Can I beat an Ezine article to no 1 spot with an ordinary website?

[Stevie G]

Hi,

Firstly i'm really new to IM so apologies if this is an obviously silly question.

I've been researching niches and found one where the no 1 spot in google is just a crappy ezine article linking to a sales page. I plan to put together a website with maybe 10 quality articles and a squeeze page for a free guide. I aim to then use the list to market.

However, analysing the SEO competition (on market samurai) this article has a lot of things in it's favour, mainly because it's from Ezinearticles. Also the article itself is SEO optimised. Should I just accept the fact that I can't go against ezine articles even though it's a rubbish 500 word article and I plan to put up a site containing much better quality?

Cheers

Stevie

[matt5409]

you CAN beat an EZA article quite easily if you create a website that's built for longevity, has unique content in its own right and a variety of backlinks pointing to both it's home and inner pages.

[bizwebstart]

I agree with Matt, with the right processes as Matt outlines, you can push the ezine article of its spot

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by Stevie G

Should I just accept the fact that I can't go against ezine articles even though it's a rubbish 500 word article and I plan to put up a site containing much better quality?

On the contrary, Stevie.

To me, seeing EZA directory articles in the top 3 SERP's positions, when I'm doing keyword research, feels instinctively like good news: I'm greatly encouraged.

That said, you have to assess its SEO just as you would for any other page, because the assumption that one can necessarily beat it "just because it's only a directory article" is exactly that - an assumption.

Statistically, though, the odds are clearly in your favour, because the reality is that people who backlink the hell out of an EZA article in preference to building their own business by promoting their own site(s) often don't really know what they're doing (and are typically following some sort of "guide"/"course" full of misinformation), so there's always the chance that their SEO may not be all that well planned and executed, too.

[John Romaine]

For me personally, EZA ranking first page signals a lot of green lights. I never have any issues outranking EZA, or any other article directory site for that matter.

[Changing Man]

I have also been of the opinion that if sites such as ezine articles are on the first page of Google I have a chance of out performing them with a little bit of effort.

[Jeremy Kelsall]

If there is just one lonely EzineArticle there, you should be good to go, unless it's a case of someone really optimizing their article and doing some smart off page stuff.

If however, there is One EZA there with a supplemental, or an EZA there with a link to "see more results from ezinearticles" it won't be quite as easy. When you see this, it means at least to some extent that EZA is seen as the authority most likely do to the sheer amount of content that is on their domain for not only that specific keyword but also related keywords.

In the end though, don't let competition stop you from targeting a keyword that you think is a honey spot. Sure it might take you longer to get the ranking you want, but I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume that you will need the money that ranking can bring 6 months from now just as much or more than you need it today, right?

So, in a case where EZA is ranking for a HIGH SEARCHED keyword that you want to target, simply set up on your site and then leverage EZA for traffic while you get your site where you want it to be. This will allow you to still make sales even if your site is nowhere to be seen in the SERPS.

[FredJones]

Yes with the right SEO you can beat it hands down. While I don't really agree with some of the statements made here - that having an EZA is a green signal (I had thought so earlier, till I realized that I myself use EZA, albeit infrequently, to create a second presence on the first page) - but still, having an EZA rrank #1 *may* be a good indication. But remember, you have to fight it out - may not happen soooooooooo easily (but will surely happen if you give a serious shot at it).

[Tomwood]

Yes go for it you can beat eza in most niches because it's not viewed as an authority site

[Stevie G]

Thanks a lot guys, that's realy encouraging. It's just when I seen the stats on the 'SEO competition' part of Market Samurai it ranked really highly on things like Domain age, Backlinks to domain, Index Count, etc.. and I wondered if that didn't automatically make it pointless trying to beat it. Does anyone know how important such factors are?

Also WRT tthe article: There are 112 backlinks to the article page and it has the keyword in the title, URL, Description and header tags, so it's obviously someone who knows the basics of SEO. What do you think, is it worth trying to take it on? It's not a massively great keyword so I would only bother going for it if it was relatively easy.

Stevie

[edge83]

Probably would take a little bit of time, but you can definitely do it- especially if your domain name has the keyword somewhere in it, site optimized for that keyword, multiple pages / articles.. and that 112 backlinks you'll find is not difficult to match in some time once you get into this. Your site can become something of an authority or at least, quickly, highly relevant to that keyword. You can also have your own ezine and other articles for that keyword, with backlinks to it, that links to YOUR site that is already optimized for that keyword

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by Stevie G

There are 112 backlinks to the article page and it has the keyword in the title, URL, Description and header tags

What sort of backlinks? Unless they're mostly context-relevant, decent sites, this might be a lot easier than it sounded at first.

Originally Posted by Stevie G

What do you think, is it worth trying to take it on?

Unless those 112 backlinks (or most of them) are something really special and unusual (which I doubt), then yes, certainly worth taking on.

There may really be more than 112 backlinks, but it won't make much difference. Looking at the information you have now, you can easily take it on. The only thing that really might change that is the authority and relevance of identifiable backlinks. I'd be looking at those, but certainly with "increasing optimism".

