Why is a poor optimized url ranked first on Google ?
-
Hi there, I've been working in SEO for more than five years and I'm always telling clients about the more than 200 factors that influence rankings, but sometimes I meet several urls or websites who haven't optimized their pages nor built links and still appear first.
This is the case of the keyword "Escorts en Tenerife" in google.es. If you search that keyword in google.es you'll find this url: escortislacanarias.com... (I don't want to give them a link).
My question is why the heck this url is ranking first on Google for that keyword if the url isn't optmized, the page content isn't optimized and hasn't got many or valuable incoming links?
Do an on page grader to that url regarding that keyword an it gets an F !!! So there is no correlation between better optimization and good rankings.
-
Thansk again for the effort. I like your answers, they are very helpful. Although in this case our target aren't English speaking people, just Spanish people from or in Tenerife for vacations.
-
_Google knows that Tenerife is a geographic location in the Canary Islands. This website has the word Tenerife on it many times. It has pages with Tenerife in the title, in the URL. _
Egol is just explaining why their page shows up for 'Tenerife' searches.
I have no idea if you're targeting tourists, but I expect you are, this means you're effectively targeting two types of customer - those that plan ahead and those than plan 'on the fly'.
So if I wanted an escort for my trip to Tenerife (LOL, no, I don't... happily married lady!) I might search for one before I leave the UK to get it all organised ahead of time. So I would search 'Escorts in Tenerife' (and maybe localise even further to find one close to where I was staying)...
Or, I may be lonely on one night when I get to Tenerife, and do a search to find an escort from Tenerife.
These two scenarios might show different results - the person searching from Tenerife would get localised results, whereas the person searching from the UK is relying on 'Tenerife' being included on the website to appear in the SERPs.
I hope this makes sense!
I think Egol has a lot of great information to share, and I've often found his /her responses to questions in this forum to be very useful and informative. That last comment though was a little harsh, but the point is: _if you feel the current situation is hard to overcome, then imagine how bad it would be if they did know what they are doing!!! _This is how I read it anyway. Perhaps it's just a case of what my colleague calls ‘the impersonal interaction impertinence imperative’ - sounds like something from the hitch hikers guide, doesn't it! But basically means sometimes written, impersonal communications, can be misinterpreted. I often send stuff that sounds harsher than it's meant to be because I forget that sarcasm and suchlike are not easy to interpret in written form!
I'm glad you found my answer helpful
-
Agreed the end user doesn't care about SEO. But if the user experience is even horrendous difficult to navigate it must have a high bounce rate.
One site I am not going to mention but the server he is running is blacklisted for email spam, I know one SEO company report them for Spam to Google, they're keywords stuff, poor user experience looks like its from 1999 and has spammy links. Still sites above sites which if we took Google advise. High quality content, good user experience, not too many links on page,nice and quick to load it is absolutely everything opposite to Google is recommending.
-
Hi and thanks for the comment. It helps. But tell me, what are the great insights you are talking about EGOL? Did I miss anything? Was his/their answer profound for you? I really can't see any good in EGOL's answer but a bit of arrogance instead.
That kind of answer doesn't help. Yours, on the other hand, is very usefeul, thank you ameliavargo ! I really did like and very much appreciate your third parragraph most of all !
-
I completely agree with you, there seems to be no correlation. I don't mean to say all this metrics don't work or aren't useful, I0m just saying there are sites up there in top positions and they still don't deserve it according to moz tools, for example. Thanks for your comment.
-
1.- I did give them a mention and I knew it would be good for them, but I did it because I wanted moz people to understand the precise case, but perhaps I was wrong in that, in that case sorry.
2.- I didn't say it was hard to beat. I'm only asking why is that url on top position when according to all metrics it doesn't deserve it. There are 3 or 4 competitors that have more and better incoming links, a better page optimization, better content, etc.
About user experience. have you entered the site? Did you really see anything that you did like of that page for the user?
What would you say is the main reason for them to be on top? "This website has the word Tenerife on it many times. It has pages with Tenerife in the title, in the URL." So that is your conclusion ? Thanks in advance.
-
As always, EGOL has some great insights and I agree with them...
Onsite usage metrics are also used in the algo. I'm not entirely sure exactly what Google uses, but I imagine it's something like bounce rate (though not bounce rate as they've said they don't use it... but they lie too so they might do!...), time on site, pages per visit - that kind of thing. The stuff that tells you if people are engaging with your website.
They also use organic CTR (though again, I don't think this is ever explicitly stated by them) - if your CTR is high then they will reward you (though a high CTR with bad usage metrics would not on its own help you - rather hinder I think).
