Why is this site ranked #1 in Google with such a low DA (is DA not important anymore?)
-
Hi Guys,
Would you mind helping me with the below please? I would like to get your view on it and why Google ranks a really new domain name #1 with super low domain authority? Or is Domain Authority useless now in Google? It seems like from the last update that John Mueller said that they do not use Domain Authority so is Moz Domain Authority tool not to take seriously or am I missing something?
There is a new rehab in Thailand called
https://thebeachrehab.com/ (Domain authority 13)It's ranked #1 in Google.co.th for these phrases:
drug rehab thailand but also for addiction rehab thailand.
So when checking the backlink profile it got merely 21 backlinks from really low DA sites (and some of those are really spammy or not related).
Now there are lots of sites in this industry here which have a lot higher domain authority and have been around for years. The beach rehab is maybe only like 6 months old. Here are three domains which have been around for many years and have much higher DA and also more relevant content. These are just 3 samples of many others...
<cite class="iUh30">https://www.thecabinchiangmai.com (Domain Authority 52)</cite>https://www.hope-rehab-center-thailand.com/ (Domain Authority 40)https://www.dararehab.com (Domain Authority 32)
These three sites got lots of high DA backlinks (DA 90++) from strong media links like time.com, theguardian.com, telegraph.co.uk etc. (especially thecabinchiangmai.com) but the other 2 got lots of solid backlinks from really high DA sites.
So when looking at the content, thebeachrehab.com has less content as well.
Can anyone have a look and let me know your thoughts why Google picks a brand new site, with DA 13 and little content in the top compared to competition? I do not see the logic in this?
Cheers
John -
A brand new website, even here in Calgary, AB. These sites outrank DA50's while they might have a DA05, but the content is 10 X more valuable.
Also, the technical & on-page SEO from this new website could have been perfected, & this plays a major role, as well!
-
I agree with the other answers on the following points;
- Moz DA is not a Google metric
- In territories like Thailand and spaces related to drugs, Google tends to have less of an idea of what is spammy or not
- On-page optimisation across your site is a great way to improve your rankings
- Giving your users the best possible experience is a great way to get long-term success.
However, I wouldn't go as far as to say that Google pays no attention whatsoever to links. I think you can treat these findings as frustrating but informative - from what you are seeing, that site having a worse backlink profile is not preventing them from ranking. So for those searches, backlinks don't seem to be as big a deciding factor. From there I'd start identifying what factors are correlated with rankings and, provided those things are above-board and won't come back to bite you (here I mean - don't buy links etc.) then try emulating that stuff while you continue to build and improve your own site.
My new favourite phrase is "You are the Igniterman"
-
'truly' positive SEO metrics (backlinks from quality sites, high authority scores) don't count as much in less competitive query-spaces (world-wide "drug rehab thailand" has only 390 average monthly searches) and they also don't count as much in bad-neighborhood query-spaces
-
if very few users use a certain query-space, Google won't spend as much time refining it
-
if a query-space connects with bad neighborhood sites (drugs, unlicensed medicine, gambling, pornography) then Google won't spend as much time refining it
It seems that whilst 'rehabilitation' centers have noble intentions, obviously they also connect with the theme of 'drugs' and recreational drug usage, which is negative. Google is improving all the time, but it's not perfect yet. If an authoritative source talks about drugs (government initiatives and stuff like FRANK) then the authority carried over from connected reputable institutions stops the negative query-space from causing so much damage
In the instance that most of the results are from unknown institutions which may not be very reputable (like various rehab centers in Thailand) then the query-space may be much more noisy without much effort from Google in terms of cleaning it up
Google also gets into a bit of a muddle with negative query-spaces. The user wants to find something related to "drugs", but usually links from sites about "drugs" result in negative SEO authority, so how do they sort results in negative query-spaces? Clearly they have their methods but understandably this whole area of the web isn't ranked very accurately by Google
My suspicion is that, Google has a simplistic view here where they think the user is searching for drug-related sites, which is something Google usually doesn't want to condone. The query-space is noisy as the result of colliding positive and negative metrics shooting across a perceived negative query-space. You might even find that in some negative query-spaces, you could rank better with more negative signals (go figure)
-
-
I believe that Google uses information about the expertise, authority and trustworthyness of a website's authors. To make this happen, you must display it obviously. One way is to have author pages that present information about the author such as education, work experience, publishing history and more. Link to these from each article on the website that the author writes.