[Jeremy Kelsall]

Originally Posted by Stevie G

Also WRT tthe article: There are 112 backlinks to the article page and it has the keyword in the title, URL, Description and header tags, so it's obviously someone who knows the basics of SEO. What do you think, is it worth trying to take it on? It's not a massively great keyword so I would only bother going for it if it was relatively easy.

Stevie

It's an article, so it goes without saying that the keywords are in the title, url, description, etc...

One thing to look at is if the backlinks to the ARTICLE ITSELF are internal (from other EZA's) or external (from other websites) this will tell you whether or not the owner of the article is actively promoting and trying to rank the content.

The GREAT thing about putting content on a domain like EZA or ArticleBase etc is that you always have a chance of simply publishing content and it showing up on the first page based on the strength of the domain itself, and not necessarily your content. I have a "few" keywords on the first page for criminal background stuff that I've never sent a single backlink too - just published an article, and 2 months later, there it is getting 1500+ visitors a month...so, if you see content ranking on the first page from these domains for a niche you are interested in, you'd be kind of goofy to not try and leverage it to your benefit...

Keep in mind too though that there are 10 spots on the first page, and usually 4 above the fold, so anywhere above the fold will get you traffic more times than not...so, try not to focus on that one competitor and just go for it

[Stevie G]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

What sort of backlinks? Unless they're mostly context-relevant, decent sites, this might be a lot easier than it sounded at first.



Unless those 112 backlinks (or most of them) are something really special and unusual (which I doubt), then yes, certainly worth taking on.

There may really be more than 112 backlinks, but it won't make much difference. Looking at the information you have now, you can easily take it on. The only thing that really might change that is the authority and relevance of identifiable backlinks. I'd be looking at those, but certainly with "increasing optimism".

The backlinks all seem to be from articles. The format of these articles is always the same: 400 word article and then at the end "Read more about X here and X here" (With links out to 2 sites at the bottom).

Most of the backlinks are from sites that are PR0, except one which is PR3. Many of the articles are on blogs that are not relevent to the niche - they are blogs containing lots of different articles on completely different subjects. I wonder if this is the work of a backlinking company? If so they are getting 2 backlinks for every 400 word article they put up - this seems inefficient to me, does that sound right?

[adamv]

Originally Posted by Stevie G

If so they are getting 2 backlinks for every 400 word article they put up - this seems inefficient to me, does that sound right?

It's not inefficient if it's a spun article and every 400 word article is worth 2 backlinks X 2000 sites.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by Stevie G

The backlinks all seem to be from articles.

Originally Posted by Stevie G

Many of the articles are on blogs that are not relevent to the niche - they are blogs containing lots of different articles on completely different subjects

For me, that would decisively settle it: however many of them there are, those are "junk backlinks" and I'd expect no great difficulty here. (That completely fits in with the earlier theorised picture of someone building up EZA's business rather than his own).

Good luck, though you may not need a lot!

[coby8740]

Well said AS!



TD

[Chri5123]

Yes, as others have mentioned you can do it - if you go about it the right way.

You will need to build a site that has a ton of unique content and all of the things that Google look for i.e privacy policy, disclaimer, all pages easily visible and easy to navigate.

Then use Ezine articles to promote YOUR OWN site and you get the best of both worlds IMO.

You might end up with your site at the top and your Ezine articles underneath it - best case scenario!

Chris

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by Chri5123

You will need to build a site that has a ton of unique content and all of the things that Google look for i.e privacy policy, disclaimer, all pages easily visible and easy to navigate.

I'd be the first to agree that those might all be desirable objectives in their own right, for other reasons (especially "guarding against future competition"), but I promise you that on the basis of the information provided here, even a technophobic incompetent like me can beat that article's SEO in pretty quick time without even doing any of those things ...

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by Stevie G

Thanks a lot guys, that's realy encouraging. It's just when I seen the stats on the 'SEO competition' part of Market Samurai it ranked really highly on things like Domain age, Backlinks to domain, Index Count, etc.. and I wondered if that didn't automatically make it pointless trying to beat it. Does anyone know how important such factors are?

Stevie

If you're trying to beat EZA'a home page, they're very important.

But you aren't. You are trying to beat one article page, at least two clicks away from the home page.

Those numbers would mean a lot more if your were trying to beat a site like you are proposing to build. But for very large sites like EZA, not as much.

[Stevie G]

That settles it then! Thanks a lot for your kind advice guys, it has really helped me a lot.

Cheers,

Stevie

[FredJones]

Given this information, you ought to win this battle without too much difficulty. Again, personally I am not sure that the word "relevant" backlink carries the same meaning to me as to many others, but get some high-PR and energized backlinks with the desired anchor text over a bit of time and you are going to win this game without much sweat. PErsonally I would not bother about relevant pages, but I would definitely bother about the pagerank of the pages that would link to me.

[tpw]

Originally Posted by Stevie G

I've been researching niches and found one where the no 1 spot in google is just a crappy ezine article linking to a sales page. I plan to put together a website with maybe 10 quality articles and a squeeze page for a free guide. I aim to then use the list to market.

