Site Ranking for keywords that they haven't targeted in content
-
There is a site that I am constantly battling for the #1 spot for a particular keyword and I can't see that they are doing any link building, they are not using any anchor text for the keyword "at all" just their company name (not exact match) and their content doesn't even contain the keyword. I used Open site explorer to analyze their activity, but they are doing something I can't figure out from that data. Any other tools to use?
I have higher quality links than them, post content nearly 5 times per week to my blog and their blog hasn't been updated in ages, I kill them in social media, there isn't one instance that they are better than my site and I only build quality driven links, no blog comment crap and get featured on lots of industry blogs for our work. I distribute my content very effectively, I just can't figure it out. They were no where about 5 months ago now they are tearing it up for lots of keywords in the industry top spots.
I can build a few links and surpass them, but I have to do it every week or so and I think they are doing something fishy. I just want to figure out what they are doing and bury them.
I don't want to post their url and mine here as I don't want them to see this post in search results.
-
Thanks for the extra ideas Chris. Good points, I will have to work on reworking some things.
-
Steven, I'll go out on a limb and guess that its the site listed in your profile that you're writing about. If that's the case, I have a few suggestions for you.
It appears there may be some keyword cannibalization going on on the site as you have quite a few pages that compete with your home page for what looks like your main keyword. The page content and the meta data for the homepage and the packages seem to compete with each other over the keyword they're optimized for and, since the rest of the pages and your blog all used the three-word domain name at the beginning of the title, they look like they are competing for that exact match keyword. Be sure that to choose a primary keyword focus for your homepage and keep the rest of the page titles and corresponding content focused on distinctly different terms. With all the strength and relevance of particular keywords focused on single pages, those pages will have an easier time maintaining their highest potential ranking positions in the search results.
Also (this isn't the cause of the site's current issue but could be the cause of a future one) there are those links that point to a small group of interlinked sites that might be considered an effort to manipulate rankings unless they were nofollowed.
-
Thanks for some ideas Jeff. Their domain is older than mine, but it was the fact that they came from no where about 5 months ago that really brought them to my attention.
Thanks for the link to Search Engine Journal. Pretty familiar with most of that stuff. I ran a structured data check and found nothing. It could be their age, but I don't buy it. They aren't doing anything that I am not doing 3x better and cleaner. Looking in open site explorer they are ranking for keywords that they have no anchor text, I am just at a loss.
Thanks for your response
-
I don't want to steer you down the path to the Dark Side, but this article on Search Engine Journal, "Using Black Hat Tools for White Hat Purposes" might be a good place to take a look and see if the other guy is doing anything shady:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/using-black-hat-tools-white-hat-purposes/Other things I might check:
- Domain name age of your site and the other site. Perhaps this other site has such an old domain name, it's always been there...
- Is the other domain using structured data (i.e. RDF) on the site?
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
-
Anybody here look at Alexa Rank and or PageRank when doing research?
Any Seo'ers out there still looking at PageRank and or Alexa Rank? Any suggestions on how to look at these stats? I personally believe both are not relevant in todays SEO researches. I'm i very wrong?
Competitive Research | | PrizeWize0 -
Fast Multiple Keyword research
Does anyone know of a good tool to drop a list of keywords into and get competitive and search volume results from? Don't want to have to enter them one by one to the Google KWT.
Competitive Research | | AESEO0 -
What is the best tool to monitor your competitor's backlinks?
I am looking for a tool that not only accurately tells me how many links are being built by a competitor, I want to know the specific URLs for specific periods. If I can filter/search by time periods, i.e which links were added for the month of August, 2012, that would be great. Thanks for the help.
Competitive Research | | inhouseseo0 -
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 -
Keywords and Getting Started with them to the top of the Search Engines
We are an online Saas Based startup. Strongly 70% of our daily users come directly to us since they know us by the url . Now there these 30% who scout for software's like ours online. Get to us by some hook or crook and then maybe end up giving the trial a shot. Our Main site is only of say 5-6 pages. These pages have basic info about our product , pricing and contact etc. What I wish to understand is that when one says" getting those keywords to the top of the engines rankings" who do you mean by these - I presume one means that get the keywords you want to compete for and then push in "Adwords" or better content pages? So If I want to rank well - then my websites should have good content pages you mean? Is that correct-? That means now I have to write good content on those keywords or around those keywords- without that there is no hope to come on good on engines right? Correct me here if I sway away from the actual meaning. Next I wish to have campaigns setup in google adwords keeping in mind those competitive keywords - here again does content on my website play a role? If I have no content and then have google adwords setup does that help? Please advice How long before I add good content pages and expect them to show up in my analytics etc? Thanks
Competitive Research | | shanky10 -
How can I obtain analytics and social data for a site that I'm not authorized on?
I'd like to get traffic information and facebook /twitter stats for a company. Don't know their ua, logins or have access to any of their pages. Where can I find this information? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Competitive Research | | brandonschultz0 -
What are the competition's Google Places pages optimised for?
I'm doing some work on a client's Googe Places page, and wondered if there's any way to see what a completitors Places page is currently optimised or categorised for? Basically, we're trying to rank for 'Bathrooms Edinburgh' and almost all of the page 1 SERP's are (unsurprisingly) full of Places results, with #1 Organic slot right down at the bottom of the page. In short - we NEED to get our Places page kicked into shape, and pronto! So, is there any way to find out how the competition's Places pages are ranking so well? e.g. What have they categorised themselves under? Cheers in advance folks, JM
Competitive Research | | JamesMio0 -
How can I estimate a domain's overall organic search traffic - any tools?
Most of my analysis revolves around looking at rankings for specific keyword phrases that I've identified as important/relevant. But it'd be nice to be able to look at a domain and get a sense for how much organic traffic they get overall. If they're not ranking for the keywords I'm researching but have a lot of organic traffic that would be a nice signal to me that they are probably targeting other phrases more or have a big brand presence or something. Any suggestions? Thanks! Jeff Gibson
Competitive Research | | jeff.gibson0