totally sweet!
43. Abhishek

    Hey potpiegirl, there’s been a little mistake while entering the website for my comment above. It was an honest mistake and please take away the name of the website from the previous comment. This comment has the correct website address.
44. Gary

    Taylor: Doesn’t Google OWN Youtube… YUP.
    I agree with your “eggs in one basket theory, however, blasting everyone and calling them stupid is not the way to share it. I hope you Aweber subscribers get a chance to see how you treat people when their opinions differ from yours.

    Google does run the show, so they do get to make the rules.

    As far as the adsense 100k blue print? Well, JEFF L said that the plan doesn’t teach you how to game Google, it teaches how to make quality sites… blah blah blah… add adsense to make money.
    Take a minute and search “modified for 100k blueprint” in Google. Now use Googles handy site preview tool and look at the sites for the first… say….40 or so pages. They are all identical. Most of them have two paragraphs on content, zero pictures, a text header and I would bet that the minimal content has been ran through a spinner so many times it is incoherent.

    The most important – yet overlooked – is that even though Jennifer now ranks high for those keywords because of this post, you notice that –
    THERE IS NO AFFILIATE LINK TO THIS PRODUCT HERE.

    That is right, she is not trying to make a dime on this. It is not a publicity stunt.

    Thank you Jen for the respect you show others. Most of which have never bought a single thing from you, but all who appreciate you free help and advise.
45. Jeff L.

    Gary: Sorry, there is a misunderstanding. I am not the CREATOR, I bought the 100k blueprint program. I guess I should have explained that. That is why you probably stated the comment like you did, thinking I was the creator?

    The one problem with some people who use the program is that they follow it BLINDLY. Why? Because they have been told that to do otherwise would result in possible failure.

    They recommend no pictures because it would take away from the CTR. I USE Pictures in all my posts and pages.

    I do NOT use the themes that come with them; they are almost impossible to make unique. I agree, they all look the same.

    I use other themes that I can easily customize to make my own. I however do follow Google’s own “heat map” for ad placement. This is the map they tell people to follow if you want the best CTR.

    — Jeff
46. Jae Burnham

    Thank you for this article. While I don’t have any 100K BluePrint websites I can see the value in the information.

    It is good advice to follow under any circumstances or with any product.
47. Scott

    I have to say that I totally agree that the footer most defiantly needs to be customized but I also must point out that you should not say things that are not true about the adsense 100k product.

    That program is not at all about “Gaming Google” and if you would take the time to read their “blueprint” you will see that.

    They do teach the proper way to build a website and monetize it with adsense and the owners are not your typical internet marketers that release products every month, They practice the exact same blueprint that they sale and has been proven to work.

    Did you stop and think that the reason these sites are getting deindexed is because they are using a linking program that is designed to “Game Google” and the footer is how they are finding them?

    The reason I say this is because most of the sites using the blueprint are performing just fine. The only one’s that seem to be getting deindexed are the one’s using your back linking service.

    From Jennifer:

    Fair enough so I’ll respond to that =)

    All I really need to say is one thing tho –

    If building links in ANY manner was enough to get a site TOTALLY DEINDEXED in Google, then why in the world would anyone work on their OWN rankings? Why not just build back links to your competition?

    Getting de-indexed is caused by something ON site. Google knows that is the only thing a webmaster can completely control. You can not control how others link TO your site or web pages.

    Thanks for mentioning that so I could respond =)

    Jennifer
48. Taylor

    Gary –

    Did you even read my comment? I didn’t call anybody stupid. I said putting all of your eggs in one basket is stupid. Any decent Internet Marketer would agree with me on that statement.

    As for Google owning Youtube, did you think I didn’t know this? Even if Youtube and Google were to ban me, I clearly stated in my comment, “(And if Youtube bans me, then I will post videos elsewhere).” I also stated, “I will also have many other marketing strategies in place (which is what is getting me subscribers anyway.)” These marketing strategies include Facebook, Twitter, media buys, offline marketing, guest posting, etc.

    “Lose ALL your google traffic and you will be crying.”

