Why a terrible website ranks number 1??
-
Hi,
I'm an SEO newbie.
A couple of months ago I launched a new E-Commerce website for my client :
http://www.corporategiftsshop.co.za
The site has over 1000 pages indexed in Google. I've done some link building and on-page SEO for the keyword terms :
corporate gifts
promotional items
promotional giftsCurrently the website ranks number 31 for "Corporate Gifts" in Google.co.za
What I cannot comprehend, is that the site which ranks number 1 is simply shocking!
http://www.corporategifts.co.za/
It is a single, static webpage with all links pointing to another website : http://www.promogifts.co.za
It has 1 back link and a page rank of zero, yet it still ranks number 1? Can anyone give me a reason or some insight into this as it has me stumped..
Some of the other sites in the top 5 are also poor, yet they still rank high.
Our site has a Page rank of 5 and 67 unique domains which links to it ( according to our webmaster tools ) yet it still only manages a 31 ranking??
Any advise would be greatly appreciated as I need to make sense of this, otherwise hang up my SEO gloves..
Regards,
Marnus.
-
I know this is an old thread but both these websites are on the 1st page now hahahah
-
Very good question,Marnus.I also checked other websites such as giftwrap is also ranking high but has a low DA.
-
Hi,
If you have built good links then wait for some days Google will crawl your site. I suggest you should do local listing in .co.za and get backlinks from local directories of .co.za. SO it will good for your site for getting top rank.
-
Thanks for the suggestions. I've built numerous links from Relevant .co.za sites, but I see Google has not indexed them as yet. Not sure hat I can do to speed things up a bit? Still blows my mind that such a site can rank number 1. I thought google now rewards content and quality?
-
Ya it is redirecting, it open with or without www. but see with www it has 10 links and domain authority is also higher than yours and 67 % links comes from .co.za domain. so my suggestions are that if you increase keyword density and add that keyword in H1 tag then you can also beat that site. Try to do relevant and dofollw link building. If you get backlinks from .co.za domains the it will also boost your ranking.
-
I checked without the WWW. I checked OpenSiteEx sing the full domain www.corporategifts.co.za and it returned only 3 domains which link to the site
-
Hi,
My Client Website is www.corporategiftsshop.co.za
The site which ranks number 1 is www.corporategifts.co.za ( Does not return any data in OpenSiteExplorer )
-
<cite>www.corporategifts.co.za/</cite> <cite>are you check this domain ??? because i cheeked this domain and it has many indexed pages and 10 backlinks. I also check in</cite> ahrefs.com it has 8 Dofollow links.
-
I checked www.coprorategifts.co.za in OpenSite Explore and it says :
No Data Available for this URL
Site only has 2 Pages indexed by Google as well..
-
hi,
Please check both site in opensite explorer www.coprorategifts.co.za has 67% links from .co.za domain and you get only 33% If you get relevant backlinks and dofollow links then you can also beat that site. Also check keyword density of that site is has higher keyword density for corporate gifts compare to your site. They put keyword in title and also in H1 tag so Google gives more preference to that site compare to yours. Do link building which have .co.za extension so it will help you to rank higher.
-
Hi,
Yes it does, but that still does not explain why the site www.coprorategifts.co.za ranks number 1 for the term "corporate gifts"
Surely having just the keywords in your domain name cannot be the main ranking factor? I thought Google did not give that much weight anymore?
Regards,
Marnus.
-
Hi,
Please check these three sites in opensite explorer. Your site has less backlinks and domain authority and social presence then this site http://www.promogifts.co.za/ and it contains keyword in it's domain.
http://www.corporategifts.co.za/ This site contains corporate gifts keywords in their domain thats why it has top ranking. If you search with corporate gifts shop then your site appear on 2nd position.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
New Google Update - weird ranking
Hi I wanted to get your thoughts on this keyword ranking. This page - https://www.key.co.uk/en/key/albatross-heavy-duty-office-chairs-24-stone is now ranking for heavy duty office chair 30 stone We don't mention 30 in the content anywhere, apart from the USPs at the top of the page - could this be it?! I don't know how to change this, or I guess Google is still figuring things out and maybe this will drop off? Love to get some thoughts on this! Becky
Algorithm Updates | | BeckyKey0 -
Google stopped showing time frame for the cached results of the websites; Why? Any alternatives?
Hi Moz community If we Google "site:website.com"; it'll list the cached pages from the website. And we used to check them on required date range like how and which pages got indexed. But date range is not working now and the results are missing the pages which got indexed at the selected date range. Any idea why Google does this? Any alternatives to find the recently indexed pages? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Is anyone else's ranking jumping?
Rankings have been jumping across 3 of our websites since about 24 October. Is anyone seeing similar? For example ... jumps from position 5 to 20 on one day, then back to 5 for 3 days and then back to 20 for a day I'm trying to figure out if it's algorithm based or if my rank checker has gone mad. I can't replicate the same results if I search incognito or in a new browser, everything always looks stable in the SERPs if I do the search myself
Algorithm Updates | | Marketing_Today0 -
Rankings Drop Week Beginning 19 May
Hi All I have experienced quite a significant rankings drop since week commencing 19 May. I have heard there has been a Panda roll out recently was it around that time? Thanks Gavin
Algorithm Updates | | gavinr0 -
Loss of 1,000 links has negatively affecting rankings
Hey there, One of the clients we're working with has lost about 1,000 or so backlinks over the last two or three months - mainly old article and directory links - and it has massively affected the site's search rankings. The site was ranking for pretty much all of its keywords in prominent positions on Google (mostly first page) but has now seen positions dive to 50, 90 and even outside of the top 100. Is there any immediate action we can put into place to help restore our rankings?
Algorithm Updates | | Webrevolve0 -
Ranking Drop After Switching Sites
I have a client who's rankings dropped after switching to out site. We know that rankings can drop a little after switching, but we are concerned that hers are still low. Any suggestions? As far as I can tell, the links to her site remained the same. Thanks Holly
Algorithm Updates | | hwade1 -
Is it still possible for small businesses to rank well in google
Hi I've been playing around with ecommerce sites for a few years now and although I am no expert I'm not a complete novice. We used to do quite well in google but recent changes have halved our number of hits. I have noticed that over the last year google has given priority to large brand names as opposed to relevancy. For example, if you search for the term 'bridal jewellery' (google UK) you will see that apart from one or two the majority of placements are taken by big compnies who offer very little bridal jewellery. One or two pages at most. My question is, is it still possible to rank well against these brand names or has google made it impossible for small companies. PS we only practice ethical seo as suggested by seomoz. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks www.kerryblu.co.uk
Algorithm Updates | | Dill0 -
Does my overly dynamic website hurt my SEO?
I have heard from a couple of people that my overly dynamic URL's hurt my SEO tremendously. Can anyone verify that? Of course my provider says it doesn't matter but I take what they say with a grain of salt. Another thing, my web crawls show a TON of errors for duplicate page title and overly dynamic url and duplicate page content. How big of a deal is this? http://www.nvclothing.com
Algorithm Updates | | sviohl0