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Ranking factors - don't underestimate DMOZ, YHD and domain age

by markowe
3 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Just analysing the competition for a keyword where I seem to be stuck forever on mid-page 2, despite much more effective SEO than most of the competition. The pattern I am seeing with sites (actually, mostly inner pages, like mine) outranking mine is:

1) Domain age - 10 year-old site is at no. 1 despite very few inbound links to that subpage and no on-page SEO (Title, Desc, H1 etc.) - also has a YHD listing.

2) DMOZ and YHD listing - sites (again, inner pages) high on page 10 with little more than a domain listing in these directories.

3) Backlinks are a poor third - sites with thousands of crappy backlinks, and even some solid off-page work are only on mid-page 1.

4) The only semi-EMD is on page 2, just above me, so that hasn't helped them too much.

Also, most of the page one competition has VERY few keyword-optimised anchor links in their BL profile - interesting, huh?

So again, it seems age, and high-authority directory listings are not to be sniffed at...

Thoughts?
#age #dmoz #domain #factors #ranking #underestimate #yhd
  • Profile picture of the author Rough Outline
    What is the PR of these pages like? I bet they're all PR 3 and above.
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by Rough Outline View Post

      What is the PR of these pages like? I bet they're all PR 3 and above.
      That too But I think their PR is a direct result of these factors I have mentioned.

      Actually, there is a PR0, some PR1s and then PR2s and PR3s, so even that is not really as significant as it should be. And I always think that high-PRs can be beaten eventually (and I will, make no mistake ) as they are not always very well optimised off-page and on for the target keywords. So I still think those basic authority factors (age etc.) play a major role.

      I also have a crazy little theory about "keyword age" - that ranking changes are much slower for "evergreen" keywords, i.e. those where rankings have not historically changed much over a long period of time. It would make sense that Google will favour the status quo with those kinds of ranking.

      I would be happy for anyone to blow my "keyword age" theory out of the water
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      Who says you can't earn money as an eBay affiliate any more? My stats say otherwise

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  • Profile picture of the author mianriz
    same case i have.... just waiting for good solution
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