    The whole reason why I posted the comment that I did is to let people know that Google is not the reason for my success.

    – Does Google help? Of course.

    – Would it suck if my site was never in the search results ever again? Sure.

    – Would it kill my business? No.

    That’s the problem with a lot of marketers these days, Gary. They rely solely on Google, make a simple mistake, are banned, and their entire business is burnt to the ground.

    I’ve seen this a number of times in forums around the net. “I was making $5,000 a month with AdSense, was banned, and now I am making nothing.” I have absolutely no sympathy for these people. They should have diversified their portfolio. They made a bad business move, and there is nobody else to blame but themselves.

    To clarify everything here; Google is great. If I was banned by Google, it would suck. Would it ruin my business though? Nope. The more you diversify, the better your chances will be to succeed. Also, it’s a huge weight lifted off your shoulders knowing that even if one company decides to ban you, you have other companies to fall back on.
49. Home Inspection Columbia

    Yikes! I almost got into this program. Thanks for the heads up.

    From Jennifer:

    From what I’ve heard, the program is very good so please don’t let this one footer link issue stop you.

    Jennifer
    
50. Pavol

    Well, most people know that putting all eggs in one basket is shortsighted. On the other hand, many smart and successful people also believe, that it is better to be great at one thing, than average in many things. And here comes the “Google does not matter” into a different light. If someone is great at making money with Adsense, than the dependance on Google is clear, but so is his expertise. It’s like that saying, that 90% of your business comes from 10% of your customers. The bottom line is, that you need to have some back up plan, but there always will be that one thing that will make the most money for you. And that one thing will more than likely be dependent on some third party, be it a Google, Facebook, Twitter, Ebay or whatever else.
51. Scott

    Jennifer there are many ways link building can get your site deindexed or get your site booted to the 300th page in the serps.

    Just ask overstock or jcpenny or members of any link building scheme that cost money to participate in that Google has found out about.

    Google has publicly stated that they will penalize sites they catch that are buying or participating in any link schemes to increase page rank or higher search results.

    You can read about it all over Google Webmaster Blogs and forums and in Google’s seo guide which you can get here for free

    http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

    Ask anyone who used linkmetro.com or many other link services who got the ax by Google not to mention that post panda, links from forum profiles, blog commenting or links from tools like scrapebox or xruner are totally devalued.

    There are ways to get links that are good for your site without a doubt but any service that charges money for any type of links is against Google’s tos and if/when they find out about them, they will punish not only the sites involved but the servers those sites and services are sitting on.

    The link services that I would run from as fast as I could are the one’s that requires you to place a snippet of code on your sites…talk about a foot print that can be spotted a mile away.

    From Jennifer:

    Nice share, Scott – Thank you! That is something that will really help my readers and I appreciate that.

    The biggest thing about links (excluding those that “put the snippet of code on their site” type deals) is that, as you said, the back links can be de-valued but the site being linked TO is not necessarily penalized. The reason a sites rankings sink when that happens is because they just lost a ton of links due to them being devalued.

    This is truly the only way Google can allow us to play fairly amongst each other out here in the WWW (wild, wild web). If creating back links by itself was enough to penalize the site being linked TO, wow, it would be a nasty free-for-all here on the internet.

    Thank you for sharing!

    Jennifer
    
52. Jeff L.

    There is nothing bad that I can say about Jen; she gives awesome tips; her marketing course is good. Is it for everyone? No. Is the 100K blueprint for everyone? Again, no. They are both great.

    And yes, when it comes to backlinking, Google does know that we technically can not control what happens to our site, when it is not ON our site. So saying her backlinking service is causing damage is totally unjustified.

    People cutting corners on their site is going to get them deindexed.

    There are too many people who do ignore THIS fact about the 100k blueprint: CREATE UNIQUE QUALITY CONTENT.

    The people who ARE getting deindexed are most likely scrapping their content or spinning content into oblivion and sabotaging themselves.

    So, to really sum this up: There is no Justified reason to DISS anyone in an open and public manner.

