How can a site rank higher when you beat them by A LOT on virtually every SEOMOZ factor?
-
Any insight into what's driving these results would be appreciated.
Another site ranks #6 and we rank #22 on a keyword that scores 67% for "Keyword Difficulty", but we score significantly higher than them on almost every ranking factor including having nearly 10 times more backlinks along with higher PA and DA scores,etc. Here is a comparison from the Keyword Difficulty Tool report.
Question: What could be going on?
Factor and ranking comparison (us v. them) with our higher rankings are listed first.
PA: 61 v. 39,
mozRank 5,85 v. 4,54,
mozTrust 6.00 v. 5.49,
mT/mR = 1.0 v. 1.2,
total links = 4,198 v. 90,
internal links = 4198 v 90,
external links = 275 v. 57,
followed links = 4171 v 85,
no follow links = 27 v 5,
linking root domains = 46 v 30
on-page grade = A v B
broad keyword usage in title: yes v yes
broad keyword usage in document: yes v yes
keyword used in url = no v no
keyword used in domain = partial v no
KW exact match - no v no
exact anchor text links = 2373 v 13
%links w/ exact anchor text = 56% v 14%
linking root domains w/ exact anchor text = 7 v 8
% linking root domains w/ exact anchor text = 15% v 26%
partial anchor text links = 0 v 0
Domain Authority = 54 v 27
Domain mozRank = 5.4 v 3.2
Domain mozTrust = 5.8 v 3.7
DmT/DmR = 1.1 v 1.2
External links to domain 9261 v 63
Linking root domains to this domain = 355 v 33
linking c- blocks domains to domain = 267 v 30
tweets = 4 v 3
FB shares = 13 v 11
Google Plus one shares = 1 v 0
-
That's the problem! Although some do surprisingly!
Google's wise to this though and so if it sees that you have a good number of quality links, it won't penalise you for it. Otherwise a competitor could just build spammy links on your behalf and ruin your ranking!
-
Shelly, that is very helpful. Id pretty much thought that was it. Though I somehow doubt the owners of these rubbish sites are going to take the time to remove the links.
-
You should probably start a new Thread for this Tina - you'll get more responses.
The only way to remove bad links really is to contact the site owners where the bad links reside and ask them to remove them! There's no quick fix unfortunately.
You can use opensiteexplorer to seek out the links which are bad, then you'll need to go through them one by one, seek out the contact details for the site admin (using WHOis if necessary) and then ask for the link to be taken down.
If you have spammy links, you should also concentrate on creating QUALITY links at the same time. Google will usually ignore most spammy links as long as you have a reasonable number of good links in your profile as well.
Hope that helps.
-
Im sorry to ask what is probably a not too bright question - but how exactly do you get spammy links removed? For example, how did you get the Forex links taken down Andrew?
-
Look at where your links are coming from and try and get rid of any links that may come from spammy websites.
These could be websites that have many outbound links which bear no relation to each other or Sites which have no relation in subject matter to your website.
I recently checked my link profile and found loads of links from Forex trading sites, which all appeared to be really spammy! Cleaned up and saw my SERPs rise back into top 10!
-
Thx. watched it, makes good sense.
-
Here's a good video on it: http://acumenstudio.com/articles/2011/09/exact-match-vs-partial-match-in-seo-today/
You will want to start diversifying your anchor text. Start contacting some of the webmasters that you have links from, and ask them to change the anchor text.
-
I have considered this, but I suspect something else is playing a much bigger role.
Here's why --- a couple months ago we were not optimized for "exact match" and we were still below them. We've only been building exact match in the last couple months.
Also, if a site beats another on so many factors, is it really possible that just one factor like "exact match" links being over 20% could put you below them?
Seems like something else is in play here. No?
-
anything specific you have in mind to "clean up" the link profile?
-
2 years v 9 years; theirs is older, but ours is over 2 years old
-
In my experience it sounds like your link profile could be letting you down. Use OSE to analyse your links and try and clean it up.
-
Here's what Blueglass said about too many exact match links:
"Penalties, as opposed to rewards, are being reaped for too many exact match links."
