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How is it possible this site ranks above mine in Google? I'm baffled....

by Christian Fox
26 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I have been trying to get ranked better in Google for a site of mine but I am baffled. The image of #9 is a site that has had nothing done to it, as you can see has no back links, nothing and yet it is number 9. When I say nothing, I mean nothing zero content, just a headline.

My site is at # 32 and I have a 176 back links and I have optimized my site with Web CEO to the best of my ability. I have to be missing something but what?

Anyway here are some pics with the firefox seo plug in so you can see the links. If you visit the sites you will see he has literally done nothing with his #9 site. In fact, it's not even up right now and is still at #9 grrrrr.

What is going on here? Click the links below the descriptions and check it out yourself...


#9 site


My Site How To Build A Windmill


This is driving me crazy....One day my site is #6-7, the next it is # 29-32....

This site is almost always #9 and he's done NOTHING with it...


WTF.....The best SEO is NO SEO?
#baffled #google #mine #ranks #site
  • Profile picture of the author Devilfish
    Both domains were created within 3 days of each other so age is not a factor here.
    Someone told me to always choose a domain without hyphens, a solid domain will always rank better. This may be true in this case.
    Is your content unique? You might be penalized if it's not.
    Is your code XHTML Validated?

    It also appears that the .org address is offline so it might not be long before it drops out the SERPs.
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    • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
      Originally Posted by Devilfish View Post

      Both domains were created within 3 days of each other so age is not a factor here.
      Someone told me to always choose a domain without hyphens, a solid domain will always rank better. This may be true in this case.
      Is your content unique? You might be penalized if it's not.
      Is your code XHTML Validated?

      It also appears that the .org address is offline so it might not be long before it drops out the SERPs.
      According to web ceo hyphens are better, I have discussed this in another thread and in general people agree with that. Yes my content is unique I am wondering if I have some 'in site' duplicate content issues due to the word press structure.

      I will validate thanks for the suggestion.
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      • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Christian Fox View Post

        According to web ceo hyphens are better, I have discussed this in another thread and in general people agree with that.
        Time to dump Web CEO then. Who knows what else it is getting wrong?

        By the way, your site is #5 when I search. The other site is nowhere to be found.
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  • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
    I found a bunch of errors, I'm not very versed in Wordpress as of yet and not sure how to fix them all but I will give it a shot.




