Confused about sites ranking when compared to each other

[kadesmith]

I'm looking at the keyword "snow guards" for two competitor websites:

snogem dot com (SG)

snoshield dot com (SS)

I've been watching these two for about 4 months. SG stays in the top 5 SERPs consistently, while SS bounces around from 15-20 on Google.

I've looked at the competitive link comparison and SS appears to have a much better link profile when it comes to DA. Page specific metrics in OSE show SS with a higher mozrank, moztrust, internal followed links, linking root domains, total linking root domains, and linking C Blocks.

It appears to me that SG has many more links, but their links seem to be many site wide exact match keyword links, and paid for advertisements on a major site in the metal roofing industry.

Honestly the linking profile of SG surprises me that they rank so much higher than SS after the Panda/Penguin updates.

I have two questions:

1.  When competing against these sites, should I model SG's link profile? I'm nervous to because of my previous statement thinking they will get hit with Panda/Penguin like updates.

2.  What would it take to bounce SS to competing with SG on the first page?  Is the number of links the only thing this site is missing, or is there something else to focus on.

[thisisOllie]

I'd agree with Deb and it's good to keep an eye on competitors but always best to make them want to catch you

It almost sounds like SS rankings are being affected by your own type of personalisation or possibly something to do with this: http://www.seobythesea.com/2012/08/google-rank-modifying-spammers-patent/

Regarding SG if what you say is true regarding their links then they must have a lot of good quality links which is cementing their position near the top of the SERPs.

As discussed I wouldn't emulate any of their link profiles but build what's good for the site and feels right for them.

Lastly kind of on topic, site wide links aren't always a bad thing, if they bring traffic they are definitely worth it IMO.

[Debdulal]

Though people still love to track what competitors are doing, I am dead against it. However, spying on keywords and competitors backlinks may help you get some new insights about new SEO strategy, if followed blindly; you might be courting a penalty.

You need to check all the links carefully, figure out whether they are actually adding any value to the website or not. Once you are 100% confirm that these links adding value to your competitors website, you can proceed.

But again, I would rather suggest you to form your own SEO strategy because this is what will be separating your website from others.

_Rather than focusing only on links that can be devastated by Google at any point of time, you need to focus on brand based link building as this will have long lasting value. _