In this article: http://www.blueglass.com/blog/link-building-in-a-pandas-world/
It used to be all about getting exact match links, but things have definitely changed. For starters, guess how easy it is to see if you are having a major hand in your link building? Super easy if you keep forcing exact match text.
I would suggest:
Making your link profile look more natural
Making sure most of your exact links come from the higher quadrant of your link profile (but still under 20% saturation)
Continue growing
-
Age of a domain registered seems to be a factor. I have been working on a newer site and our new site is ranking higher than our competitors in all seomoz factor but not over taking the older sites. All I can say is keep up the good work and one day you will catch up.
-
What is the age of both domains?
-
%links w/ exact anchor text = 56% v 14%
I've heard that 20%, depending on the vertical, is about the maximum threshold for exact match links. Perhaps you are over-optimized?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How can I find out the exact match visitors for a competitor's website?
Hi, I'm trying to find a way of finding out the estimated number of exact match visitors that a competitor's website has got. I know that SEO agencies can find this out, and there must be a way of doing this for myself. Thanks
Competitive Research | | MThacker0 -
Why is our website ranked lower but beats most competitors in full SERP report?
We are analysing why our website ranks so low (currently position 8 in serp). We beat our competitors in most areas. Also we produce by far the most useful content. Do not buy links or do any other malpractice. We have been for a long time ranked in top 3 (well mostly 1-2) positions. In the last year we have seen a decline to position 8-10 and we are not sure why this is the case. Can anyone suggest what we should be focusing on? We are clueless. All the practices we used to "know" now seem obsolete. m8qIeyC,Kf1LLei#0
Competitive Research | | urkeman0 -
How can stie A be outranking site B?
Hi everyone. I seem to have a lot of questions the past couple of days! Take a look at these two URLs: Site A: http://www.peachstateaudio.com/products/Mixing_Consoles/Digital_Consoles/Roland/peachstate-audio-roland-m200i Site B: http://www.ccisolutions.com/StoreFront/product/roland-m-200i-digital-mixer I will mail 2-dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies to anyone who can tell me why Site A massively outranks Site B for the term "roland m-200i" - Seriously. Thanks in advance!
Competitive Research | | danatanseo0 -
Ranking for long tailed keyword vs shorter keyword phrase?
I have a webpage http://freightmonster.com/free-freight-quote that currently ranks 19th in the Google SERP's for the keyword free freight quote. The keyword gets 59 exact match searches a month. Competition is high for this keyword. The keyword freight quote gets 8625 exact match searches a month and my home page http://freightmonster.com/ ranks 26th in the Google SERP for it. Competition is high for this keyword. Would I be better off creating another page http://freightmonster.com/freight-quote and doing a better job of on SEO optimization for it in the hopes of getting on page one, or given the fact that freight quote is such a highly competitive term should I just go after other long tailed keywords in my market like flatbed trucking freight quote, heavy haul trucking freight quote, RGN freight quote, etc? We have just started on SEO for organic keywords after spending over $500,000 on PPC in the last 5 years, which in our market niche is the norm. Thank you in advance!
Competitive Research | | FreightBoy0 -
How can I compare twitter accounts?
I'm trying to compare, by follower numbers, up to 50 different twitter accounts. What would be the best way to do that? I'd like twitter handle on the x axis and number on the y.
Competitive Research | | matthewcashmore0 -
Why is this site ranking #1?
I've done extensive research into http://www.maggiesottero.com/ and cannot come up to any definitive conclusions as to why this site is ranking #1 for the term "wedding dresses." The page is not optimized for the keyword. **Any thoughts? **
Competitive Research | | craigsmith3330 -
What is the best way to know your accurate ranking on google? what analytics are most trustworthy?
with seomoz, i rank on google in one spot. With market samurai, I rank in another spot, With KPMRS (or whatever) i rank another place. But then when i just type my keywords into google, it puts me in a whole different world... am confused... and the client i am trying to help rank higher is confused. Thanks for any help you can offer be blessed bd
Competitive Research | | creativeguy0 -
Site Ranks Better than Comp...but why?
My site is ranking better than some of the competition sites even though the Moz Rank and Moz Trust are lower, anyone know why?
Competitive Research | | CalgaryRealtor390