Number 1 on google - but why?

[johnharvard]

Lately, I've been diligently studying all the factors that go into what makes a site get on the front page of google. This site has been very helpful in detailing all the things you want and all the things you don't want in order to get ranked.

Thought I had a handle on it but now I'm not so sure. For example, go to google and search for "casualty auto insurance". Google comes back with 1,170,000 results and the very first result at the top of page 1 is called casualtyautoinsurance.org.

If you look up this site in Yahoo site explorer you can see that the site has two (2) pages with a grand total of 75 backlinks. Look it up in compete.com and you can see that the site has only been around for 9 months.

These results seem to be contrary to what I've been told about SEO. So, what's the secret? Can someone enlighten me how you can take a fairly competitive keyword like this and get on page 1 in such a short time with virtually no backlinks?

[JennSpencerIM]

I'm not an expert at SEO by any means but I'd think a lot has to do with the domain name being the exact keyword you searched...make sense?

[Bill_Z]

Yes Jenn is correct, having an exact keyword match for your domain is huge. Also, although his links are seemingly few, having just a few strong backlinks can easily outrank other sites with 10-20 times more backlinks if they are weaker.

[WildGale]

Exact matches are pretty powerful -- .com, .net, and .org that is, not so for the others in the U.S. market (e.g. .info)

[ReachOneMedia]

I'm not a seo expert but I think all seo expert will agree here...

Probably using a wordpress blog (Google loves it)
Probably have widgets like all-in-seo, google sitemaps, etc
Probably have his main keyword:
in url
in title
in body
in H1 tag
He use a video on his website (Google loves it)
keyword rich content

Hope this help you out!
If so be polite and says thanks! :P

[Thomas De]

As the others said it is the exact macht domain name combined with plenty of backlinks to the keyword page.

[Alexa Smith]

I agree with the posts above.

And the site you've quoted in your original post is very heavy on authoritative-looking "information", apparently presented with great certainty, most of which is in fact just opinion. They're very good at appearing credible, aren't they? Call me a skepchick but I can't help wondering how well they've done with ranking their own site? That would be a pretty good way to evaluate the extent to which they know what they're talking about, wouldn't it?

[sparckyz]

Originally Posted by JennSpencerIM

I'm not an expert at SEO by any means but I'd think a lot has to do with the domain name being the exact keyword you searched...make sense?

I'm also no expert, but i have to concur with what Jenn said

[dmadnani]

Ironically enough after doing a quick check on the backlinks one of the first few had the keywords "SEO Optimization ranking" in it.

Gotta' love SEO.

[marketingmyinternet]

Keep it up. You're on the right track. SEO takes months and months to see any real results. That's why you should be skeptical when SEO companies promise results in a certain amount of time. It's not possible, with White Hat SEO, to guarantee results in a certain amount of time.

SEO is something that you can do yourself. Although SEO is important for any business while you are waiting to see results, you can focus on other aspects of internet marketing to drive traffic, such as PPC and social networking.

[Mike Anthony]

Not as competitive a term as you might think. Most people don't type in causualty.

Google comes back with 1,170,000 results

Unfortunately a lot of gurus have misinformed people about what results mean. Its just the amount of times that the words appear in the index. Doesn't say anything aobut how hard it will be to rank for it or that alot of people are trying to rank for it .

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

That would be a pretty good way to evaluate the extent to which they know what they're talking about, wouldn't it?

Not really. SEOs don't like to show all their tactics on their own site. For those who know how to reverse engineer its like giving away free resources.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by Mike Anthony

Not really. SEOs don't like to show all their tactics on their own site. For those who know how to reverse engineer its like giving away free resources.

Thanks - very interesting point I'd never thought about.

So it's not valid, when someone offers me SEO services, to ask to see their own site and whether it ranks high on Google and for what search-terms?! That is a blow! How am I supposed to assess whether they can do what they claimed?

[iamsuneel]

I agree with most of the members stating that it's because of the exact keywords placed in the domain name.

But, I would also like to emphasize the fact that this is what I would like to call a Google Dance.

I faced it on my umpteen domain names. It affects no matter whether you are updating the new-keyword-rich-domain-name at regular intervals or not. This is some kind of indexing mechanism that Google has in order to adjust it's db before placing it in the xact position when people search.

Do check back in a few days and observe the change in it's position.

[jazbo]

Mike is spot on. The large number of results is because it returns a count of all pages with those words. But checking the specific term "casualty auto insurance" (with brackets) returns only 121,000 pages which contain that exact phrase.

The exact match domain will also help, but it is not the ace people think it is.

Originally Posted by Mike Anthony

Not as competitive a term as you might think. Most people don't type in causualty.



Unfortunately a lot of gurus have misinformed people about what results mean. Its just the amount of times that the words appear in the index. Doesn't say anything aobut how hard it will be to rank for it or that alot of people are trying to rank for it .

[ReachOneMedia]

Originally Posted by marketingmyinternet

Keep it up. You're on the right track. SEO takes months and months to see any real results. That's why you should be skeptical when SEO companies promise results in a certain amount of time. It's not possible, with White Hat SEO, to guarantee results in a certain amount of time.