We were not doing this well, but then we spent time on it. Shortly thereafter, a Google update occurred and our pages rose nicely in the SERPs. Not a little increase, it was a surprising increase.
Are there sites with lesser credentials and lower quality content ranking above us. Yes, in many places, but we are also above them in many places. These things are not silver bullets. There are still many factors used in the rankings - and it can take time for Google to find and appreciate all elements of a website.
But, we spend zero time looking at our links, zero time looking at the links of our competitors, zero time looking at DA. I can't tell you the last time I looked at DA and have no intentions of looking at it anytime soon. I am too busy working on new content, improving old content, and trying to make the site operate better. I am spending my energy where it makes an impact that my visitors can see and use and share and link to.
You are the igniterman. Get busy.
-
Hi Roman,
Thanks for this. I am with you on all these but still that site is ranked #1 which is very strange. We have taken a very deep look at the backlink profile so this is why it's perplexing cause that site has only a few spammy backlinks compared to the others. I know what you mean no follow but those 3 others have many more relevant and higher quality backlinks, and still that guy ranks ahead.
If you look at them and compare onsite you can see the other 3 sites have more and better content, they have the necessary titles and meta tags etc. Still that site ranks way ahead.
So you do not think Google uses any trust/authority factors when ranking websites?
Thanks
John
-
Hi Egol,
Thanks for this, but when you compare the content on that site, it's less content and inferior as well to all those three. That site does not have the credentials as well. Not even a certified rehab in Thailand. Their site is not that useful as well compared to the other sites. I am with you in making the best site, so it's very strange that Google would rank such a site in the top because it's not following that logic.
So you do not think Google uses Authority/Trust when ranking websites?
Best
John
-
As Egol mentioned the Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). https://moz.com/learn/seo/domain-authority
So is a unit measure created by Moz sometimes can be useful sometimes not and of course, has nothing to do with Google
In the other hands, there are many factors involved in ranking a website such as
On page optimization: meta-tittles, meta descriptions, content length, internal backlinks, website performance, internal backlinks, site structure, schemas and so on.
Off-page: which basically means backlinks but is not that simple of who has more backlinks, but to analyze the backlink profile of website you need to keep in mind the type of the link ( follow or no follow) the anchor text distribution, the content of article where you get the backlink and so on.
You mentioned links from sites like times.com well let me tell you something usually this big sites usually give you a no-follow backlink which for SEO purpose is useless. So if you really need to understand what is happening need to make an in-deep analysis of all do-follow backlinks, all the anchor text, all the on-page and so on.
-
Hi John,
You are placing way too much importance on DA. Google does not use DA in its rankings. Google most likely has never looked at the DA of the websites you are talking about. Your post uses "DA" or "Domain Authority" in almost every sentence, sometimes two or three times.
I suggest stop looking at DA and work to make the best website possible. Don't allow DA to be a decoy that takes you away from doing the work needed to win on the web.
So, get some coffee, and make a map of what it will take for you to have the best possible website in your niche. Then start working on it every day. Make sure you have the credentials needed to be taken seriously and valued by both your visitors and Google. If you don't have them, get them. Education is the key to writing the credible content that is needed to win on the web.
E
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
-
Google URL Shortener- Should I use one or multiple???
I have a client with a number of YouTube videos. I'm using Google URL Shortner to allow the link to show in the YouTube text (as its a long URL). Many of these links go to the same page ex .com/services-page Should I use a single short URL for each video linking to the .com/services-page or should they be unique each time? If unique, would Google possibly think I'm trying to manipulate results? Thanks in advance. I'm just not sure on this one and hope someone knows best practice on this. Thanks!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | mgordon1 -
Strategies to recover from a Google Penalty?
