Domain authority (age) vs Backlinks

[lrdc]

I have been looking for some niches, and frankly I'm afraid.

Amazon, Target, Walmart they are #1 serps in almost every product name in the world!!

BUT their first 5 serps usually shows a low pagerank (max. 3) and a very few backlinks.

I was wondering, how strong nowadays is the relevance regarding to the main domain age and authority in the SERPS ??

[InitialEffort]

Yes, you can still beat these pages. You are probably using the moztoolbar and seeing the competition, most of these websites aren't optimizing with links or using anchor text links if they are linking.

[tim_buchalka]

A lot of these sites are ranking well purely as a result of their internal links (which should give you a clue).

It's becoming more about the content on your own website (and your internal linking) than just domain age and/or backlinks.

Sure both play a part and if you have a choice an older domain is good, and backlinks are great if they are from a site relevant to your niche and are authority sites in Googles eyes.

Usually its pretty easy to beat out your competition for product names if you optimize for the keyword(s). Try a page dedicated to the product name, put some unique and competlling product info on the page (not just a copy/paste from amazon, etc!) and link TO that page from other pages on your site with the keyword term you are looking to rank for.

Do this a bit and you will find over time you start ranking really well.

In other words spend the time to optimize a page for that keyword phrase and throw a few links into the max and you should do well.

Focus on the content and user experience first and foremost is the way to go in my opinion.

Cheers


Tim

[ShivaLingam]

I don't think is the Domain Age that gives them authority, but the Number of Total Backlinks pointing to the website.

[UMS]

Domain age certainly has some relevance, but the most important factor in domain authority is the number and quality of the backlinks.

[TorremochaJ]

Good internal links structure and several high quality backlinks pointing to your site plus your site has hundreds or thousands of unique pages, is what makes your site an authority one.