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I have twice as many links as competitor, but ...

by junkdna
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
For one particular keyword, I have twice as many links as a competitor, but he is on the G1, I am on the G6. Site and pages are very similar. Yahoo Explorer shows that he only has forum profiles, I have both forum profiles and one PR3 home page contextual link. Like he has 6 links, I have 11.

What else can I do to get to G1?
#competitor #links
  • Profile picture of the author jennypitts
    Well, that is not information to determine what you are doing wrong. However, do remember that MORE links does not necessarily mean a better placement. QUALITY is important. This is something a lot of people overlook. Most marketers think that the more backlinks they have the better chances for placing. That is an erroneous perception. Just like we are constantly being reminded how important it is to provide quality content, this is also true for the links.

    Just to put it in perspective for you, would you rather have 3,000 backlinks at a bunch of new, crappy and uninteresting sites with low PR and credibility or would you rather have 300 links at prestigious, content relevant sites, which will give your backlink a push with Google bots?

    Maybe you need to consider your backlink building strategy. ALSO, I was not able to gather this from your post, but do ensure that your content is also quality and unique content. You mention that your competitor and you have similar content, but make sure similar does not appear like duplicate.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    The actual number of backlinks is not the only thing that goes into ranking. First of all, patience. Google doesn't just update their listing every 5 seconds. Second of all, the quality of the backlinks are important too. His might all be from pagerank 3 or better sources while yours are all pagerank 0. In which case, you would have a long way to go to catch him. Lastly, what about the on-page stuff? The content of the site doesn't really matter but things like title tags, H1 tags, and the URL name do. That site might be killing you there for the targeted keyword.
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    • Profile picture of the author Neil K
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      The actual number of backlinks is not the only thing that goes into ranking. First of all, patience. Google doesn't just update their listing every 5 seconds.
      Answered like a pro, I totally agree. Be a bit patient. Google will reward you

      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      The content of the site doesn't really matter but things like title tags, H1 tags, and the URL name do. That site might be killing you there for the targeted keyword.
      I know that H1 tags do matter, but I am not too sure about the URL of the website. In todays context of almost everyone doing SEO, do you think Google really pays attention beyond a point to a domain name? I'm sure they must have thrashed the idea around, because from a business point of view, a keyword can be a pretty sh*tty name for a company. I'd like to believe that Google doesn't give so much weight to that anymore. What do you think?
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by Neil K View Post

        Answered like a pro, I totally agree. Be a bit patient. Google will reward you



        I know that H1 tags do matter, but I am not too sure about the URL of the website. In todays context of almost everyone doing SEO, do you think Google really pays attention beyond a point to a domain name? I'm sure they must have thrashed the idea around, because from a business point of view, a keyword can be a pretty sh*tty name for a company. I'd like to believe that Google doesn't give so much weight to that anymore. What do you think?

        I've found it easier to rank for a keyword with that keyword in the URL.

        The only way to get an answer is to test it for yourself, but me, I'll always take a keyword rich URL over one that is not.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    You need to look at his internal links pointing to the actual page that is ranking #1 in the SERP.

    One of my keywords that ranks #1, what I did is every single page on my site includes an internal link pointing to one page (that page ranks #1 for it's keyword). That single page is neck & neck ranking with my Index page. It's almost as If I have two Index pages.

    Check to see If your competition is doing the same...
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  • Profile picture of the author junkdna
    Not that I have more links than he does, I have two home page contextual links from PR1 and PR3 domains. What I was trying to explain, his links are total junk, my are medium junky.
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  • Profile picture of the author jitterbug978
    Wait... sometimes it just takes time to get ranked higher. Google favors domains that have been around awhile. Also continue building backlinks. Make sure your on page seo is up to date as well!
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    • Profile picture of the author adamv
      Also keep in mind that just because you see a certain number of links in Yahoo site explorer that doesn't mean you are seeing the whole picture. I have sites that have 10 to 20 times the number of links that show up in site explorer, they just don't show all of them.
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      • Profile picture of the author aygabtu
        Quality, not quantity....
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        • Profile picture of the author dburk
          Hi junkdna,

          Where did you get the idea that Google ranks SERP by the number of backlinks? :confused:

          They rank listings by relevance. Backlinks may, or may not, influence relevance. There are number of factors that go into determining how much a particular backlink may influence the relevance of a page. It always helps to remember that it's all about relevance. You could have a million backlinks and still not be as relevant as another competing page with only a few backlinks.

          You'll have more success when you focus on the factors that influence relevance, with the understanding that highest relevance is the ultimate winner.
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