Can't Grasp Why Pages rank Higher?
-
The first result
"Bankruptcy on IRS" is the search term.
Why does the first url rank higher in google. The second one, the IRS.gov page beats them in PA, DA root domains links. The title meta has bankruptcy near the front. unclefed does have the IRS keyword in the title, but an I missing something here?
What are the other factors, that are most obvious.
Sure one can have bad links, and other negative criteria, but these are pretty decent sites that probably don't engage in much in seo, let alone bad SEO. Sure link text and mix of links can help, but am I missing something here?
Actually what I think I really need IS A CHECKLIST OF WHAT TO CHECK IN WHAT ORDER WHEN COMPARING WHY ONE PAGE RANKS BETTER THAN ANOTHER. Appreciate all discussions. Thanks in advance.
http://www.unclefed.com/AuthorsRow/Daily/Fwdcsea.html
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98701,00.html
-
.edu sites and .gov sites are not necessarily more valued due to the extension, but rather the relevance they have to people looking for their specific content. More people looking for what a particular .edu or .gov site offers will go than random people stumbling around for the kind of info a .com site might offer. Not always, but generally speaking, that's an important concept.
Som of those people, in turn, tend to spend more time on those sites than people do on commercial sites.
Of course, this is only true of high quality .edu or .gov sites, not all just because they've got the TLD. That's why .edu and .gov sites aren't necessarily given automatic higher value for having the TLD. They do have to earn it.
-
Thanks again. 2 things.
1. I thought I read on googles site or matt's page that edu and gov dosn't pass any extra rank because of the extension. In general they may be better but not because of the extension.
'The more links coming from each domain, the weaker the trust factor." I wasn't aware of that. I have some key pages on my site that have a lot of links , like 100's from the same social site. Should I make attempts to remove them? are they hurting my sites ranking?
-
One thing stands out to me. Link to Root Ratio. UncleFed's got an average of 2.17 link for each root domain pointing to it. The IRS's ratio is 5.14 links for each domain. That's more domains pointing fewer links each. The more links coming from each domain, the weaker the trust factor. Sure, it may seem like a minor difference. It's not like sites are sending 40 or 400 links to the IRS site.
Yet again, as in the other factors, it does count. And head to head, it's a 2&1/2 times more refined profile.
Another consideration - among the highest quality sites that link to UncleFed, there are more .edu and more .gov links than compared to the IRS's top link sources.
So again, when looking at the total link profile of each, there's a higher ratio of non-commercial sites in the mix overall than compared to the IRS site.
So as in all the other issues mentioned, it's a David Vs. Goliath thing.
-
google works in mysterious ways.
-
Thanks for clearing that up. However if you can explain a bit further, so i can understand, how is unclefed's inbound linking more refined? I'm not seeing it. It will help me keep mine more "refined" if needed. My site's an excellent example where tens of thousands of links didn't make much difference.Starting to rank much better now, and expect to keep ranking better with the help of SEOMOZ tools and forum.
-
I appreciate the insight. I was getting caught up in the technical parts, and forgetting the rest. I just ran report carts on both pages. Unclefed got a D, and the IRS got an F. So on the report card I can also see the things you bring up. great help!
-
I agree with Alan. There is no mix up.
IRS is the larger site. You feel that because they are the larger site, their page should rank first.
Unclefed is decent sized, but they are nothing compared to the IRS site.
Why does the first url rank higher in google. The second one, the IRS.gov page beats them in PA, DA root domains links.
The first url, the one belonging to unclefed, ranks higher because it is the better article for the search term. The domain rank is one important factor in the overall Google calculation, but so are the other factors mentioned.
-
Great focused reasoning Ryan. A clear case where refined topical focus wins out over competitor size and perceived authority. It's all about matching the search intent. Which shows Google doesn't always get it wrong
-
Actually I don't have them mixed up.
Having authority for an entire site, and having a larger site itself are not always the issue. It's specific search ranking factors for a specific search. This is why it's deceiving to rely on ranking data from any tool, which should always only be used as a general guide.