    — Jeff
53. michael

    Jen, i love the fact that you approved Michael Ullman’s comment so that he gets a chance to put in his two cents worth. This is the type off honesty and integrity i admire in you and all internet marketers should imitate this. Keep up the good work Jeniffer.

    From Jennifer:

    Thank you! However, I had no intention to NOT approve his comments or any comments (unless they were spam). Good or bad – with me or against me – I felt everyone was allowed a voice on this topic… ESPECIALLY the product owner.

    I really appreciate your kind words tho! This isn’t a fun situation at all….

    Jennifer
54. Scott

    In all honesty Jennifer , I was looking through the search results of the sites in question and can tell you with absolute certainty that the majority of those sites are not following the blueprint.

    Most of the sites I saw are garbage and definitely not up to the standards of the blueprint and frankly deserve to be deindexed, they are nothing short of garbage.

    I have been involved in internet marketing for 15 years, before yahoo or google were even on the scene and the very first site I built wasn’t even half as bad as some of those sites.

    Your right to a point in that if back links alone could get you deindexed, I would own all the number one positions for every keyword you could think of.

    By the way, that Google seo guide is the only guide your readers need. Your wasting money on any seo ebooks if you buy because Google is the source for all the seo information in the first place.
55. Michael Ullman

    Jennifer,

    A final comment if I might.

    Given that much of the commenting here is considering the larger – and more pertinent – points of IM philosophy such as quality vs. quantity i.e. build sites that are quick & easy, versus taking the time to build higher-quality sites, I want to make clear that we do not advocate any ‘quick & dirty’ approaches. Anyone who builds a site with lo-quality content or engages in aggressive short-cut approaches is not following our course.

    I’d like to offer you access to the Adsense course, as well as our recently released traffic course, with no obligations or expectations. If you decide to look over the material, I would welcome any comments or criticism – good or bad. Some of the best aspects of the courses came from reviews that pointed out legitimate concerns, issues, better ways to approach things, etc.

    Sincerely,

    Michael Ullman

    From Jennifer:

    Micheal, thank you for stopping back by!

    While I have clearly said that I don’t know the specifics of your course, I will agree completely that taking shortcuts can cause you to find your site short-changed… or short-lived.

    Plenty of other readers have commented here that the sites they see in Google with this “Footprint” are NOT following what you teach.

    Thank you for offering review access. I have pretty much stayed away from AdSense courses lately, but I will email you and we can talk. I think at this point it is only fair that I step inside and let others know what I think of the TRAINING itself…and not have others feel I am bashing the training with this post. I simply wanted them to remove the footer link – that’s all.

    Again, I really appreciate your time here.

    Jennifer
    
56. PotPieGirl

    @ Scott –

    You said –

    “…In all honesty Jennifer , I was looking through the search results of the sites in question and can tell you with absolute certainty that the majority of those sites are not following the blueprint.

    Most of the sites I saw are garbage and definitely not up to the standards of the blueprint and frankly deserve to be deindexed, they are nothing short of garbage….

    That is pretty much my point. If my clients site, which was NOT garbage,(nor was it spun or unoriginal or unhelpful) can get nailed over the performance of the whole with that footer link – a lot of GOOD sites can get taken down with this, too.

    Now, in all fairness, I don’t know what the exact steps of the Blueprint are, but from what others have said here, the Blueprint is good. I’d hate for others to not experience the results they should or could have all due to one footer link leaving a big footprint that brings the axe down on all of them.

    You also said –

    “…Your right to a point in that if back links alone could get you deindexed, I would own all the number one positions for every keyword you could think of.”

    Exactly- thank you.

    Now, there are back link schemes that leave evidence ON your site that can cause deindexing, but most of the time, random links back to your web page will be devalued, but won’t directly penalize your site (unless you lose ranking because you lost links).

    I also agree that the Google Website Guide is very good. If you are solely making a site for results in Google, it can be very helpful. It (the guide) breaks down the basics very clearly, in my opinion.

