Strange Ranking On 1st Page Of Google For Competitive Keyword
-
Hey all, So, I've noticed a site ranking on the first page in Google for a keyword that I have been targeting for years. The keyword is "mixtapes" and pretty competitive. The site, http://www.newyorkmixtapes.com is ranking around #4 in Google. It seemed odd to me so I looked into the site using some of the tools here. Open Explorer showed that they have minimal links. The actual site is pretty spammy also. Does anyone have any idea how this site ranked so high so fast? Is it ranking because I am located in New York? Does Google still put lots of weight on exact match domains? It's just been bothering me because it's a keyword that I put a lot of work into and then the site rolls around an ranks well for it with barely any backlinks. I just wanted to put it out there and see if I'm missing something obvious. Thanks everyone!
-
Thank you guys! It's definitely personalized results. It's still such a weak domain though to show to me so highly ranked in Google. I guess that's an exact match domain type of thing though. Sometimes I wish my site had my main keyword in it
Thank you all though for your quick responses. Sorry if it was an obvious answer.
-
Can you please take a look at this question(see link below)? It's kind of similar but Google results don't make any sense based on results from different SEOMoz tools.
http://www.seomoz.org/q/keyword-ranking-authority-information
Thanks.
-
Yeah, it's your personalized results. If you go to http://www.google.com/search?q=mixtapes&pws=0 (the &pws=0 removes personalization), you won't find it on the first page, or in the first several pages of results.
-
I couldn't find it in the first 15 pages of Google either. It could be that it's someone in your social circle that has shared it and that's what is pushing the results up higher.
One thing I like to do before I panic too much is fire up Safari, go to Edit -> Reset Safari to set everything to like it's a fresh install (clear cookies, history, etc. in one easy step), then search when I know that I have a minimum amount of personalization.
-
I believe the keyword has personalized results being shown for you. I just checked the keyword on Google as well as the keyword difficult tool and neither of those are ranking http://www.newyorkmixtapes.com on the first page. Location and a variety of other factors could be affecting your SERP page to have them at number four. Hope this helps.
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
-
Best Keyword Strategy for Lower-Authority-Ranked Domain
Hi, What should a lower-authority-ranked blog (DA - 21) who is trying to increase general traffic focus on above all when selecting keywords: difficulty, monthly volume, opportunity, or priority? I know that all are important factors to consider, but I fear that without an already consistent following our new content will just get hidden behind more established domains if we select too difficult of keywords. I'd love to hear from someone who's built up a blog audience as to what strategy they used here. Thanks!
Moz Pro | | ascott7770 -
Pages with Temporary Redirects on pages that don't exist!
Hi There Another obvious question to some I hope. I ran my first report using the Moz crawler and I have a bunch of pages with temporary redirects as a medium level issue showing up. Trouble is the pages don't exist so they are being redirected to my custom 404 page. So for example I have a URL in the report being called up from lord only knows where!: www.domain.com/pdf/home.aspx This doesn't exist, I have only 1 home.aspx page and it's in the root directory! but it is giving a temp redirect to my 404 page as I would expect but that then leads to a MOZ error as outlined. So basically you could randomize any url up and it would give this error so I am trying to work out how I deal with it before Google starts to notice or before a competitor starts to throw all kinds at my site generating these errors. Any steering on this would be much appreciated!
Moz Pro | | Raptor-crew0 -
How To Ques. Getting ranked on page one for a keyword when you compete with bigger websites/companies/stores
Can David Beat Goliath. I work with small businesses with top products that are up against big brands and their online presence. If I am working with them to create content that meets the needs of all their stakeholders/customers/prospects to generate revenue I wonder if keyword targeting with content can really pay off to get them page one, #1 position ranking. So I ask you this question? How do you create a story for a small online store that can get ranked on page one for a keyword when you compete with bigger websites (or sites with higher domain authority)? I don't need all the basics, I'm just looking for a key insight or tip that you have found or heard is working for a David to beat a Goliath (and hold their position rank once they get highly ranked). We are up against sites - for viable keywords -who have higher domain authority and in some cases more content or link backs. Also, I've notice in situations when I do get to page one and I'm in position 7 MOZ analytics show low to no traffic coming from it? Yikes, what do I do to improve that? These are top keywords.
Moz Pro | | brandawakening0 -
Search Volume in Keyword Rankings Page
Is there a way to show search volumes for keywords in the Keyword Rankings tab page? A lot of times keywords we are ranking for are added to our campaign, and it would be very useful to see the search volumes within that grid. That way we could sort by the search volume and determine which keywords are worth targeting and optimizing for. I've had this ability with other software in the past and would be a great option for either Moz Pro version or the new Beta that is coming out. Which I'm still waiting for my invite BTW:)
Moz Pro | | agencypromogroup0 -
Find out what keywords a site is ranking for
I want to find out what keywords a site is ranking for. In other words, I want to find out how Google is currently seeing a site. I've used Google KW tool - not very accurate when you simply type in the URL. Is there anything in SEOMoz I can use? New to this. thanks
Moz Pro | | goodge0 -
Why is my site not ranking?
I have done various link building strategies, and used all white hat seo methods. SEOMoz even shows that my site is better than all my competition, but yet it doesn't rank ANYWHERE on Google. Can someone point me in the right direction as to why this is happening? I have attached the opensitexplorer screenshot showing my competition. 2013-02-13_1456_zpsb86ab0e1.png
Moz Pro | | locallyrank0 -
Is there a way to pull ALL rankings for a site for a set of keywords?
I'm fairly new to SEOMoz, and am looking for a way to pull all rankings for a site with the keywords I've listed, not just the top ranking. So for instance if my site ranks for the keyword "widget maker in MO" in two spots. The current rank report will only show me the top result. I know I can click on each keyword individually and see a full list of the top 50, but I'm looking for a more automated way of doing this (I'm the only SEO at my agency and time is an issue). I previously used Advanced Web Ranking and the tool would like me pull a CSV of the top 30 sites for each keyword I was tracking and then I could just search for my site and pull those results easier. Anyone know of a shortcut or report I should use? Thanks!
Moz Pro | | OsbornBarr0 -
Update Rankings?
I signed up for pro last night and in the set up process it asks for 5 keywords. After it ran those, I added another 75. How do I get it to run for those new keywords?
Moz Pro | | annasus0