How much does PR and DA matter when trying to outrank competition?

thedog · 11-16-2011, 06:23 PM

I'm doing a bit of keyword research, and am looking at 3 long tails.

In Market Samurai, the competition doesn't look too tough, on page is weak... that said, most in the top ten have 8 year+ domain age, and 5 - 6 PR.

How much does PR matter... would you avoid trying to outrank high pr sites?

BarryOnline · 11-16-2011, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thedog

I'm doing a bit of keyword research, and am looking at 3 long tails.

In Market Samurai, the competition doesn't look too tough, on page is weak... that said, most in the top ten have 8 year+ domain age, and 5 - 6 PR.

How much does PR matter... would you avoid trying to outrank high pr sites?

You can absolutely out rank a high PR page/site with a new domain.

Higher PR is usualy a sign of strong back links. What does the back link profile look like for the top sites?

thedog · 11-16-2011, 09:16 PM

Keyword research attached.

How much does PR and DA matter when trying to outrank competition?-keyword-chart171111.jpg

There's a ton of backlinks....

The .org and .net EMD's are available.... BESTproductREVIEWS.net

It's for an amazon review site.... product sells very well, not sure how easy it would be to rank with the pr and amount of backlinks.

BarryOnline · 11-17-2011, 03:22 AM

Personally I don't use market samurai when checking competition. I can usually tell how strong it is just by looking through the results on the first page.

Looking at your report though, it doesn't look that competitive too me. Keyword 1 for example has a brand new, PR0 domain that is not optimised for the keyword on page one. Half of page one doesn't seem to be targeting the keyword strongly.

Keyword 2 looks every easier, there doesn't look like even one site is fully optimised and targeting the keyword.

Although you can see sites/pages that have lots of back links you need to think about the anchor text of those back links. The fact that there are sites on page one without any optimisation for the keyword it may well be that there is not many links with the keyword in anchor text pointing to the site/page.

The number of back links are not that important, it's the kind of links that matter.

Are they from high PR pages?
Are they do follow?
What anchor text are they using?

I really don't analyse the competition too much when I build a site. Just a quick skim through the first page results can give you a feel for the strength of the competition.

Any site/page can be outranked.

Don't worry too much about PR. Remember that the PR number you see it not real time.

The PR Google sees and the PR number we see is different. For example, you could launch a new site and start building high PR pack links to it. The Google tool bar and other software such as market samurai will say the new domain is PR0 but, the number Google has for your site will be different.

My newest site for example was only 2 weeks old and Google updated the tool bar. My site went straight to PR3 because I was building high PR links.

What I'm trying to say is that, even though you see PR3 or PR4 sites on page one. You can also have a PR3 or PR4 site on a brand new domain. You just won't be able to see your exact PR in real time.

Don't fear your competition, make them fear you. Fully optimise your site for the target keywords and go in with all guns blazing!

11-16-2011, 06:23 PM	#1
thedog Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: China Posts: 1,516 Thanks: 291 Thanked 94 Times in 70 Posts	How much does PR and DA matter when trying to outrank competition? I'm doing a bit of keyword research, and am looking at 3 long tails. In Market Samurai, the competition doesn't look too tough, on page is weak... that said, most in the top ten have 8 year+ domain age, and 5 - 6 PR. How much does PR matter... would you avoid trying to outrank high pr sites?
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11-16-2011, 09:16 PM	#3
thedog Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: China Posts: 1,516 Thanks: 291 Thanked 94 Times in 70 Posts	Re: How much does PR and DA matter when trying to outrank competition? Keyword research attached. There's a ton of backlinks.... The .org and .net EMD's are available.... BESTproductREVIEWS.net It's for an amazon review site.... product sells very well, not sure how easy it would be to rank with the pr and amount of backlinks.
	Low Cost, High Quality, Video Reviews

11-17-2011, 03:22 AM	#4
BarryOnline Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Glasgow - Scotland Posts: 531 Thanks: 115 Thanked 127 Times in 81 Posts Contact Info	Re: How much does PR and DA matter when trying to outrank competition? Personally I don't use market samurai when checking competition. I can usually tell how strong it is just by looking through the results on the first page. Looking at your report though, it doesn't look that competitive too me. Keyword 1 for example has a brand new, PR0 domain that is not optimised for the keyword on page one. Half of page one doesn't seem to be targeting the keyword strongly. Keyword 2 looks every easier, there doesn't look like even one site is fully optimised and targeting the keyword. Although you can see sites/pages that have lots of back links you need to think about the anchor text of those back links. The fact that there are sites on page one without any optimisation for the keyword it may well be that there is not many links with the keyword in anchor text pointing to the site/page. The number of back links are not that important, it's the kind of links that matter. Are they from high PR pages? Are they do follow? What anchor text are they using? I really don't analyse the competition too much when I build a site. Just a quick skim through the first page results can give you a feel for the strength of the competition. Any site/page can be outranked. Don't worry too much about PR. Remember that the PR number you see it not real time. The PR Google sees and the PR number we see is different. For example, you could launch a new site and start building high PR pack links to it. The Google tool bar and other software such as market samurai will say the new domain is PR0 but, the number Google has for your site will be different. My newest site for example was only 2 weeks old and Google updated the tool bar. My site went straight to PR3 because I was building high PR links. What I'm trying to say is that, even though you see PR3 or PR4 sites on page one. You can also have a PR3 or PR4 site on a brand new domain. You just won't be able to see your exact PR in real time. Don't fear your competition, make them fear you. Fully optimise your site for the target keywords and go in with all guns blazing!