    In all fairness tho, there is only one #1 spot in any given Google query space – the more web pages fighting for that spot, the harder you have to work. That can mean you have to fight fire with fire – BUT, you must know the risks….be prepared for the worst case scenario…and basically do it carefully and intelligently.

    However, if you’ve been around 15 years doing this, I know I’m not telling you anything you don’t know =)

    Thank you for your comments!

    Jennifer
57. Steve S

    This has been an interesting discussion and one that really had me worried because I am building an Adsense site and the last thing I want to do is loose my account.

    I have been through the 100k course and it is solid as a rock. If you follow the course which emphasizes following Google’s TOS there is no way you can get deindexed.

    While I think its a bad idea to use the same sites there are many free themes that are being used on thousands of sites and most have footer links and are not being deindexed..

    My guess is this site either was thin, had crappy or unoriginal content or got caught for forcing backlinks. Shortcuts will kill you. But if you build quality authority sites with good unique content Google will love you for it.

    I have a love hate relationship with Google. I lost 30 sites from Panda so I changed my game plan and in a way I am thankful because my sites are better and I upped my game.

    Google owns the dance floor so it calls the steps anyone that thinks otherwise is in for trouble. As for doing without Google that’s just plain dumb. They are 70% of the search market. It would be bad business not to take advantage of all that free traffic.

    To the guy who doesn’t need Google, if you are in business you ill be beholden to someone whether its Facebook, Google or Aweber

    Finally lets not forget Google lets even a dumba$$ like me go into business with a $10 domain and a $4 hosting account. Where else can you start a business that cheap and get free exposure.
58. Gary

    Steve S: Free Themes do have footer links, as well they should, they GAVE away the code they wrote. the difference is that if people (some not all)) are gaming Google using that blue theme with that footprint and Google sees a pattern, then Google will start swinging the axe. The ENTIRE point of this is that a whole bunch of people seem to have misused this man’s product by short cutting and building crap sites with adsense in the sidebar.

    The footer link “associates” them with others that are using this program in the manner that it was designed. Sure there a thousands of free themes with a footer link, but I am sure there are not thousands of the same theme with the exact same look gaming Adsense in the exact same manner, like what has happened here.

    Believe me, if 400,000+ people world wide were robbing banks while wearing a purple hoody, you would NOT see my butt wearing a purple hoody ANYWHERE. The police would be arresting anyone with a purple hoody on, world wide, just to be safe. That is exactly what Google is doing.

    Jen is just saying:
    “Take off the damn purple hoody, and QUICK!”
    • FH Harris

      No the police would not arrest everyone with a purple hoody. That is simply asinine and against at least our US constitution. But you would be subject to a more than cursory glance. But if you are where you should be doing what you should be then there is nothing for you to fear. However if you are carrying burglary tools and all then you might be held or even arrested.

      I have yet to hear of a single site that was quality getting banned, deindexed, or even losing rank due to a theme.
59. Steve S

    Gary,

    I agree this is a huge footprint. But like I said there are other themes out there in the thousands with footer links that do just fine.

    I really dont think it is the footer link or the theme. Google is out for made for adsense sites no matter what the theme is. Yes the footprint attracted attention but I believe these sites underwent a human review and couldn’t pass muster.

    Content is supposed to come first, then the ads, not the other way around.

    Personally I think the sooner Google cleans out the crap sites the better honest marketers will do. Yes it is a shame that 100k got caught up in this because the teach building quality sites not MFA sites that probably have spun PLR content.

    Although I used the info I learned in the course I did not use their themes. They do advise using them simply because they have proven high CTRs but there are many other themes that will work because the system itself is sound.
    Some people are not experienced enough to do this so they offered proven themes but many are just too lazy to do the work and they got caught with thin MFA sites.
60. Drew

    Before anyone here gets carried away on this whole “Google loves quality sites” thing, there is something I wanted to say.

    The site that was de-indexed was nearly 60 pages, and each article was over 500 words all hand-written by me. I also just entered a few of my urls into copyscape,and it said no results found.

    Now, maybe my content isn’t award winning, but it’s hardly garbage. Take away the adsense, and the site still provides some value.