The refined focus of a particular topic as evaluated by the several Google algorithms is what counts. And this is where my evaluation was focused.
If I've got less pages, but the SEO for them is even a little better than that of a much bigger site, and if the inbound link profile is even a little more refined than for a site with vastly larger inbound link counts, I can definitely outrank the larger site.
Think of it this way. Goliath gets lots of points because he's so big. He gets lots of points because a lot of people think he'll win, so they root for him.
David comes along, and with refined skills in combat, he's able to overcome Goliath's perceived advantages. So to it goes sometimes in SEO.
-
Take a look at both the pages involved.
The unclefed page is a very nice, long article with a lot of content. It has the term "bankruptcy on the IRS" in the content. That is about as close to an exact match as you can hope for with that phrase. The page also has the terms bankruptcy and IRS in the title.
The IRS page is very weak. The page does not mention "IRS" even once in the content, although it is mentioned in the URL and sidebar. The IRS page has less then 10% of the content when compared to the unclefed page.
It is a very good thing the unclefed page ranks higher on this particular search, as it should. It is a well organized page written by someone with authority and great subject knowledge. Furthermore, there doesn't seem to be any apparent effort from the IRS towards SEO at all. There isn't even a meta description for their page.
Bottom line, you are asking to investigate the lesser factors while ignoring the big one. CONTENT IS KING. It doesn't always work out that way, but it should. It did in this case. No reason to look any further.
-
I might be wrong, but I think you have the two mixed up. Unclefed ranks first. The second one (irs.gov) has much more authority, and is the larger site.
-
My quick hit take is it's just the right kind of authority. 70,000 page site. As for links, even though there's hardly any, it's a very tight link to root domain ratio. Many of those are from very authoritative sites including .edu (not junk edu links, but real, valid links).
Of course, without a comprehensive audit, that's just an assumption, though it's pretty strong. And shows the power of focusing on quality SEO vs. junk SEO.
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
-
The same page ranking twice in the top 10?
Whilst doing a SERP analysis for a particular phrase, i noticed that the same page is ranking twice in the top 10. I've known of the same domain ranking twice with different pages which makes sense but to see the exact same URL ranking twice is a new one for me. Has anyone seen this before too and know of reasons why this would happen?
Competitive Research | | jamiemonteathaegon0 -
At a bit of a loss as to poor rankings
I have a site in the UK, with these metrics: 15 years old 500 pages in sitemap, but Majestic says 186,000 indexed URLs ? DA of 45, PR of 3 1000 links from 200 linking root domains, across from 150 IP's (from OSE) 33,000 links in OSE when I use the compare tool and look at the "links to this root domain" section 24,000 external links according to Majestic 350 shares, 2,000 tweets, 60 +1's Median PA of linking root domains (from OSE export) = 20 no Moz on-page errors, or webmaster tools issues The above metrics are better than 2 competitors who have only just launched, have fewer links, lower DA, etc, and are ranking for keywords like "wedding entertainment", "corporate entertainers" Our site is www.superted.com Why doesn't OSE show 33,000 links when I select "links to this root domain". Why will those links only be shown when I do a domain comparison in OSE? I'm thinking our anchor text distribution is the problem. We have very few links containing the keywords want. Also maybe our sitemap is an issue as it only lists 500 of our pages? But given our domain age, DA, etc... surely anchor text / site map isn't the only issue here? Any hints would be awesome.
Competitive Research | | eatyourveggies0 -
Alexa Rank
Ok, I have a pretty good Alexa Ranking of 159K and have been online for less than a year. What my question is why is my Alexa Ranking so much better than all of my competitors who get way more traffic and have been online for years. The only thing that seems to be going slow is my page rank is still barely .98, while competitors are higher although they have lower Alexa Rank. What am I doing right to get good Alexa Rank?? What can I do to rais my PR and Domain Rank? Competitors for example
Competitive Research | | realmccoy1010 -
Tool to compare which links competition has but i don't?
Is there a tool that I can use that will show me a list of my competition's links that I don't have?