This is why pi$$ poor sites often end up in high positions - people like them. Doesn't always make sense, but if the site you mention provides something people want, they aren't going to CARE whether it's been 'SEO'd' or not - and really Google doesn't either. If visitor behaviour indicates that people are getting value from visiting that site then Google is not going to move it from its high position - until you provide something that people like more and importantly onsite behaviour indicates the same.
Hope this helps
-
Google knows that Tenerife is a geographic location in the Canary Islands. This website has the word Tenerife on it many times. It has pages with Tenerife in the title, in the URL.
Even though you did not give them a link you gave them a mention... and in the same sentence you associated it with the keyword that you are searching for. All of that helps them.
Google thinks beyond the page.
If you think this website is hard to beat, wait until they get an SEO who knows what to do.
-
I don't think Google really has sorted the algo's out, there seems to be absolutely no correlation. There are sites on my targeted keyword list which no way should be on the 1st page of Google however they're up at the top. Even with higher domain authority, page authority better link profile and sites speed. Sites which are keyword stuffed also rank in the top 3 positions.
It would be great to see what other moz'ers are experiencing
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
-
Will disallowing URL's in the robots.txt file stop those URL's being indexed by Google
I found a lot of duplicate title tags showing in Google Webmaster Tools. When I visited the URL's that these duplicates belonged to, I found that they were just images from a gallery that we didn't particularly want Google to index. There is no benefit to the end user in these image pages being indexed in Google. Our developer has told us that these urls are created by a module and are not "real" pages in the CMS. They would like to add the following to our robots.txt file Disallow: /catalog/product/gallery/ QUESTION: If the these pages are already indexed by Google, will this adjustment to the robots.txt file help to remove the pages from the index? We don't want these pages to be found.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | andyheath0 -
Keywords Ranking Varies When Search changes Location/City (Not Google Places)
We have a client that are ranking well on most Australian cities for competitive keywords except Google Sydney. If you toggled the cities on the search field when you search for a keyword, their places are almost exactly the same except for Sydney on which they can't be found at all in the Top 100 results. The keywords are not city specific, they are general commonly searched keywords about health. This is not a Google Places issue. The search result shows the right landing pages of the site for their respective keywords. Any ideas or experience on this kind of situation. Much appreciated Louie
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | louieramos0 -
Expired urls
For a large jobs site, what would be the best way to handle job adverts that are no longer available? Ideas that I have include: Keep the url live with the original content and display current similar job vacancies below - this has the advantage of continually growing the number of indexed pages. 301 redirect old pages to parent categories - this has the advantage of concentrating any acquired link juice where it is most needed. Your thoughts much appreciated.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | cottamg0 -
Huge Google Dance For Some Rankings. What Gives?
I've got a relatively new website (launched at the beginning of June 2013). For some keywords I'm targeting, it first ranked around page 15. It made huge jumps to finally rank on page 2 or 3. Since then, it goes back to page 15 and then back to page 3. It does this every now and then. Any ideas?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | sbrault740 -
Will changing Google Places address hurt rankings?
I have a client transferring ownership of their service business (photo booth rental). The current listed address will change, so my main concern is preserving the rankings during the transition. Should I change the Google Local listing to a new physical address, or change it to "serve a surrounding area"? It seems best to set as "serving a surrounding area", but I know Google is really weird about making local listing changes. I've seen and heard about countless listings falling completely off the map after being updated. Any advice appreciated.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Joes_Ideas0 -
High ranked web site on Google GONE - but webspam team says nothing wrong
We purchased several weeks ago a .org blog that has been highly ranked (number 1 on competetive keywords) for at least a year. it is a blog We moved the blog to our IP range and it went from #1 on top keyword and first page on another to the home page just gone. Now there was a secondary page indexed that stayed on page 5 for the keyword the home page was ranked #1 but the home page (which was high ranked page is just gone) We wrote the Google Webmaster team for reconsideration but they wrote back and said the web spam team said nothing wrong. A contact of mine who works for one of the most well known SEO compaines in the world says because we moved it the site could disappear for a week or so but the "algos would realize" and return it to that top spot soon. Does anyone know anything about moving a site to new IP and issues that can result?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TBKO0 -
Google+ Verification - Site Speed Optimization
So the Google+ Badge verifies our site for Google direct connect. However, the javascript code for the badge itself causes the page to load 3 to 4 seconds longer, which is a big deal. Any ideas for a work around?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | inc.com0 -
Best Service for optimizing google product feed?
We're looking for a company that can help us optimize our google product feed. Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | eric_since1910.com0