SEO is something that you can do yourself. Although SEO is important for any business while you are waiting to see results, you can focus on other aspects of internet marketing to drive traffic, such as PPC and social networking.

Months?

I will have to disagree here. I build a site from scratch and push it to the first page of google in less than 3 weeks with little content.

YOu just have to know what you are doing and know what your competition IS NOT doing in order to get your a** on the first page

Seo Is no rocket science

[johnharvard]

Originally Posted by dmadnani

Ironically enough after doing a quick check on the backlinks one of the first few had the keywords "SEO Optimization ranking" in it.

Gotta' love SEO.

Not sure where you mean? Why does it matter what one of the backlink sites has for keywords? Maybe I'm slow...


By the way, I looked at one of the other sites linking in and it appears to be nothing but gibberish. Take a look. My guess is this site was created just as a backlink dump. Another piece of the puzzle?

So, the consensus seems to be that if your domain name exactly matches the keywords, then this trumps all other factors. Surprised they didn't mention that on the chart of SEO factors.

Looking at the traffic levels reported on compete, quantcast, etc. it appears that they have been on the 1st page for a while and won't be victims of the "google dance".

[Joel Gray]

All SEO really consists of is updated content, site activity and building backlinks. But if you have the exact keyword phrase as a domain you should be able to rank #1 on page 1 within 30 days if not sooner if you use wordpress and work just a little on your SEO.

You will get different benefits from different backlinks, as general forum profile backlinks are easy to build and will give you decent foundation, targeted niche forum profile backlinks including .edu sites have a more positive effect on your SERP and then blog comments, article signatures, link wheels and such will help your site movement also. But it all comes down to keeping your site with fresh content, having some site activity and building backlinks.

Joel

[berlanmiranda55]

Ironically an adequate amount of after doing a quick confirm on the back links one of the foremost a small number of had the keywords "SEO Optimization grade" in it.

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Thanks - very interesting point I'd never thought about.

So it's not valid, when someone offers me SEO services, to ask to see their own site and whether it ranks high on Google and for what search-terms?!

You can ask them to show you a site that they have ranked but I got to tell you even that is a slippery slope. I'd think long and hard before I showed a clients site to someone online. Unfortunatley there are ton loads of people involved in SEO that have little ethical standards and equally little skill. The minute they get a page location they can look up all the backlinks, the keyword research even the content (to adapt and spin). I only reveal my test sites not the work that is making money directly. On warriors? Forget it.

Let the SEO give you a free review. Thats what I offer. You can determine if they know what they are doing before you spend any money.

[John Romaine]

Its ranking first because of extremely weak competition.

[deepender]

If you buy a domain name that rel relevant to keyword than it would help your but its very little help in seo, if you want to increase your site ranking than get inbound links and back links, do submission in good directory, articles directory, classified etc than your website will on first page.

[petevamp]

Originally Posted by johnharvard

Lately, I've been diligently studying all the factors that go into what makes a site get on the front page of google. This site has been very helpful in detailing all the things you want and all the things you don't want in order to get ranked.

Thought I had a handle on it but now I'm not so sure. For example, go to google and search for "casualty auto insurance". Google comes back with 1,170,000 results and the very first result at the top of page 1 is called casualtyautoinsurance.org.

If you look up this site in Yahoo site explorer you can see that the site has two (2) pages with a grand total of 75 backlinks. Look it up in compete.com and you can see that the site has only been around for 9 months.

These results seem to be contrary to what I've been told about SEO. So, what's the secret? Can someone enlighten me how you can take a fairly competitive keyword like this and get on page 1 in such a short time with virtually no backlinks?

First off that term is not competitive at all. Do the search again in quotes and then with the with allintitle: you will see that there really is no competition for the term. The reason that site has the number one spot is simply because the term is in the title description and it is the url. This is why they have the number one spot in google. I can build a site called tidbits and compete with them for that term. Only because of the extreme lack of competition for the term. Now do a search for auto insurance and see where they rank I assure you they are no where to be found.

[Barry Unruh]

This information should really excite you. Just think, with the right targeted long tail phrases, properly structured domain names, titles, URL's, and a few backlinks you can compete for phrases against corporate giants.

The real question, does the phrase bring you any traffic. In this case they might be getting 60 visitors per day according to Market Samurai. Is that exciting?

[dadamson]

Originally Posted by iamsuneel

I agree with most of the members stating that it's because of the exact keywords placed in the domain name.

But, I would also like to emphasize the fact that this is what I would like to call a Google Dance.

I faced it on my umpteen domain names. It affects no matter whether you are updating the new-keyword-rich-domain-name at regular intervals or not. This is some kind of indexing mechanism that Google has in order to adjust it's db before placing it in the xact position when people search.

Do check back in a few days and observe the change in it's position.

That's correct. Google does the dance for new websites especially.

You may find yourself at the top for a highly competitive keyword one day and be on page 86 the next day.

It's all part of Googles cruel algorithm!