Competitive Research | | ballhogjoni0 -
Why would a specific Title page search not show up on Google?
I need help to solve an ongoing problem. I have been working to try to figure this out now for weeks. When you search a
Competitive Research | | rdominey
specific page title that has a low competition and all of the SEO checks indicate
that the page should rank in the top 10 if not #1 yet it is nowhere to be found
(not in top 200). I have looked at all of the suggested possible caused from
this and other forums. I have been told by Google that we are not being
manually penalized. I have taken action to correct all of the issues that have
been mentioned in forums; speed, links, SEOmoz crawl results are good, No major
problems for the site, page rank for the search keywords is A yet; Still the problem persists please let me explain with this simple test result: Search Google, Yahoo and Bing for; Gallery Wrap vs Museum Wrap Canvas Looking for this page: http://www.getyourphotosoncanvas.com/gallery-wraps-vs-museum-wraps/ Google = not in top 200 Yahoo = 2 Bing = 2 On the Google search if you drop the work Canvas the result is #2 With the exact title phrase; Gallery Wrap vs Museum Wrap Canvas We find the following pages, but not the correct page: Free Digital Proof from Get Your Photos on Canvas <cite>www.getyourphotosoncanvas.com/free-digital-proof/</cite> FREE Digital Proofs offered by Get Your Photos on Canvas before you ... form the Gallery Wrap or what the Museum Wrap will look like and much, much more! Rank 76 on search for Gallery Wrap vs Museum Wrap Canvas Photos on Canvas Online Gallery Photographs by Ray Dominey <cite>www.getyourphotosoncanvas.com/store/</cite> Photographs
on Canvas by renowned St. Augustine Photographer
Ray Dominey. Photographs ... Gallery Wrap vs. Museum Wrap · Before & Afters
That WOW! Rank 107 on search for Gallery Wrap vs Museum Wrap Canvas Photo on Canvas Triptych, Three Panel Canvas Split Wall Display <cite>www.getyourphotosoncanvas.com/.../split-panel-triptych-photos-on-... 21, 2012 – Photo on Canvas Triptych Split Panels are very popular today but the origin of ...
Gallery Wrap vs. Museum Wrap · Before & Afters That WOW!</cite>Feb Rank 128 and 132 on search for Gallery Wrap vs Museum Wrap Canvas I need help can anyone please help me figure this out?0 -
Why does website rank? PA-39 DA-24
This website is pretty nice, well done. The few links they do have are nice and clean, from his brothers website, very much white hat. However, it appears that they aren't doing much of anything from an SEO standpoint. This site, is PA31 DA21 is also doing unusually well. In both cases, these guy are outranking the best know, most famous, and most trusted company in the industry who is PA84 DA81. This is a HUGE company that wins the most awards and gets tons of media coverage both in print and on televisiton shows. I'm also noticing that the websites that are ranking well in my niche (every keyword) all have the name of their company at the beginning of the title tag, those with the name of the company at the end of the title tag are consistantly a few ranks lower. This seems to be consistant across all search terms. My niche is highly competitive for a very low amount of traffic. Adwords is crazy expensive for some of these keywords! That said, one valid sale generates a significant amount of money. Would love to hear your thoughts. I'm thinking the first company is being treated so well becase G considers them to be virgins, the purist of white?
Competitive Research | | dmac0 -
"keyword" - rank the home page or sub page domain.com/keyword?
One of my clients has a pretty decent website that ranks 1st place for most major keywords in their line of business. EXCEPT one keyword that i've been struggling to get 1st position on Google (currently 2nd). My problem is: let's say "tennis shoes" as a keyword the home page of course has several other shoes listed but I've seen that Google took my home page and made it 2nd position (on 1st page). Where the section domain.com/tennis-shoes is on 2nd page of Google. My question is should i rel cannonical from the /tennis-shoes section to the home page so it focuses more on the specific keyword that i need to get the home 1st? Or should i leave the home page generic and focus more on /tennis-shoes to get that 1st position? What do you Moz'ers Think?
Competitive Research | | mosaicpro0