    Validation Output: 17 Errors

    1. Line 32, Column 18: Attribute "language" exists, but can not be used for this element. <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://how-to-build-a- ✉
      You have used the attribute named above in your document, but the document type you are using does not support that attribute for this element. This error is often caused by incorrect use of the "Strict" document type with a document that uses frames (e.g. you must use the "Transitional" document type to get the "target" attribute), or by using vendor proprietary extensions such as "marginheight" (this is usually fixed by using CSS to achieve the desired effect instead).
      This error may also result if the element itself is not supported in the document type you are using, as an undefined element will have no supported attributes; in this case, see the element-undefined error message for further information.
      How to fix: check the spelling and case of the element and attribute, (Remember XHTML is all lower-case) and/or check that they are both allowed in the chosen document type, and/or use CSS instead of this attribute. If you received this error when using the <embed> element to incorporate flash media in a Web page, see the FAQ item on valid flash.
    2. Line 211, Column 10: Attribute "align" exists, but can not be used for this element. <p align="left"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Geor ✉
      You have used the attribute named above in your document, but the document type you are using does not support that attribute for this element. This error is often caused by incorrect use of the "Strict" document type with a document that uses frames (e.g. you must use the "Transitional" document type to get the "target" attribute), or by using vendor proprietary extensions such as "marginheight" (this is usually fixed by using CSS to achieve the desired effect instead).
      This error may also result if the element itself is not supported in the document type you are using, as an undefined element will have no supported attributes; in this case, see the element-undefined error message for further information.
      How to fix: check the spelling and case of the element and attribute, (Remember XHTML is all lower-case) and/or check that they are both allowed in the chosen document type, and/or use CSS instead of this attribute. If you received this error when using the <embed> element to incorporate flash media in a Web page, see the FAQ item on valid flash.
    3. Line 214, Column 437: end tag for "span" omitted, but OMITTAG NO was specified ...About How To Build A Windmill</a></p> ✉
      You may have neglected to close an element, or perhaps you meant to "self-close" an element, that is, ending it with "/>" instead of ">".
    4. Line 214, Column 86: start tag was here ...><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">The cost
    5. Line 214, Column 437: end tag for "span" omitted, but OMITTAG NO was specified ...About How To Build A Windmill</a></p> ✉
      You may have neglected to close an element, or perhaps you meant to "self-close" an element, that is, ending it with "/>" instead of ">".
    6. Line 214, Column 50: start tag was here ...t"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><spa
    7. Line 214, Column 437: end tag for "span" omitted, but OMITTAG NO was specified ...About How To Build A Windmill</a></p> ✉
      You may have neglected to close an element, or perhaps you meant to "self-close" an element, that is, ending it with "/>" instead of ">".
    8. Line 214, Column 16: start tag was here <p align="left"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Geor
    9. Line 250, Column 44: end tag for "p" omitted, but OMITTAG NO was specified <div class="credit"><p class="credit"></div> ✉
      You may have neglected to close an element, or perhaps you meant to "self-close" an element, that is, ending it with "/>" instead of ">".
    10. Line 250, Column 20: start tag was here <div class="credit"><p class="credit"></div>
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  • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
    1. Line 214, Column > 80: XML Parsing Error: Opening and ending tag mismatch: span line 214 and p ...mall;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-size: small;">Th... ✉
    2. Line 216, Column 23: XML Parsing Error: Opening and ending tag mismatch: span line 214 and div <!-- .content --></div> ✉
    3. Line 225, Column 21: XML Parsing Error: Opening and ending tag mismatch: span line 214 and div <!-- .apost --></div> ✉
    4. Line 234, Column 23: XML Parsing Error: Opening and ending tag mismatch: p line 214 and div <!-- #primary --></div> ✉
    5. Line 250, Column 44: XML Parsing Error: Opening and ending tag mismatch: p line 250 and div <div class="credit"><p class="credit"></div> ✉
    6. Line 266, Column 31: XML Parsing Error: Opening and ending tag mismatch: div line 182 and body } catch(err) {}</script></body> ✉
    7. Line 267, Column 7: XML Parsing Error: Opening and ending tag mismatch: div line 176 and html </html> ✉
    8. Line 267, Column 7: XML Parsing Error: Premature end of data in tag div line 174 </html> ✉
    9. Line 267, Column 7: XML Parsing Error: Premature end of data in tag div line 147 </html> ✉
    10. Line 267, Column 7: XML Parsing Error: Premature end of data in tag body line 143 </html> ✉
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  • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
    11. Line 267, Column 7: XML Parsing Error: Premature end of data in tag html line 2 </html>
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    • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
      Why XHtml validation, I just checked one of my sites and there are 140 errors???
      Signature
      SEO, copywriting and backlinks service UK
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      • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
        Originally Posted by Intrepreneur View Post

        Why XHtml validation, I just checked one of my sites and there are 140 errors???
        Does your site rank well? Are you implying this could not be a reason for my bad rankings?

        I'd sure like to figure this out....
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        • Profile picture of the author Intrepreneur
          Originally Posted by Christian Fox View Post


          I'd sure like to figure this out....
          From reaing Devil fish, it's only a "may" help, nothing to worry about here.. You're site will evetually either climb the rankings or drop, for now don't worry too much about it.. just keep working at it..

          I never worry who's ranking above me, I just worry about where "I am ranking".. Try it you'll see it's much less stressful, working towards a goal rather than concentrating on a problem ,that in this case, you'll probably never know the answer for.

          Good luck, seeling windmills
          Signature
          SEO, copywriting and backlinks service UK
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          • Profile picture of the author dburk
            Hi Christian,

            It is simply a matter of better on-page optimization. Even with virtually no content, that other site is better optimized than your own. From the factors that search engines use to determine relevance they kick your ass.