[goldhome]

It is ranking first as it is an EMD and the competition is relatively low.

[mince001]

I have a number of websites and only one is on the first page of google. I have done all the on page seo, backlinks, but I still don't get results as good as you have mentioned. What is your criteria when you research for a keyword? Eg. inanchor no, inurl,intitle,backlinks,pr of competitors,etc? Thanks a lot!

[cinkz]

IMO, the reason is :
1.EMD domain - i think it's very powerful
2.very low competition

[Steven Miranda]

QTY of backlinks is not always as good as quality backlinks.

[webbuilder]

It can't be the quality of the website. there is a low amount of content, no meta tags that I could find while viewing the source code.

All this makes me wanna run out and create a low quality wordpress site with no content to rank#1 on google.

I do notice the content feeds and have been experimenting with using them on my own sites to help keep content fresh for the engines. Anyone have an opinion on whether adding the live data feeds help seo value of the site? It sure does look good to have up to date news for visitors.

[usearchme2]

Hi guys

All has been covered I think, but its a decent attempt to optimise a site that specific phrase, but makes me wonder how many hits the site actually gets. Althought its not what I would call a pretty site.

Also adding live feeds provide no SEO value to your site, just ask people who have websites that consist of JUST feeds, they will explain lol, however as you say it provides users with up to date news, thats whats good about them !

Woc

[cooler1]

If you have the keyword your targetting in your domain but you have an "s" at the end of the keyword, does that effect the power of the EMD?

I ask because there is a site ranked on page 1, slot #1 with the keyword which im targetting, but their site is very thin with little content and only 2 backlinks. They have the exact keyword in their domain with no "s" at the end of it.

I have an "s" at the end of my domain though, so i wondering if this gave them an advantage.

[Simon74]

I have to agree with ramone_johnny and petevamp the kw is not competitive at all, if you do a search for allintitle:"casualty auto insurance" has only About 9,170 results.

[amo992]

If you look carefully at the competition, there is NO other site strictly dedicated to causality auto insurance like causalityautoinsurance(dot)org

You do SEO not to compete against a standard, you compete against the competition!

[thriftgirl62]

Originally Posted by johnharvard

Lately, I've been diligently studying all the factors that go into what makes a site get on the front page of google. This site has been very helpful in detailing all the things you want and all the things you don't want in order to get ranked.

Thought I had a handle on it but now I'm not so sure. For example, go to google and search for "casualty auto insurance". Google comes back with 1,170,000 results and the very first result at the top of page 1 is called casualtyautoinsurance.org.

If you look up this site in Yahoo site explorer you can see that the site has two (2) pages with a grand total of 75 backlinks. Look it up in compete.com and you can see that the site has only been around for 9 months.

These results seem to be contrary to what I've been told about SEO. So, what's the secret? Can someone enlighten me how you can take a fairly competitive keyword like this and get on page 1 in such a short time with virtually no backlinks?

That proves what I've been posting off and on since last November but nobody believes it. I guarantee they don't use some free indexer or back link building service either.

Here's your answer: What resources do you use for SEO for local businesses?

I just took a look at that site and 324 days ago it showed a lot of traffic (several thousand visitors per day) but now? It shows only 80 visitors per day, PR0. I didn't save that first number because I was expecting the results to go up, not take a huge dive!! The answer above is still the same but this site? Something strange is going on - check it after Google indexes it again.

[babybird]

i wonder if you can ever be num. 1 with a blogger

[guitarjosh]

Originally Posted by goldhome

It is ranking first as it is an EMD and the competition is relatively low.

since u revived this thread that was over 8 months old, there's no telling what has changed since the question was asked.

[Stephen Gilbert]

Originally Posted by guitarjosh

since u revived this thread that was over 8 months old, there's no telling what has changed since the question was asked.

QFT. Were you randomly searching this or something?

[joyseo]

They are on top b'coz of very low completion..........

[DavidG]

Page Rank has alot of factors.

#1, I'd think is EMD ( Exact Match Domain)

#2, On page SEO

#3, Strong Backlinks




Those are the main factors that will have you: google-high-pageranked-bound

regZ

[anirbandas]

After Google's Panda up gradation exact match domain's is one of the major key factor beside's strong back links and social engagements.
We are staying at no 1 for one of client's most money making keywords at Google, for last two year's,by regular back linking,content update and keyword rich landing page optimization...but we got no 1 spot for those highly competitive keywords after one year's hard work..

[StoneWilson]

Originally Posted by WildGale

Exact matches are pretty powerful -- .com, .net, and .org that is, not so for the others in the U.S. market (e.g. .info)

Exactly. I wonder whether big G raise the weight of EMD(exact match domain), because I found many EMD websites jump on the first page.

[dagaul101]

I think the key in this case is the exact domain name in the url, and ofcourse other factors like the location of the server where the host site is, which comes into play depending on the location of the searcher

[bryceholmes232]

Ironically an adequate amount of after doing a quick confirm on the back links one of the foremost a small number of had the keywords "SEO Optimization grade" in it.