Can't Grasp Why Pages rank Higher?
-
The first result
"Bankruptcy on IRS" is the search term.
Why does the first url rank higher in google. The second one, the IRS.gov page beats them in PA, DA root domains links. The title meta has bankruptcy near the front. unclefed does have the IRS keyword in the title, but an I missing something here?
What are the other factors, that are most obvious.
Sure one can have bad links, and other negative criteria, but these are pretty decent sites that probably don't engage in much in seo, let alone bad SEO. Sure link text and mix of links can help, but am I missing something here?
Actually what I think I really need IS A CHECKLIST OF WHAT TO CHECK IN WHAT ORDER WHEN COMPARING WHY ONE PAGE RANKS BETTER THAN ANOTHER. Appreciate all discussions. Thanks in advance.
http://www.unclefed.com/AuthorsRow/Daily/Fwdcsea.html
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98701,00.html
-
.edu sites and .gov sites are not necessarily more valued due to the extension, but rather the relevance they have to people looking for their specific content. More people looking for what a particular .edu or .gov site offers will go than random people stumbling around for the kind of info a .com site might offer. Not always, but generally speaking, that's an important concept.
Som of those people, in turn, tend to spend more time on those sites than people do on commercial sites.
Of course, this is only true of high quality .edu or .gov sites, not all just because they've got the TLD. That's why .edu and .gov sites aren't necessarily given automatic higher value for having the TLD. They do have to earn it.
-
Thanks again. 2 things.
1. I thought I read on googles site or matt's page that edu and gov dosn't pass any extra rank because of the extension. In general they may be better but not because of the extension.
'The more links coming from each domain, the weaker the trust factor." I wasn't aware of that. I have some key pages on my site that have a lot of links , like 100's from the same social site. Should I make attempts to remove them? are they hurting my sites ranking?
-
One thing stands out to me. Link to Root Ratio. UncleFed's got an average of 2.17 link for each root domain pointing to it. The IRS's ratio is 5.14 links for each domain. That's more domains pointing fewer links each. The more links coming from each domain, the weaker the trust factor. Sure, it may seem like a minor difference. It's not like sites are sending 40 or 400 links to the IRS site.
Yet again, as in the other factors, it does count. And head to head, it's a 2&1/2 times more refined profile.
Another consideration - among the highest quality sites that link to UncleFed, there are more .edu and more .gov links than compared to the IRS's top link sources.
So again, when looking at the total link profile of each, there's a higher ratio of non-commercial sites in the mix overall than compared to the IRS site.
So as in all the other issues mentioned, it's a David Vs. Goliath thing.
-
google works in mysterious ways.
-
Thanks for clearing that up. However if you can explain a bit further, so i can understand, how is unclefed's inbound linking more refined? I'm not seeing it. It will help me keep mine more "refined" if needed. My site's an excellent example where tens of thousands of links didn't make much difference.Starting to rank much better now, and expect to keep ranking better with the help of SEOMOZ tools and forum.
-
I appreciate the insight. I was getting caught up in the technical parts, and forgetting the rest. I just ran report carts on both pages. Unclefed got a D, and the IRS got an F. So on the report card I can also see the things you bring up. great help!
-
I agree with Alan. There is no mix up.
IRS is the larger site. You feel that because they are the larger site, their page should rank first.
Unclefed is decent sized, but they are nothing compared to the IRS site.
Why does the first url rank higher in google. The second one, the IRS.gov page beats them in PA, DA root domains links.
The first url, the one belonging to unclefed, ranks higher because it is the better article for the search term. The domain rank is one important factor in the overall Google calculation, but so are the other factors mentioned.
-
Great focused reasoning Ryan. A clear case where refined topical focus wins out over competitor size and perceived authority. It's all about matching the search intent. Which shows Google doesn't always get it wrong
-
Actually I don't have them mixed up.
Having authority for an entire site, and having a larger site itself are not always the issue. It's specific search ranking factors for a specific search. This is why it's deceiving to rely on ranking data from any tool, which should always only be used as a general guide.
The refined focus of a particular topic as evaluated by the several Google algorithms is what counts. And this is where my evaluation was focused.
If I've got less pages, but the SEO for them is even a little better than that of a much bigger site, and if the inbound link profile is even a little more refined than for a site with vastly larger inbound link counts, I can definitely outrank the larger site.
Think of it this way. Goliath gets lots of points because he's so big. He gets lots of points because a lot of people think he'll win, so they root for him.
David comes along, and with refined skills in combat, he's able to overcome Goliath's perceived advantages. So to it goes sometimes in SEO.
-
Take a look at both the pages involved.
The unclefed page is a very nice, long article with a lot of content. It has the term "bankruptcy on the IRS" in the content. That is about as close to an exact match as you can hope for with that phrase. The page also has the terms bankruptcy and IRS in the title.