            The other site has 7 pages indexed and every one of them has the keyword phrase in the page title. the other site has an About Us page and internal link structure is good. While your site has only one page and does not have internal page links with keywords in the anchor text and your external anchor text does not have keywords.

            Build a better website and you'll probably pull up to position 3 or 4 immediately. Then, as you build backlinks you may overtake the #1 position.
            Signature

            * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
            *             Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

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            • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
              Originally Posted by dburk View Post

              Hi Christian,

              It is simply a matter of better on-page optimization. Even with virtually no content, that other site is better optimized than your own. From the factors that search engines use to determine relevance they kick your ass.

              The other site has 7 pages indexed and every one of them has the keyword phrase in the page title. the other site has an About Us page and internal link structure is good. While your site has only one page and does not have internal page links with keywords in the anchor text and your external anchor text does not have keywords.

              Build a better website and you'll probably pull up to position 3 or 4 immediately. Then, as you build backlinks you may overtake the #1 position.
              Now were talking...How did you determine that when the site is not even online right now?

              Also would it be more beneficial to use pages instead of posts?
              As you can see although my site has only one post, when I try and optimize it in web ceo I have 4 locations to choose. This has me worried about duplicate content. One is from the read more tag I am using on the home page but why the other two....

              Would pages be a better way to avoid this and what is the best way to use wordpress for affiliate work. I would like to have more pages or posts each targeting a new keyword phrase but I want to do it in the best way possible?

              Input much appreciated....

              Here is the pic

              I KNOW this has to be a problem.....What should I do to correct this?

              I would guess I need to add disallow in my robots.txt to the /wp-content directory. What to do with the www and no www both showing up?

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              • Profile picture of the author dburk
                Originally Posted by Christian Fox View Post

                Also would it be more beneficial to use pages instead of posts?
                As you can see although my site has only one post, when I try and optimize it in web ceo I have 4 locations to choose. This has me worried about duplicate content. One is from the read more tag I am using on the home page but why the other two....

                Would pages be a better way to avoid this and what is the best way to use wordpress for affiliate work. I would like to have more pages or posts each targeting a new keyword phrase but I want to do it in the best way possible?

                Input much appreciated....
                You can use a static page for your home page if you want to use posts, otherwise just use pages if you aren't blogging.
                Signature

                * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
                *                 Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

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                • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
                  Originally Posted by dburk View Post

                  You can use a static page for your home page if you want to use posts, otherwise just use pages if you aren't blogging.
                  I do not intend to blog....Would pages help any duplicate content issues?
                  Everyone tells me posts are the way to go, but it created duplicate issues I am not sure how to fix. As you can see above I have one post and it is in 4 different locations on my site. That has to make Google unhappy.
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                  • Profile picture of the author dburk
                    Hi Christian,

                    If you want to avoid duplicate content within your own site you need to use pages rather than posts.

                    If you want a static home page, follow this Wordpress support page to set this up:

                    Front Page Support WordPress.com
                    Signature

                    * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
                    *                     Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

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                    • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
                      Originally Posted by dburk View Post

                      Hi Christian,

                      If you want to avoid duplicate content within your own site you need to use pages rather than posts.

                      If you want a static home page, follow this Wordpress support page to set this up:

                      Front Page Support WordPress.com
                      Thanks, I will get on that.
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                      • Profile picture of the author dadoc
                        If the other domain is very old Google will favor it. there are names I compete with that are 10 years old and darn near impossible to unseat from the top half of competitive terms in google even though I build ten times as many links.
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                        • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
                          Originally Posted by dadoc View Post

                          If the other domain is very old Google will favor it. there are names I compete with that are 10 years old and darn near impossible to unseat from the top half of competitive terms in google even though I build ten times as many links.
                          They are within 3 days of each other...

