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Can a page rank in top 10 with purely backlinks only?

by bolengas23
6 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I was examining through our local SERP's and studying company websites who are doing great with their online marketing strategies and suddenly I stumbled upon this website: www (dot) atlantisthepalm (dot) com which is number 2 for a competitive search term - "hotels in dubai".

It's an intro page. I've been used to seeing both on-page + off-page optimization having a deadly combination for ranking websites. But this is one of the exceptions I guess. Well the company has a established brand and it has thousands of links pointing to it.

My question is can a site/page rank with links alone? Or am I missing something in its on-page strategy here?

Let me know your thoughts.
#backlinks #page #purely #rank #top
  • Profile picture of the author jamiedolan
    Originally Posted by bolengas23 View Post

    I was examining through our local SERP's and studying company websites who are doing great with their online marketing strategies and suddenly I stumbled upon this website: www (dot) atlantisthepalm (dot) com which is number 2 for a competitive search term - "hotels in dubai".
    My question is can a site/page rank with links alone? Or am I missing something in its on-page strategy here?
    Let me know your thoughts.
    The links can do it. There are 1,590 links going to the main page on the site you mentioned.
    I didn't see it in the results for hotels in dubai, maybe your not using google us?

    A non-competitive keyword can easily hold the first position with a nothing site with no backlinks. Adding back links just makes it stronger. My girlfriend has a name that isn't overly common, I setup a site for her, it has just a few photos on the page - so more or less no on page seo. I just have a couple links pointing to it. It holds the #1 position in google for karen keyzer.

    So to answer your question, yes, a page can easily rank in the top 10 with back links alone.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      You probably can't do it with just backlinks if that's
      exactly what you mean. There's more to it than that.

      You can rank #1 with very few backlinks.

      Everything goes into the mix.

      There are so many other intangibles other than just
      counting backlinks.

      And come on. How many karen keyzer are there who have
      websites?!?!

      That's just a nonsense example of ranking for "keywords."

      I can put "joe shmo is a bozo" in this post, and within minutes
      this post will rank #1 for joe shmo is a bozo.

      Paul
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      • Profile picture of the author dburk
        Hi bolengas23,

        Yes, it is possible to get your page ranked for your targeted keyword using just backlinks and no on-page sSEO, but it isn't easy unless you have very little competition. Doing the on-page SEO makes it much easier.

        By the way, your example does not show anywhere near the the first page on Google for me in the USA. I ran the page through the AdWords Keyword Tool and it shows it relevant for the term "hotels in dubai uae". So if you have visited the site previously then it makes since that your personalized search history will show it near the top in your browser.

        By the way, Google is sophisticated enough to look beyond the splash page to see what displays from the default index page. This is why Google sees this page relevant to "hotels in dubai".
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      • Profile picture of the author jamiedolan
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        You probably can't do it with just backlinks if that's
        exactly what you mean. There's more to it than that.

        You can rank #1 with very few backlinks.

        Everything goes into the mix.

        There are so many other intangibles other than just
        counting backlinks.

        And come on. How many karen keyzer are there who have
        websites?!?!

        That's just a nonsense example of ranking for "keywords."
        He asked:
        "My question is can a site/page rank with links alone?"
        I took that at face value and answered him.
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        I can put "joe shmo is a bozo" in this post, and within minutes
        this post will rank #1 for joe shmo is a bozo.

        Paul
        I agree, that was exactly my point.

        I thought he was asking more about the concept, i.e. if on page seo is absolutely required to make a term rank, hence the reason for my example.

        Jamie
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        • Profile picture of the author 4morereferrals
          I think the example of this is question being answered is the Adobe Click Here phenom.

          the page that surfaces to #1 in the serps doesnt have the term click here anywhere on it last time I checked, and it didnt seem to be seo optimized much for anything. Though it is one of the most authoritative domains on the web.

          So - my feelings are yes. But the links have to be "overwhelming" the other factors - and in the "click here" example - they certainly are.
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          • Profile picture of the author bolengas23
            Thank you so much for all your inputs. Just to clarify a couple of points here.

            I've done the "hotels in dubai" search on Google.Com but considering my location I guess it will have to be in the difference of data centers that we're seeing different results.

            As to personalization, I have disabled personalization and web history tracking long before when Google announced their personalization feature. So we'll eliminate that factor.

            I am also very familiar of the low-competition-you-can-rank-with-simple-onpage-or-linkbuilding-strategy school of thought. I've done it myself with a lot of client sites.

            As to its backlinks, I guess I'll have to agree with 4morereferrals regarding the "overwhelming" links it has acquired overtime.

            I definitely agree with dburk with his "Google is sophisticated enough to look beyond the splash page to see what displays from the default index page."

            I guess this is one of the concrete examples of Google recognizing authoritative brands on the web, and considering that as factors in ranking. This hotel is one of Dubai's icons (and by the way I'm not optimizing this site nor is the company my client).
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