However, analysing the SEO competition (on market samurai) this article has a lot of things in it's favour, mainly because it's from Ezinearticles. Also the article itself is SEO optimised. Should I just accept the fact that I can't go against ezine articles even though it's a rubbish 500 word article and I plan to put up a site containing much better quality?

Never accept this as "your fate", unless you are just lazy and lacking determination.

Given enough links to your web page, with enough link popularity on the page linking to yours, you can unseat any number one listing in Google.

It won't always be easy, and it won't always come quickly, but you get to decide if it is something you want to invest your time and resources to accomplish.

Ezine Articles does have authority standing in Google, but that will not protect them against a determined competitor.

Many people doubt this, but if EZA is in the top spot in Google, you are in fact looking at a keyword that is not very competitive at all. The truth is that the effort and resources required will not be very big, in order to take the number one spot, where EZA is at the top of the results.

[FredJones]

Why? Is this just a practical observation, or is there some theoretical ground behind this? In theory I fail to see the reason, maybe except for the fact that it indicates a big name big budget company not ranking at the top means not too much SEO effort has been done and hence EZA is at top and hence it can be beaten. Is that the ground? If yes, I understand what is being said here (but that does not mean that the guy owning the article on EZA does not have a double presence on the first page) , else I don't understand.

Originally Posted by tpw

Many people doubt this, but if EZA is in the top spot in Google, you are in fact looking at a keyword that is not very competitive at all. The truth is that the effort and resources required will not be very big, in order to take the number one spot, where EZA is at the top of the results.

[tpw]

Originally Posted by FredJones

Why? Is this just a practical observation, or is there some theoretical ground behind this? In theory I fail to see the reason, maybe except for the fact that it indicates a big name big budget company not ranking at the top means not too much SEO effort has been done and hence EZA is at top and hence it can be beaten. Is that the ground? If yes, I understand what is being said here (but that does not mean that the guy owning the article on EZA does not have a double presence on the first page) , else I don't understand.

This is based more on experience than theory, but I can also explain the theory as to why it works this way.

Note: Most SEO knowledge is theory with a sprinkling of experience to support the theory.

OP is looking at Keyword A.

The guy in the article may or may not be targeting the same keyword. More often the guy who wrote the article is targeting Keyword B.

If the author of the article was trying to target Keyword A, his site should naturally rank above EZA, because he has more and better inbound links.

{And if it is a non-competitive keyword, then the author could very well have double-presence on the first page, and this is awesome if he can get it. I enjoy when I can achieve even more than a double-presence, and yes it can be done with article marketing.}

In the off-chance that the OP finds another keyword for which the EZA article ranks, that is typically an associated information-keyword, rather then the buy-keyword that the articles' author is targeting.

Those information-keywords typically go against pages that have no inbound link popularity on them, so they are easy to defeat by a committed participant.

The article has inbound link popularity from the EZA website, and those internal links do carry value, although not as much as external links carry.

The competitor that wants to replace that article at the top of the results, only needs enough third-party external links with link popularity to stand above the article page, which only has internal links with link popularity.

The value is much lower on internal links than external links, so the competitor has a much lower bar to rise up to.

I have followed these principles in some cases to outrank Wikipedia pages.

It can be done.

[FredJones]

Oh Oh just a minute, I thought both were trying to rank for keyword A, and none were trying to rank for B in this case.

Originally Posted by tpw

This is based more on experience than theory, but I can also explain the theory as to why it works this way.

Note: Most SEO knowledge is theory with a sprinkling of experience to support the theory.

OP is looking at Keyword A.

The guy in the article may or may not be targeting the same keyword. More often the guy who wrote the article is targeting Keyword B.

If the author of the article was trying to target Keyword A, his site should naturally rank above EZA, because he has more and better inbound links.

Otherwise I agree with your opinion like internal links are of lesser weight, and if the targets are different then outranking is easy, about non-competitive keyword and also about double-listings.

But having said everything, yes, you are very right, beting this EZA can be done.

[tmccar]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall

If there is just one lonely EzineArticle there, you should be good to go, unless it's a case of someone really optimizing their article and doing some smart off page stuff.

If however, there is One EZA there with a supplemental, or an EZA there with a link to "see more results from ezinearticles" it won't be quite as easy. When you see this, it means at least to some extent that EZA is seen as the authority most likely do to the sheer amount of content that is on their domain for not only that specific keyword but also related keywords.

In the end though, don't let competition stop you from targeting a keyword that you think is a honey spot. Sure it might take you longer to get the ranking you want, but I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume that you will need the money that ranking can bring 6 months from now just as much or more than you need it today, right?

So, in a case where EZA is ranking for a HIGH SEARCHED keyword that you want to target, simply set up on your site and then leverage EZA for traffic while you get your site where you want it to be. This will allow you to still make sales even if your site is nowhere to be seen in the SERPS.

Jeremy, you said "....leverage EZA for traffic while you get your site where you want it to be." Can you explain how the leveraging is done please?

[jhonsean]

Its possible but you need an extra hard work to overcome EZA and it must be a long term duration. Great content must be considered.