                          I think I need to do some restructuring to eliminate duplicate content within my site and add more quality content.
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    • Profile picture of the author Devilfish
      Look in your code for:

      Code:
      <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://how-to-build-a
      Replace the red code with:

      Code:
      <script type="text/javascript"
      Each warning/error gives you a summary or clue how to fix it. If you're unsure, google the section of code and add 'xhtml' and it will assist you.

      Having your site xhtml validated allows it to be shown correctly on ALL browsers. Plus it may help the search engines crawl your site better and rank it higher if there are no errors.
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      • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
        Originally Posted by Devilfish View Post

        Look in your code for:

        Code:
        <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://how-to-build-a
        Replace the red code with:

        Code:
        <script type="text/javascript"
        Each warning/error gives you a summary or clue how to fix it. If you're unsure, google the section of code and add 'xhtml' and it will assist you.

        Having your site xhtml validated allows it to be shown correctly on ALL browsers. Plus it may help the search engines crawl your site better and rank it higher if there are no errors.
        I can't find that code anywhere, I searched through every .php I could in my editor....That is the thing about wordpress, most of the code is assembled, so you can't really see it until it's already been compiled...
        Unless I should look somewhere else, but where?
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  • Profile picture of the author intelinside
    You are looking at personalized SERPs which sometimes vary from the orignal SERPs. So, you might not see that #9 there as I don't find it in first 2 pages.

    Further, as rightly stated by Don Burk, you need to work on your on-page optimization and internal link structuring.
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    • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
      Originally Posted by intelinside View Post

      You are looking at personalized SERPs which sometimes vary from the orignal SERPs. So, you might not see that #9 there as I don't find it in first 2 pages.

      Further, as rightly stated by Don Burk, you need to work on your on-page optimization and internal link structuring.
      I know what that is, and I have it turned off I am quite certain (it tells you when it is on right?)...When I have it turned on mine is #1 because I look at it so often...Hmmm is yours on?
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  • Profile picture of the author karuna
    Here's my two cents:

    Your site description should start with the exact words : How to build a windmill.

    The first graphic on your site is a hop link. Instead make it a text header with the words - How to build a windmill.

    You can put a "click here" or something to the sort under it, with your hoplink.

    The next text should be again the same words - how to build a windmill. That should be a H1 tag heading up your text portion.

    And then when you begin writing the text, it should begin with those exact words.

    When you write the text, use words and phrases that are relevant to the search : how to build a windmill. You can find the phrases/words in the Google Keyword Search Tool

    More information about windmills with internal links always helps too. Your text is rather boring as it is. Just a friendly critic.
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    • Profile picture of the author Christian Fox
      Originally Posted by karuna View Post

      Here's my two cents:

      Your site description should start with the exact words : How to build a windmill.

      The first graphic on your site is a hop link. Instead make it a text header with the words - How to build a windmill.

      You can put a "click here" or something to the sort under it, with your hoplink.

      The next text should be again the same words - how to build a windmill. That should be a H1 tag heading up your text portion.

      And then when you begin writing the text, it should begin with those exact words.

      When you write the text, use words and phrases that are relevant to the search : how to build a windmill. You can find the phrases/words in the Google Keyword Search Tool

      More information about windmills with internal links always helps too. Your text is rather boring as it is. Just a friendly critic.
      Hey I have NO problem with constructive criticism... Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author AlbertF
    I think you can benefit a lot from this blog post of mine on keyword SEO and what choices you have in terms of trying to rank higher.

    Learn Keyword SEO in One Post | Moola Days
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    Fang Wallet
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  • Profile picture of the author xeeds
    Another great thread that I have been able to advance my own knowledge with.
    Thanks guys!

    Ed
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  • Profile picture of the author karuna
    From my little bit of SEO knowledge, I have learned that Google reads the page from left to right. And what it reads first is very important for SEO. So I would put your text on the left side of the page, And the video on the right. Not sure if that will make a big difference - but may help.

    Also, your first three sentences/text on your site are hoplinks. I just don't think Google likes that so much. I would try to put the hoplink lower. Make it so noticeable that no one can miss it. It's my opinion that the less hoplinks, the better.
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