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How to find out who's doing SEO for your competition?

by Mark806
14 replies
  • SEO
    • |
So I have followed several newer sites and watched there rankings climb over the last 2 years, it looks like there back-link profile is pretty robust with brand anchor text. One of them is policygenius.com

Why is that so many seo companies cannot seem to land you 5-10 good quality branded links per month?

I hired 2 SEO companies last year because I had to much going on to keep doing it myself and I gave strict instructions before signing there agreement that I wanted to focus on brand anchor text back-links, after 8 months neither could delivery and they said its very difficult to do this but then I look at this site, policygenius.com and they are building tons of brand back-links. It seems like all these clowns can do is tweak your onsite and send ridicules reports and graphs that are never right ever month. I'm wondering how to find out who does this sites seo, is that something that can be done with the right research?
#competition #find #seo
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Mark806 View Post

    Why is that so many seo companies cannot seem to land you 5-10 good quality branded links per month?
    They can If you have the budget.

    A lot of folks around here think $100 per month is SEO, which is nothing.

    That policygenius.com link profile isn't a big deal. You said it's been two years in the works?
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    • Profile picture of the author Mark806
      I spent $40,000 last year trying these two companies out.

      And now its a new year and I have to get this figured out..
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by Mark806 View Post

        I spent $40,000 last year trying these two companies out.
        Holy crap. That much and they couldn't do a few brand anchors every month? It's not that hard. I'm not entirely sure why you want to focus on brand anchors that much, but that is easy to fulfill.

        As far as finding who is doing SEO for a competitor, about the only way to do that is to ask them who they hired. There are a few other footprints they might leave, but it is unlikely. And even then, you don't know if that is who they hired or if the SEO is outsourcing to someone else.
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        • Profile picture of the author Mark806
          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          Holy crap. That much and they couldn't do a few brand anchors every month? It's not that hard. I'm not entirely sure why you want to focus on brand anchors that much, but that is easy to fulfill.

          As far as finding who is doing SEO for a competitor, about the only way to do that is to ask them who they hired. There are a few other footprints they might leave, but it is unlikely. And even then, you don't know if that is who they hired or if the SEO is outsourcing to someone else.
          I ended up with about 7 directory profile back-links, which we all know those can be set up in about an hour for free.
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          • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
            Originally Posted by Mark806 View Post

            I ended up with about 7 directory profile back-links, which we all know those can be set up in about an hour for free.
            Ouch.

            And most directories actually don't give brand anchors. Most are "click here", "website", or just the URL.
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            • Profile picture of the author Mark806
              Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

              Ouch.

              And most directories actually don't give brand anchors. Most are "click here", "website", or just the URL.

              Precisely..
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    • Profile picture of the author Mark806
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      They can If you have the budget.

      A lot of folks around here think $100 per month is SEO, which is nothing.

      That policygenius.com link profile isn't a big deal. You said it's been two years in the works?
      Probably around 3 years now..
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Mark806 View Post

        I spent $40,000 last year trying these two companies out.

        And now its a new year and I have to get this figured out..
        Originally Posted by Mark806 View Post

        I ended up with about 7 directory profile back-links, which we all know those can be set up in about an hour for free.
        Originally Posted by Mark806 View Post

        Probably around 3 years now..


        I haven't seen your own link profile or keywords but I can tell you (again) that policygenius.com link profile isn't a big deal as far as competition, especially 3 years worth of link building.

        So your own link profile is 7 directory links and nothing else? Why would you allow that, I guess you didn't pay $40k upfront?

        Did they do any onsite SEO or anything besides links?
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        • Profile picture of the author Mark806
          Originally Posted by yukon View Post

          I haven't seen your own link profile or keywords but I can tell you (again) that policygenius.com link profile isn't a big deal as far as competition, especially 3 years worth of link building.

          So your own link profile is 7 directory links and nothing else? Why would you allow that, I guess you didn't pay $40k upfront?

          Did they do any onsite SEO or anything besides links?
          Im glad to hear you say that about there link profile, because ive been thinking its going to be near impossible for me to achieve that.

          I hired 2 separate companies for 2 separate sites, the amount I spent was combined.

          They spent most of the time doing onsite which was a joke, changing title tags and meta descriptions etc, extremely basic stuff, I had already siloed the sites so there was not much left to do onsite.

          The company is called straightnorth.com

          I think I have those 7-10 directory links and Ive added 3-4 more links myself from various sources, so that's about it on my link profile.

          In my initial talks I was given link examples which of course were great looking. I decided to commit and they required 6 month minimum so at the end of the term I confronted them on there lack of work, and they said getting quality links is near impossible, after more research it appears they sell there service based on onsite and conversions, not so much links.

          The other project went a little better, they were more about links then onsite, but again I asked why they couldn't build more brand anchors and they said most sites that allow guest blogging viewed branded anchors as site promotions, really!?!? So how in the world can I pay someone $3500 per month to get me 2-3 links per month with mixed anchors. I would better off hiring a staff person in my office to do link outreach.

          My thing is, I have done every type of link building over the last 5-6 years, and every site that I see still standing thru all the updates has a heavy branded anchor text link profile.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    From what I've read here you're just looking for a link builder.

    Agreed, branded anchor is very common on link profiles and not a big deal.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mark806
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      From what I've read here you're just looking for a link builder.

      Agreed, branded anchor is very common on link profiles and not a big deal.

      That's pretty much it, I know onsite matters, but it seems the link part is whats the hardest in terms of time and the right person. I am a very patient person, my goal was to give a company 6-12 months before I even began to look for results, I know time is against you in seo.

      Yucon, can you recommend someone?
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
        Originally Posted by Mark806 View Post

        That's pretty much it, I know onsite matters, but it seems the link part is whats the hardest in terms of time and the right person. I am a very patient person, my goal was to give a company 6-12 months before I even began to look for results, I know time is against you in seo.

        Yucon, can you recommend someone?
        Let me give you a piece of advice.If you have the kind of money to spend that you claim to have had then start reaching out to bloggers etc and pay for some links. There are lots out there. If you do hire a SEO again (sheesh after $40,000 I'd be gun shy) then make sure they can do outreach and are upfront of how much money is going straight to buying the links.

        A good amount of the time the SEO is spending the time and money paying for links anyway. You sound knowledgeable enough to do that yourself without hiring a SEO (if you have the time).
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Back to your original question...

    How to find out who's doing SEO for your competition?

    Even If you found your competition SEO provider, it's going to be the ruthless folks that take on two competing domains for the same keywords. Just remember that, If they'll screw over the first client there's nothing holding them back from screwing over the 2nd client for the same keywords. They could even get you stuck in a bidding war with competition which is an unnecessary expense.

    My advice is next time start out with smaller projects until you find an SEO provider you're comfortable with then work up to larger projects long term.
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  • Profile picture of the author charto911
    Good SEO is not cheap and usually the best have a passion for it and do it all on their own for their own brands instead of building yours. I have huge reach to high quality brands and blogs but I use that for my own brands instead of risking clients who would only be willing to spend $2,000 a month.

    Juice has to be worth the squeeze.
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