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Backlink Question

by Sam Fly
8 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hey guys,

I have a question to do with Page Backlinks vs Domain Backlinks.

I would like to rank (obviously) in the top 10 spots of Google for a particular niche. After doing some SEO analysis, my competitors have LOADS of domain name backlinks (most of them have over a million backlinks to their domain). However, they have far fewer page backlinks (roughly 60 backlinks to their page that ranks at number one). These are big websites such as food.com that I will be competing with. However, they are very generalised websites and there are few 'niche' websites for the niche that I am targeting.

Is it possible for me to out rank these sites on my specific niche. Many thanks,

Sam
#backlink #question
  • Profile picture of the author lord diamond
    The main way for you to outrank these mega sites is by building the Domain Authority (DA) of your site higher than what they have done on their sites. (Check the DA of websites by installing the MozBar extension.) The main way to build your DA is by obtaining backlinks from other high DA sites. Whenever you score a backlink, a small amount of their DA is transferred over to your site. The higher their DA is, is the more powerful the backlink is for your site.
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
      Originally Posted by lord diamond View Post

      The main way for you to outrank these mega sites is by building the Domain Authority (DA) of your site higher than what they have done on their sites. (Check the DA of websites by installing the MozBar extension.) The main way to build your DA is by obtaining backlinks from other high DA sites. Whenever you score a backlink, a small amount of their DA is transferred over to your site. The higher their DA is, is the more powerful the backlink is for your site.
      That answer is just completely wrong. Nobody should focus on increasing their DA. Google does not look at DA as a ranking factor.

      To the OP, yes it is possible to outrank those sites. If it wasn't, sites like Amazon would rank #1 for damn near everything.

      Good onpage optimization and site structure combined with a few really good links and you can probably beat them.
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      • Profile picture of the author lord diamond
        Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

        That answer is just completely wrong.
        If you don't prefer looking at things through the MozScape perspective and the terminology they provide, then look at it through the PageRank perspective. This algorithm, the one running over at Google, determines the value of a page and site based off of how many backlinks it has pointing to it and how much authority it calculates each one to possess. PageRank is not the only algorithm Google has running, there are others, but this was the first one they ever wrote and it is still the most important to be aware of when working at building an authoritative site.

        And no, obviously Google does not use a metric from Moz to dictate its ranking calculations, but if you are a beginner and would like something useful to use in tracking your SEO efforts, then the MozBar is the way to go. You can even use the SEOquake tool to check the PR on sites, of course not the actual PR, as they have no access to Googles database, but a "good enough" one which their programs calculate through their own methods.
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        • Profile picture of the author DABK
          There's no point of doing what you're suggesting. People are better off looking, as in open the page, analyze it, the top result. Then run it through a site that checks backlinks and analyze the backlinks.

          Originally Posted by lord diamond View Post

          If you don't prefer looking at things through the MozScape perspective and the terminology they provide, then look at it through the PageRank perspective. This algorithm, the one running over at Google, determines the value of a page and site based off of how many backlinks it has pointing to it and how much authority it calculates each one to possess. PageRank is not the only algorithm Google has running, there are others, but this was the first one they ever wrote and it is still the most important to be aware of when working at building an authoritative site.

          And no, obviously Google does not use a metric from Moz to dictate its ranking calculations, but if you are a beginner and would like something useful to use in tracking your SEO efforts, then the MozBar is the way to go. You can even use the SEOquake tool to check the PR on sites, of course not the actual PR, as they have no access to Googles database, but a "good enough" one which their programs calculate through their own methods.
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        • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
          Originally Posted by lord diamond View Post

          If you don't prefer looking at things through the MozScape perspective and the terminology they provide, then look at it through the PageRank perspective. This algorithm, the one running over at Google, determines the value of a page and site based off of how many backlinks it has pointing to it and how much authority it calculates each one to possess. PageRank is not the only algorithm Google has running, there are others, but this was the first one they ever wrote and it is still the most important to be aware of when working at building an authoritative site.

          And no, obviously Google does not use a metric from Moz to dictate its ranking calculations, but if you are a beginner and would like something useful to use in tracking your SEO efforts, then the MozBar is the way to go. You can even use the SEOquake tool to check the PR on sites, of course not the actual PR, as they have no access to Googles database, but a "good enough" one which their programs calculate through their own methods.
          Looking at PageRank is even more useless. It has not been updated in 18 months.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Sam Fly View Post

    Hey guys,

    I have a question to do with Page Backlinks vs Domain Backlinks.

    I would like to rank (obviously) in the top 10 spots of Google for a particular niche. After doing some SEO analysis, my competitors have LOADS of domain name backlinks (most of them have over a million backlinks to their domain). However, they have far fewer page backlinks (roughly 60 backlinks to their page that ranks at number one). These are big websites such as food.com that I will be competing with. However, they are very generalised websites and there are few 'niche' websites for the niche that I am targeting.

    Is it possible for me to out rank these sites on my specific niche. Many thanks,

    Sam
    I was in the recipe niche years ago, it was a tough competition niche considering the average site isn't selling high end products that justify doing all that work for a low ROI.

    Anyways... If the comp. is ranking internal pages with very few external backlinks they're funneling internal link authority via the Home page or other authority pages. The authority is coming from a link either way whether it's an internal on the same domain or external link from another domain. Assumes it's a half way competitive keyword.

    If you can go sub-niche for the entire site (SEO silo) you'll be better off. Example, build an entire site about BBQ recipes instead of a general site about recipes.

    Again, keep in mind the food niche is very tough competition, a lot of those sites have strong offline businesses that have been established for years so they're feeding organic traffic back to their sites via offline TV, magazines, etc... that same traffic has been building organic backlinks & it's not going to stop anytime soon.
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  • Profile picture of the author jazbo
    Always try to link to and rank your pages, not your root domain.
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      Your answer would be useful to the OP if you told him why you're making the statement you're making.

      Originally Posted by jazbo View Post

      Always try to link to and rank your pages, not your root domain.
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