    I also have sites that are much worse. I even have a one page site. Guess what? They are still indexed…

    I have recently heard on the a100k private forum of two more people following a100k having their sites de-indexed. Now, there are lots of people who are doing fine, so I don’t have enough data to formulate any conclusions. However, I would like to get to the bottom of this either way.
61. Steve S

    Sorry I didn’t mean to dis anyone’s work. But something must have triggered a review.

    I lost sites too that were unique and what replaced them was worse. Google never tells you all the rules.
    But in the end I found Google viewed them as doorway pages designed to rank for a specific keyword and promote a product. In other words they viewed these sites as having little value despite the fact they had quality unique content.

    My guess is something similar may have happened here. They decided the site was MFA for whatever reason.

    I
62. PotPieGirl

    “…My guess is something similar may have happened here. They decided the site was MFA for whatever reason….”

    Exactly! And that “whatever reason” was because there was a big ol’ “sign” on the site that said they were making sites following an AdSense site creation course.

    Which would be the entire point of this post…lol!

    @ Drew – Thank you for stopping by! I know, and have said, that your site was not “low-quality” nor was it duplicate, thin, or spun garbage. It was a really good site that I believe was following the quality guidelines the course set out for you.

    The only problem was that big ol’ sign on your site.

    Hang tight, Drew, we’re working on getting you straightened out. It’ll be a good learning experience for both of us to see how things go and I’m happy to be helping you through this! Thanks for letting me!

    Thanks for reading and commenting everyone!

    Jennifer
    • FH Harris

      Jen…..

      MFA sites by definition are

      If a web page is made for the sole purpose of showing advertisements, and devoid of any meaningful or original contents, then such a page will not meet the requirements of AdSense (or, for that matter, Google Webmaster guidelines), therefore liable to be banned from AdSense.

      Therefore a site that has QUALITY UNIQUE CONTENT would not qualify. Thirty five years as a business coach and been a tech since 1984. Worked for Intel tech support and trained many at Convergys, the worlds largest tech support company and learned that most of the issues that we dealt with were customer error. There are a bunch of things in the TOS. Since G does not tell you why a site is (fill in the punishment) it is only speculation that the issue was that they were primarily an MFA site and that brought the wrath down upon them. I dont believe it . There are plenty of other mistakes that could cause a violation but in my experience most folks would rather blame anyone other than themselves.
      An adsense creation course? Yes Google gives all sorts of information that would qualify as that. But since this one stresses the very thing that Google and Cutts and all the rest have said that is what they want, I take exception to the continued insinuation that the a100K course is
      QUOTE
      the Exactly! And that “whatever reason” was because there was a big ol’ “sign” on the site that said they were making sites following an AdSense site creation course.
      END QUOTE

      I feel that the footer recommendation is excellent and Micheals presence and prompt fix should have been enough to not repeat this as a dire warning of doom and gloom. ESPECIALLY WITH NOTHING OTHER THAN ANECDOTORY EVIDENCE.
63. Paul T

    I personally do think it is the footer links. Rather than manually knocking down a post or two, Google can easily pick up on footprints (Plugins or otherwise) to de-index them. Sometimes it takes time through the various data centers for certain sites to be picked up within the footprint.

    I personally try to limit those footprints by not choosing some of the automated tools on the market. In the long run, quality content which is written with the reader in mind wins. Unfortunately quality content that is tied into these money making themes and plugins still may end up paying the price.
    • FH Harris

      Paul

      If that is the case how are thousands making money using these themes. Granted not 100K (most people buy and die) but hundreds are seeing significant success.
      • Paul T

        That is the great thing about being an internet marketer. The choices are near limitless and there are so many themes out there that just like Pot Pie Girl, we can change them whenever we want. None of us can read the mind of Google but by diversifying and watching our eggs, we can help to determine why certain posts, pages, and sites act as they do.
64. Dan B

    Even if you do change the footer you can spot the theme by viewing the source. (right click a website and click view source) Google has access to that information and could find all of the websites that use the same theme. I don’t believe the theme was the reason.
    Dan
65. JPW

    Hello all,

    Thank you for all your input. I’ve learned a lot.

