Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
How can you rank nr 1 for high competitive keyword with low DA and only 1 backlink?
-
Hi!
Was wondering if anyone can explain this a bit clearer...
Image attatched...How is it possible to rank on Google Norway for spot nr.1 (page in English language) and spot nr.2 (page in Norwegian language) , when all you competitors have higher PA, DA and a lot more backlinks and better on-page optimization according to MOZ?
Is there something I´m misunderstanding?
Just when I thought SEO started to make sense -
Hi Aleksander,
As what Claudio and Kate have already mentioned, there might be other factors in play. Just a question though, in the screenshot you posted, was the search retrieved from your normal browser or an incognito/private tab? A simpler explanation for the rankings might be that whilst using your normal browser, your search results were personalized. When someone (in this case you), performs a search, the results are influenced by not only the relevancy/links/DA etc, but also whether the sites have been visited by the user on other queries in the past (or someone else using the same browser).
A simple way of finding out is to open up an incognito tab (Chrome), or a private window (FireFox) and using the same keyword to search again. If the results are different, then it might simply be a case of personalized search influencing the results.
Hope it helps!
-
As Claudio said, there are many things behind the scenes we can't always know. The sheer number of links, PA, DA, etc, those are from a third party, Moz. As much as it is the best external look at link equity, domain strength and more, it's still not from Google.
There is more to ranking than just links and strength though. On page factors are important of course, but there are so many other pieces of the puzzle.
In this instance it looks like a language preference issue. Your screenshot shows that the first result is in English. The others are not, as they offer translation inside the SERP. The first result is the best result for this particular search for this particular user. It might not be across the board, but that is why you are seeing this result right now. It's a relevance to the user issue.
-
These sites could be penalized (Panda, Penguin etc).
Hope it helps
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
-
Blocking Competitive Analysis Tools in robots.txt.... Worth it?
I've been considering blocking third party crawlers for a while – specifically those crawling my website for the sake of competitive analysis, such as SEMrush and Ahrefs. I'm familiar with how to do so, but when researching the question I found practically no one asking the same question. The guides I've found on what to put in your robots.txt make no mention of whether to block competitive analysis crawlers. Which makes me wonder whether this is a good idea after all. My chief concern here is rival sites going after the same search terms we target – one of our competitors in particular has an uncanny way of going after the same searches we are. I know blocking crawlers won't prevent competitors from watching our content, but it will make it slightly harder for them. Is there any major drawback I'm missing? Any big reason not to go ahead and block SEO analysis crawlers?
Competitive Research | | davidwaring0 -
What to do about one site dominating search results? (multiple pages ranking)?
Anybody have thoughts on dealing with search results where the same site gets listed multiple times? "weebly vs wix" is one example (same site #1-3, repetitive articles, not crazy high authority), but I see this now and then. I know Google likes variety, so it's weird for me to see results like this dominating search results. Thoughts? What gets these sites to take over the top rankings for a specific term? Any way to rise up in this situation, outside of the usual? Any tips on duplicating this kind of success?
Competitive Research | | davidwaring0 -
Is it possible to create "hidden" backlinks?
Don't miss interpret this... I DON'T mean hidden backlinks that you would stick on a page using html/css. What I am trying to figure out is if it's possible to create backlinks from sites that aren't visible by crawlers or SEO tools like Moz?... Does that make sense? Another words, let's say I place a visible/genuine/follow backlink to any external website from my blog. Is there a way to keep crawlers like Moz or other SEO tools from "seeing it"?
Competitive Research | | co.mc0 -
How much keyword density for Google?
I have several pages on one site which have gone down during the past few months. They keyword density on those pages, which is not unnatural, pleased Google for many years. it still pleases Bing. But Google now seems very picky. Based upon your experience, what is the ideal % keyword density for 2 and 3 word phrases, and should they be left out of alt tags even when proper to put them there? While Google dominates, we do not wish to alienate BIng/Yahoo. It is a huge mystery, and experimentation with more non-keyword-related text has so far not born any fruit. Thank you, GH
Competitive Research | | gheh20130 -
Free tools to find country of origin of backlinks/urls
Hey are there any free tools out there which can allow me to insert a large list of urls, and it determines the country of origin of the domain. I know the paid version of majestic does, but i was wondering if theres any free tools? Cheers, Chris
Competitive Research | | monster990 -
Can I write guest blogs on competitor's blogs?
I have been doing some guest blogging and its hard to find guest blogs opportunities. I have found some but they are direct competitors. Is it safe to write guest post? by the way the are not local competitors. Any suggestion please. thanks
Competitive Research | | conversiontactics0 -
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 -
What is the difference between "external backlinks" & "referring domains" on Majestic SEO?
According to Majestic SEO's glossary, a "Referring domain, also known as "ref domain", is a domain from which a backlink is pointing to a page or link." Given this definition, I'm not sure what an external backlink is?
Competitive Research | | nicole.healthline0