Why is this site beating mine? I can't work it out!

[mark_baird]

I feel my site is not to bad. Needs more work and could be better but what site could not, However i'm bamboozled by some of the sites that are out ranking me on key terms.

e.g. Horse Rugs

http://www.fasttackdirect.co.uk/products-1-122/Horse_Clothing/HORSE_RUG_SALE.html ranking 8th

http://www.centralsaddlery.co.uk/horse/horse-rugs/ not ranking in first 10 pages

I dont expect my site (the later) to rank well as its not up there with the bigger players in our industry yet however I can't see why a page like the one i mentioned is ranking so well when as far as i can see its not as well optimized and has very little content.

This is not me ranting about it or whining about why i'm not top etc. I just can't work it out and would love sombody to explain the reasons for this? The only thing i can think of is that they have more category with the words "Horse Rugs" in them. Other than that i'm stumped!

Ideas on a postcard please!

[EGOL]

Thats why its good practice to compete on price but not go nuts as if you do its just a race to see who is out of business first,

I agree.  Lots of these people can not do math.  They don't know what their profit margin is.

[mark_baird]

They do but as with all retail.

But if you are for instance an Apple reseller and you buy and iPhone for say £100 and they sell them for £500, you will get away with say 10% variation on MSRP but if you think im happy making £50 profit ill sell them for £150 and make a killing it will not take long for Apple to get shot of you as you are devaluing the brand it for everyone else.

Thats why its good practice to compete on price but not go nuts as if you do its just a race to see who is out of business first. A sale in my opinion should only be when the new version comes out or you need to cash the dead stock up. The problem these days is in the tough times that we are in, people are desperate and will sell things with very low margin just to survive. Its more like a game of last man standing, if you can pay your staff less and run a mega lean business you can win.

[ChristopherGlaeser]

As myself and the other top 3 sell quality big name brands (big in the UK horse world anyway) we can't really do the SALE SALE SALE selling style ...

Why can't your supplier provide an MSRP and MAP structure that allows for sale prices?

[EGOL]

I understand what you are saying.

One of my retail sites sells a line of products that range in price from $79 to $279.  I sell them with little or no discount.  I sell the quality brands.

But Amazon and a couple other e-retailers sell a cheap, plastic, model for $49 that breaks right away that I would not think of selling to my customers.

They outrank me.  They probably sell more.  But that does not change my mind.  I am not selling that crap because I don't want the phone ringing.   Does not bother them to sell it because you can't call them on the phone.  It's really hard to get in touch with them.

[mark_baird]

Its not a thing I spend many work hours on, its more just a thing that interests me.

Interesting answer.

As myself and the other top 3 sell quality big name brands (big in the UK horse world anyway) we can't really do the SALE SALE SALE selling style as you will get dropped as a stockist if you do. But then again just because you sell the good stuff doesn't mean you are making more money.

[EGOL]

I'll be honest and say that I spend zero time on this type of analysis for my own sites.  Why?  To understand why they are ranking you have to look at an awful lot of factors.  Too much time.  Not worth the return.   I am out to beat people with informative content and then entice the huge traffic produced into Adsense or to sales pages on my own site that compete with adsense because they are promoted with house ads on the Google DoubleClick ad server.

I looked at the top three that you listed.  If I was going to pick any site to run as my own, based simply on the design of the horse rugs page my choice would be ..... Fast Track Direct.  I am betting that site converts like crazy.

[mark_baird]

Other than the constant sale and the title tag we have most of the same components just in a different style. Sale info, Free Delivery are all on our site. I think the sale could be more in your face. Is it just the more subdued style on my site that you think is letting it down?

On another note this is the top 3 for the term Horse Rugs, who would you say is the best and why? Other than the fact that the top rank is always the best.

1st - http://www.derbyhouse.co.uk/Equestrian/Horse/Horse+Rugs/

2nd - http://www.rideaway.co.uk/horses-rugs/

3rd - http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com/horse-clothing/rugs.html

I find it very interesting trying to work out why each site wins for a specific term. I don't know enough yet to be able to pin point what I think its causing what. Really enjoying learning though.

[EGOL]

I see where you're coming from but no I avoid site like that at every turn.

I think that you should try what you don't like about the competitor's site and see what happens.

[mark_baird]

I see where you're coming from but no I avoid site like that at every turn. It may just be me but i find the style crass and the site ugly. but then again my taste is not what im selling so im happy to take your comments on board.

On that note what would you change on my own site?

i like the email and phone number at the top however our site is responsive and putting them in the header causes spacing issues on smaller screens. I could just drop them on mobile etc.

[KempRugeLawGroup]

I remember reading a post by either Rand or Dr. Peter (can't remember which) that said they did a poll of top SEO's and speed was around 10%. However, if I were you, I'd pay more attention to the points EGOL made.

Best,

Ruben

[EGOL]

The competitor has an excellent page, IMO.   EXCELLENT.

I will bet big money that the competitor has an asskicking click-through-rate and conversion rate.   I bet lots of people return to this site by domain queries and brand search.

HIGH CTR

Look at his title tag... **Horse Rug Sale | Discount Horse Rugs | Clearance Horse Rugs  **the only thing that would make it better is "free beer while you shop".   People love a sale, love a discount.  They will click this in the SERPs.

HIGH CONVERSION / LOW BOUNCE RATE / HIGH TIME-ON-SITE

Then, when you land on this page...  Look at those red ribbons for discount prices, and look at those yellow ribbons for free shipping.

Look at his top banner... with the subtle "Free Delivery"... also trust marks on the left

VISIBLE TELEPHONE NUMBER / EMAIL

Their phone number and email are at top of site.  Kickass.

DEAL OF THE DAY

This is a great idea.  Look at the banner at bottom of page.  I bet that brings lots of people backk to this site.  They might type the domain into google, or into chrome.  Deal of the day will make lots of people request your site by name.

Can you see why people might really like their page, make purchases and return?

[mark_baird]

I found similar results on MOZ pro and in almost all metrics we win yet google does not agree.

Page speed could be the issue. i have been aware for about a year that our site is slow. We are working on this however our current CMs is working way beyond what it was designed for and is struggling. we have a new system under construction which should solve the issue however its still 6 months away.

How much of an issue is page speed? Could it be keeping my site down in a big way?

[KempRugeLawGroup]

I ran your site through OSE, but that wasn't helpful. You actually have more linking domains, higher DA and higher PA. However - and I doubt this is the main reason, but it is a reason - why that pages outdoes yours is speed. I ran the two pages through pingdom, and his loaded in 1.42 seconds, whereas yours took 3.24 to load.

Good luck!

Ruben