Why is this guy at the top p1
-
Hi
I am baffled our competitor is position 1 on google and another spam site is position 2 for this position 4. Both site hit every no no for Google.
For example our site no duplicate content and no duplicate pages. However our competitor 21% of all content is duplicated and 51% of the title tags are duplicated.
I am seeing this more and more and I am wondering has google screwed up as it seems to be that if you bend the rules you get to the top of google.
-
Hi Cocoonfxmedia,
Thanks for sharing the websites.
Yes, it appears you're dealing with a website that's walking a very fine line (arcimedia.co.uk) at the moment. One look at its backlink profile and you can see how over optimized the website's anchor text truly is.
Unfortunately, this isn't uncommon, especially in the digital marketing/web design niche. This proves that Google's algorithm isn't perfect at identifying spammy backlink profiles. It may also be the case that their website has a few authoritative links point to it or another website that 301 redirects to it.
The only real solution is to continue to fight the good fight. I wouldn't be surprised to see this website pop out of the search results at some point in the future due to an algo update or manual penalty. It's a hard pill to swallow, but I would continue to focus on your local SEO efforts (building quality citations, local links, engaging local content, acquiring reviews, etc). It isn't worth jeopardizing the long-term potential of a website, in my opinion, to receive short term rankings.
Best of luck,
-
As Christy mentioned, it would be helpful if you could provide the keywords and URL.
Speaking in general terms, websites with spammy links can in many niche still outrank domains with natural backlink profiles. Anchor text and a website's authority are still extremely important, in my opinion.
-
Sure [web design lichfield]
lichfieldwebdesign.co.uk <== this one black list on Spamhaus and other spam lists.
However our company and another competitor who I know is active on SEO we're both page 2.
-
Hi there! This is a good question. However, to offer any insight into what may be going on in this particular situation, we need more information. Would you mind sharing the keyword you are targeting, as well as the domains of the top-ranking sites? Thanks!
Christy
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
-
Do the links from top websites' forums boost in-terms of backlinks?
If we get any backlinks from discussions/forums of top websites like wordpress and joomla forums; do they count as valid and authority improving backlinks? I mean about the dofollow links.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | vtmoz1 -
HOW!??! Homepage Ranking Dropped Completely out of Top 100 on Google....
So I'm competing for a very competitive keyword, and I've been on the bottom of page 2 for a while now, ranking for my homepage, which is very content rich and has GREAT links pointing to it. Out of nowhere, last week I dropped completely out of the top 100 or so, yet one of my article posts now ranks on page 6 or so for the same keyword. I have great authoritative links, my on-page is spot on, all of my articles are super super high quality, I don't understand how my homepage, which has ranked for the main keyword for months on page 2, can just completely drop out of the top 100 or so.... Can anyone help provide some insight?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | juicyresults0 -
How the heck is this guy ranking on top of Google for everything?
Hey everyone, how is the website below ranking so high for everything with his website? His link profile is spam junk, he uses forums and hides backlinks in smiles and quotes. Plus the guy even seems to be hitting all the competition websites with bad backlinks etc. It seems he is jus using automated tools to build tons of backlinks. Why isn't Google picking this site up and doing something about it? Search google for "advanced warfare hacks" he shows up on top. Same for "titanfall hacks" Same for "ghosts hacks" Check his link profile and sneaky ways, his main site is hackerbot [dot] net
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Draden670 -
What sources do you use to keep on top of SEO news?
I want to try building an RSS feed of SEO news... but not wanting to find myself drowning in materials As such, looking for a short list of recommendations for keeping on top of SEO developments – the impetus is that I'm still discovering changes that happened 2, 3, even 5 years ago, and I want to try and catch these things as they happen. Thinking something actually from Google may be on the list, but some of these sources are pretty on top of things! Seroundtable.com also comes to mind. But what do you use to keep informed? Thanks 🙂
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | ntcma1 -
Top authors for ecommerce content
Hello, What are some tips that you recommend for someone looking to hire an expert to write or consult in a piece of content. It's as general a keyword as our niche has and it's the only keyword that's actually inside the niche that has any decent level of backlinks. We're considering searching out an expert in our field that knows more about the subject than our people do even though our people are knowledgable. Trying to come from authority. Your recommendations in the process of coming up with a great piece of content from a good authority?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | BobGW0 -
Old SPAM tactic still works and gets TOP 3 in SERP?
Hi Mozers, Below you can see some examples of spam ( hidden text and sneaky redirects) which are in SERP for our branded keywords during last 3 months. Some of them occupy very high position in SERP (top 3/top5). https://www.google.com/search?num=100&newwindow=1&safe=off&biw=1883&bih=1028&q=%22your+mac+-%22%2B%22cleanmymac%22 I sent spam reports and I’m going to continue doing so. (~500 spam reports from personal and work google account) I contacting directly with some of the hacked sites (web-masters) and tried to help them to fix this issue, but it takes a lot of my time. But 3 months!? Can you give me any advice, what doing next? Thank you!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | MacPaw0 -
Attracta.com / "weekly submissions to top 100 search engines"
I recently received an offer from Attracta.com because I have a hostgator account. They are offering different levels of service for submitting xml sitemaps on a weekly basis. Is this a good idea? Thanks for your feedback! Will PS see graphic: Screen%20Shot%202012-02-08%20at%2010.06.56%20PM.png
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | WillWatrous0 -
Switching existing website to a Wordpress Site and afraid of losing top spot
I am going to be switching my current site from a standard html site to a wordpress site. I'm kind of paranoid of losing my top spot for the keyterms. If I keep the content the same, and keep the same amount of image alt tags, the same anchor text etc, nothing should change right? Grateful for any advice. Thanks Will
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | willie790