    I would like to add my view that you also have to be careful with using Analytics and Webmaster. Analytics in particular.

    Best is to get banproof traffic, so that you couldn’t care less about what big G is up to. Make sites that you like, not Google, because they are perpetually in the process of making up their minds.

    Don’t use adwords for traffic. The moment you get good at it, they’ll kick you out, because Google can make more money off people who are not so sharp.

    For monetizing preferably use your own [plr] products, so that you don’t have to worry about adsense, amazon or whatever affiliate network .

    Build a list.

    Have a mobile friendly version of your sites.

    Finally don’t just rely on wordpress only for sitebuilding. Be careful with all free themes.
    Diversify. God knows what happens to wordpress because of some hack.

    All the best,
    JanPaul
66. Need Marriage Counseling

    Thanks for the warning. If everyone on the net was this considerate for their mailing list, the more people could earn money without always worrying about the next Google slap.
67. Clefty

    wow this post turned into quite the interesting discussion. i personally try to avoid the big footer footprints whenever possible for this very reason!
68. simon

    OK as someone who is relatively new to doing stuff online I am in the process of getting an ‘a100k’ site up. The course is actually really great- the first time i feel i’ve come across the proper information on how to do this. You’ll notice there’s no affiliate link here!!

    A few observations:

    1. As others have said I take exception to the idea that this course teaches people to ‘game’ Google. I admit i had too look past the slightly silly title – I’m not expecting to- and don’t need to earn 100k per year. I want to earn much less than that and have time to spend in the garden with my girlfriend! But it seems the title is the only real bit of hyperbole in the whole package. That said i am not saying it ISNT possible to make 100k per year with the strategy.

    Yes – When it comes down to it the business strategy (and it IS a business strategy) is to create sites that have commercial potential. And to that extent they use some SEO techniques. Big deal! There’s no reason to have an issue with this.

    I see my ‘job’ as finding search terms on Google that have some commercial potential and then working to put relevant content and links to more detailed info in front of the people who use those search terms. My ‘payment’ for doing this job is revenue from Adsense. I get paid because i’m doing what Google wants. Yes- some people will only pay lip service to the business model put forward in a100k and try to get the results by putting up a few crappy paragraphs of spun text that don’t correctly address the search term query. People will always try to take the shortcut.

    2. Far be it for me as a green newbie to comment but this whole footer thing seems just a little bit silly. It is just as likely that the footer becomes an indicator to Google that these sites are more likely to have half decent content. It depends on how many people carry out the business strategy responsibly and how many try to abuse it.

    From my own search into how Google functions I’ve yet to be convinced that it gives one damn about how a site looks if it has original and relevant content. And that even includes human review by Google staff when it happens. An example of why this might be the case- I came across a real nice looking site the other day- very well designed and ‘unique’ looking. Not a WordPress plug-in to be seen. It was for a product that scams people out of hundreds of dollars every month.

    good luck all!
    simon
69. Lonnie

    Jen,
    I often check back to your site just for these kinds of heads up. I also bought the 100K adsense course, and have learned a lot. I think the author did a pretty good job, although it seems there are some loopholes that you won’t pick up on unless you are active in the forum.

    I also used the theme, which I’ve already changed since I read this. No problems yet, but no sense in tempting fate.

    Please keep informing us of both the good and the bad in the IM world. We all appreciate you.
70. FH Harris

    Thanks Mike for that last check in. I was pretty sure that was the case but could not say for sure. OIt would not make sense to take all the time to keep harping on UNIQUE QUALITY CONTENT and then pull that off.
    So I will repeat unless someone is using a BLACKHAT script designed to try and cheat the SE’s then show me a bonafide site that was dumped for the theme being used. Considering the number of folks using 110K and being successful when they follow it does not make sense that this theme is a target of G.
    But yes If I walk into a bank with a gun and wearing a green hat I will be arrested. However trying to blame the green hat might not be the most rational action. Running a general warning about green hats might even be less productive.