How is this site ranking so well? Their link profile is awful and website is messy and difficult to use?

[LukeyB30]

Hi folks,

This question has been baffling me for some time now and I'm still struggling to get to the bottom of it. www.sterlingbuild.co.uk is the website of choice for Google when it comes to searches relating to roof windows, velux windows, fakro windows etc. I can't understand why?

Their link profile is atrocious. I'm struggling to find one 'high quality' link in their profile at all. Most of their links are guest blog posts which Google is apparently now treating as spam, or links from other sites that they own - also spam.

The design of the site is incredibly messy and confusing. But one of the biggest flaws of the site (which I am suspicious may also be what is helping them) is they list every single different size of window as a different product. So whereas with most websites in this market, you search for the type of window you want e.g. a VELUX GGL 3050 window, and then choose the size you need from a drop-down menu, Sterlingbuild list every size as a different product. So you have to scroll through reams of product listings to find the window type in the right size before you get to any information about the product itself. Not to mention, their site is riddled with duplicate content because 12 different sizes of product are not different products, they are the same product, just a different size, so they have the identical product description for numerous separate pages basically selling the same product.

How on earth has Google decided this is the best website in the marketplace when it comes to roof windows?

[Kingof5]

sterlingbuild.co.uk has a poor quality backlink profile with anchor text heavily weighted towards [velux windows]. But links are still the most important factor for ranking well. Despite Penguin, crackdowns on link networks, etc., old school link building still works and this is just one of many examples of it. It's definitely not a good long-term idea, but if you need sales quick it works.

[Smartloan]

We have a similar problem with one of our competitors. If anyone can enlighten us, please do!

[ChristinaRadisic]

I wouldn't mind knowing the answer to this as well.

Going on Moz's data our website is far better than our competitors.  Their site has a great design and is easy to use, but that's where it stops, but they are in position #1 and have come up very quickly.

They don't have many links, they don't appear to produce very much content either, so what other metrics should I be looking at to try and get ahead of them because I'm coming up blank!