How can stale, poor quality sites rank above fresh, high quality sites?
-
Dear Community,
How is it that a Google search for temperature sensors shows the second result as site **A **(http://goo.gl/zRS1L) in a higher positionthan site B (http://goo.gl/3Xy2O) which is on the 2nd page of the SERPs.
Site A blatantly does not follow Google's webmaster guidelines and recommendations for design, content or code.
Site B scores an 'A' for on page analysis using SEOmoz, it also has a much higher number of root domains in and Moz rank, we have checked that site B has only quality inbound links, and anchor text is natural, it follows Google's guidelines for content and code diligently, and it is on an older domain.
We are satisfied that site B has not been penalised by Google, e.g Penguin algorithm updates. We have also done a website verification with Google.
Site B has fresher content compared to site A. Site B also has a sitemap yet site A doesn't.
We're satisfied that we can rule out the following Algorithm Factors:
- Penguin algorithm updates
- Google Notified penalties
- Dodgy Inbound links
- Dodgy Anchor text
- Website verification with Google
- Fresh vs. static content
- Sitemap present
- Server Speed
- Server location
- Domain age
- and about 170 other algorithm factors
Does anyone have any ideas as to why site A is ranking higher than site B in Google.co.uk?
Thanks in advance.
CD.
-
I agree with Oleg. Lately, people have been so concerned with "modern" SEO techniques that sometimes they forget some of the classic stuff that still does work, such as title tags, and of course, the keyword actually appearing on the page. Obviously, one shouldn't keyword stuff, but if the keyword isn't on the page at all, how will Google know that's what they page is about?
-
Add the word "temperature sensors" more often on site B (only has it once vs site A's 5 or 6 times)
- Add it to the title
- Add it to an H1 tag
- Add it twice to the body
B should rank higher, but the page content should be even more related to the term "temperature sensors"
Let me know in 1-2 weeks if your rankings change!
-Oleg
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
-
# of links and how it impacts ranking
Hi everyone I was running a competitor analysis in Moz Pro of my site and 3 competitors that are ranked above me. One of the things I noticed is that my # of total links is very high compared to 2 of my competitors(please see attachment). Other seo tools are telling me the same. This is mainly due to a few affiliate sites that have us in their footer. I was wondering if this could impact our ranking if some of these sites have very low domain authority and have thousands of backlinks to our site? I am looking into starting the disavowing process. Walau
Competitive Research | | wdsguy0 -
Improve rankings
Hello, My website is www.polarpos.com I am trying to improve its ranking for "pos system" my main competitor is: www.barcodesinc.com I have looked through their backlinks but they seem to be random, not many being particularly specific to "pos systems". So what can I do to better compete with this website regarding their keyword? Where can I get the backlinks to my website that would help it for that ranking and in what way?
Competitive Research | | vkpolar0 -
What To Focus On SEO / Link Building for this campaign to rank again..
Hi All; I recently joined Moz and I am really starting to learn a lot here. I am still finding it difficult to figure out what to focus on the most to improve my rankings (although I do have some page 1 ranks) I have one strong competitor who has a SOLID spot in the top 5 of google for the past few years for the keyword I would like to be ranked for again. (as they have always been a competitor of mine either 1 spot above or 1 spot below). then i fell off google in January and finally made it back to page 1. But their links are thousands higher than mine. What parts of my SEO Link Building should I focus on the MOST to improve my ranking to move up a few spots? Followed links vs No Followed Links Followed Linking Root Domains vs NoFollowed Linking Root Domain Any help would so greatly be appreciated; also please explain why you would focus on that part of my campaign so I can better understand as well. Thanks again
Competitive Research | | Circa
(there are 3 images total) t4klvWZ,I9R9BsC,fbDoF3L#20 -
How can this website be ranking so well?!
This website: http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/domains?site=www.webuycarsyourway.com.au is ranking on page one for about 75% of a list of 300 car related keywords. They don't appear to have done any link building, no social media, appeared out of nowhere in April 2012 and SEMRush reports between 5,000 and 10,000 visitors per month. The only thing I can see is they have a landing page for every keyword with the keyword in the URL. But surely that can't be the only reason they're ranking well ? ?
Competitive Research | | eatyourveggies0 -
SEO's done, 301s in place, old site STILL outranks new site. What to do?
Since Sep 2010 I have had a site up with minimal SEO optimization (www.chrisbrushmusic.com). Oct 29, 2012, I launched a new site on a new domain (www.chrisbrushdrums.com) with more content and tons of SEO work behind it. The content of the new site is significantly different from the old site, and I wish to keep the old site around. I have 301's in place for specific URLs on the old site that point to the new site. I have submitted xml sitemaps for the new site. As of now, the old site still outranks the new site (i.e. Google search for "nashville session drummer" and my old site is #9 - my new site is nowhere). What should I do? Thanks.
Competitive Research | | cbrush0 -
Two links with the same quality but different effect
Hi, the website I'm working for is loosing rankings for one specific keyword and since there haven't been any bigger onsite changes I assume it's the back links. The company bought some exact anchor text links in the past, so I went through those. One specific one attracted my attention: It's a site wide link which creates over 80% of the back link profile to the specific website. There was only one catch: part of this bought anchor text campaign is another highly targeted anchor text which is not negatively affected by the rankings. Still I didn't like the feel of this so I ran the seomoz keyword difficulty report. And there I discovered an interesting pattern: For keyword A we are the only ones in the top10 with such a high percentage of exact keyword usage. But for keyword B, which didn't loose rankings our top10 competitor have an even more over-optimized keyword usage or much weaker back link profile. So now I wonder if it could actually be the case, that we loose rankings for keyword A since our competitors have a more natural profile, but for Keyword B it has no negative effect due to the worse competition. Thanks in advance for your help!
Competitive Research | | RomiSverige0 -
How a site only with Frame can be at #1 google in a competitive keyword?
Guys, I need help. I have a company in Brasil and due to lack of budget, I'm doing the SEO for my self. And for two years Im reading everything that I can to do my best in my website. I worked very hard, but the #1 in the most important keyword for my company is a very bad website only with frames. What they are doing? Could anyone give help? Keyword: "acampamento"
Competitive Research | | Naghirniac
Google Brazil (www.google.com.br)
#1 website: www.acampar.net My website: www.acampamentoaguiasdaserra.com.br Thank you in advance Miguel0 -
Best Way to Consolidate Domains/Rankings After Purchase of Competitor
One of my customers is buying a competitor. The competitor has a site that usually ranks just 1-2 spots below the main site that we manage for them (our site has been up for about a year, and their's is 15-years old). I am wondering what is the best way to consolidate the rankings/websites to take advantage of the purchase of the competitor's web assets. I would love to leave both sites up and just get 2 top-25 links to our products, but with no more marketing being done under the competitor's name, I assume their rankings will degrade. Would a basic 301 re-direct on a page-by-page basis be enough to 'steal' all of the juice their domain name/site has built? Is there some other method of using an older domain to boost the rankings of a newer one (I am assuming they only rank as well as we do because of how long they've been active - all of our metrics are better than theirs across the board). Thanks for any help/advice the community here can provide!
Competitive Research | | dschapira0