The IRS page is very weak. The page does not mention "IRS" even once in the content, although it is mentioned in the URL and sidebar. The IRS page has less then 10% of the content when compared to the unclefed page.
It is a very good thing the unclefed page ranks higher on this particular search, as it should. It is a well organized page written by someone with authority and great subject knowledge. Furthermore, there doesn't seem to be any apparent effort from the IRS towards SEO at all. There isn't even a meta description for their page.
Bottom line, you are asking to investigate the lesser factors while ignoring the big one. CONTENT IS KING. It doesn't always work out that way, but it should. It did in this case. No reason to look any further.
-
I might be wrong, but I think you have the two mixed up. Unclefed ranks first. The second one (irs.gov) has much more authority, and is the larger site.
-
My quick hit take is it's just the right kind of authority. 70,000 page site. As for links, even though there's hardly any, it's a very tight link to root domain ratio. Many of those are from very authoritative sites including .edu (not junk edu links, but real, valid links).
Of course, without a comprehensive audit, that's just an assumption, though it's pretty strong. And shows the power of focusing on quality SEO vs. junk SEO.
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
-
What's a good way to get started with competitive research?
Hi all, SEO noob here. I'm doing an audit for a firm that makes specialized accounting software. It's a relatively new firm, with a barebones website. My client has identified three direct business competitors. In addition, I see indirect competitors (such as product reviews) on the SERP for a relevant keyword phrase. I want to provide actionable advice for my client. What information should I present? I'd like to help my client understand: Why my client's competitors are outperforming them on the SERPs What my client needs to do to overtake their competitors What information should I present to my client? Thanks, all.
Competitive Research | | AndyKubrin0 -
Can anyone explain to me why this website is top of the listings?
Hi folks, Since the latest penguin update, this website: <cite class="bc">www.sterlingbuild.co.uk</cite> is now appearing top of the listings for most 'Velux' related search terms e.g. velux windows, velux, velux windows online. I say top, VELUX themselves are actually top but then Sterling Build are top of all the other retailers that sell VELUX Windows. Why? Their link profile is appalling, the website is no better than their competitors as far as I can tell, their prices are more expensive - it makes no sense? Would be very grateful if anyone can work out why Google has decided they have the best website? Thanks, Luke
Competitive Research | | LukeyB300 -
Out of Stock page ranking
When a competitive site is consistently ranking for a product that is never in stock, or in some cases, has been discontinued for several years and will never again be in stock, is there a way to communicate that information to Google?
Competitive Research | | ChristopherGlaeser0 -
SERP rankings consistency
I have a website which is showing different serp rankings. On one computer, he's on the first page, on another, he's second page and another person from outside our office sees him ranked differently. What would account for the inconsistency in rankings?
Competitive Research | | priceseo0 -
Can I write guest blogs on competitor's blogs?
I have been doing some guest blogging and its hard to find guest blogs opportunities. I have found some but they are direct competitors. Is it safe to write guest post? by the way the are not local competitors. Any suggestion please. thanks
Competitive Research | | conversiontactics0 -
Do search engines factor traffic into rankings?
Do websites which draw a large number of visitors get higher rankings (or "points") than websites which get less visitors?
Competitive Research | | Inyankara0 -
How can I boost page rank rather quickly
I have had a site for 10+ years and recently decided to really put a lot of effort into boosting its page rank. In the last 2 months, I have 1. participated in forums 2. gotten a number of reasonably high ranking websites in my industry to link to my page i.e. creating 100's of external, do-follow back-links 3. created some external websites which are subject matter specific to my industry that are pointing back to my website. At this point, these sites do not have much in the way of page authority So far, my sites Alexa ranking has increased considerably from a rank of ~20M to ~1.7M worldwide. How do I go about increasing my page rank / mozRank equally as quickly? Having done a campaign of the competition, I noticed that most of their links are internal i.e. 750k+ which is nothing more than noise because they are not offering anymore information/products that we're offering. Moreover, we have duplicated all of their external links and then some. Finally, they have created a number of 'feeder' sites that all point back to them each with a page rank of 4. This is were they are obtaining the bulk of their 20k+ external links. What do you suggest that I do that I have not done already?
Competitive Research | | thelearningman0 -
Static Html Pages V/s Wordpress - For open content pages?
Hi there. I am worried a bit about static html pages or wordpress as an instance to write down open page content for our website. We are a product based website - primarily Saas based product. But with time we have seen that if we write more content people will be able to find us better,. Earlier our blog resided on blog.example.com now we are moving it to example.com/blog/ Issues - I really want to know that I need to generate lots of fresh content so I am using wordpress as the blog medium and content generation medium too. Basically the wordpress instance will be a content generated pages. I can also have static html page based content but then our content writers will always have to take the help of develoeprs to publish it to our sites. Whats the best way to go about this keeping SEO really crucial in mind? Thanks for your time and help!
Competitive Research | | shanky10