2 years ago we took over a client who had a hacked site and also had signed up with a black hat SEO team that set up 50 spammy directory links back to the site. Since then we have cleaned up the hacks, had the site reviewed by Google and readded to the Search Index, and disavowed all the directory links through GWT. Over the last 2 years, we've encouraged the client to create new content and have developed a small but engaged social following. The website is www.fishtalesoutfitting.com/. The site's domain authority is 30, but it struggles to rank higher than 20 for even uncompetitive long tail keywords. Other sites with much lower domain authorities outrank the site for our primary keywords. We are now overhauling the site design and content. We are considering creating an entirely new URL for the primary domain. We would then use 301 redirects from the old url to the new. We'd welcome insight into why the current site may still be getting penalized, as well as thoughts on our strategy or other recommendations to recover from the events of 2 years ago. Thank you.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | mlwilmore0 -
Are 2 sites in same niche from same company white hat?
Hello, We want to open a second eCommerce store. Our first one is doing well. It would be different code, different graphics, a different category/menu system, but many of the products will be the same. Will that be safe and white hat now and into the future to have 2? Thanks!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | BobGW0 -
Merging Sites - consolidation of your my web sites
I have had 3 tourism web sites for many years (each site represents a different place in Costa Rica) and they cross link with each other. www.monteverdetours.com is the main site - the most important one. In order to help ranking and to comply with all the new google changes.... I have recently been advised that (page by page, I should incorporate the other site, www, arenalvolcanotours.com into the monteverde site with 301s, In other words there will be a new directory on monteverde called /arenal-volcano-tours which will be the new home page for the arenal section. So page by page I can map the old URL's to the new URL's eg arenalvolcanotours.com/arenal-hotels-economy.html
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Llanero
301 redirect to
monteverdetours.com/arenal-volcano-tours/arenal-hotels-economy.html Now my monteverde site was once penalized by google and I am worried that doing this might have an adverse effect (although the thinking behind doing this change is because google prefers it to all the cross linking and also I will be able to consolidate all the links from Arenal into Monteverde). I respect the person who made the suggestion but I was interested in opinions from other people! I want to be positive this is a good ideas before undertaking this major work! Any opinions would be appreciated!0 -
Drop In Rankings Evaluation
My cousin asked me to look at his site, http://www.gaport.com/ and I'm wondering what his main website flaws are? I looked at his backlinks, and while I don't know enough to exclude penguin being the cause, I don't think it is. I think it has more to do with duplicate content and lack of keyword optimization. However, before I tell him that, I wanted to get the opinion of this forum, please. Thanks! Ruben
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Site review
Can any one give me a quick site review, recently started work for the company on the seo, just want to asking if I am missing anything that may hinder SEO and SERPs etc www.teamac.co.uk
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | TeamacPaints0 -
What do Bing and Yahoo look for in a site?
Do Bing and Yahoo look for authoritative sites like google does? Do they punish sites for black hat or spamming? The reason I ask these questions is because one of my competitors was ranking in first place for many great keywords in Google, they have the highest authority out of all of their competitors. They must have been punished by Google because now they are not ranking for any great keywords in Google. However they are ranking 1st in Bing and Yahoo for most the top keywords, getting the the most visibility out of all the sites. I attached a small Graph with latest visibility for the sites with the top keywords from google and then I also included the company that was punished from google they are the green circles on the graph. dIVI4.png
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | SEODinosaur0 -
From page 3 to page 75 on Google. Is my site really so bad?
So, a couple of weeks ago I started my first CPA website, just as an experiment and to see how well I could do out of it. My rankings were getting better every day, and I’ve been producing constant unique content for the site to improve my rankings even more. 2 days ago my rankings went straight to the last page of Google for the keyword “acne scar treatment” but Google has not banned me or given my domain a minus penalty. I’m still ranking number 1 for my domain, and they have not dropped the PR as my keyword is still in the main index. I’m not even sure what has happened? Am I not allowed to have a CPA website in the search results? The best information I could find on this is: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=76465 But I’ve been adding new pages with unique content. My site is www.acne-scar-treatment.co Any advice would be appreciated.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | tommythecat1