Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
How can you rank nr 1 for high competitive keyword with low DA and only 1 backlink?
-
Hi!
Was wondering if anyone can explain this a bit clearer...
Image attatched...How is it possible to rank on Google Norway for spot nr.1 (page in English language) and spot nr.2 (page in Norwegian language) , when all you competitors have higher PA, DA and a lot more backlinks and better on-page optimization according to MOZ?
Is there something I´m misunderstanding?
Just when I thought SEO started to make sense -
Hi Aleksander,
As what Claudio and Kate have already mentioned, there might be other factors in play. Just a question though, in the screenshot you posted, was the search retrieved from your normal browser or an incognito/private tab? A simpler explanation for the rankings might be that whilst using your normal browser, your search results were personalized. When someone (in this case you), performs a search, the results are influenced by not only the relevancy/links/DA etc, but also whether the sites have been visited by the user on other queries in the past (or someone else using the same browser).
A simple way of finding out is to open up an incognito tab (Chrome), or a private window (FireFox) and using the same keyword to search again. If the results are different, then it might simply be a case of personalized search influencing the results.
Hope it helps!
-
As Claudio said, there are many things behind the scenes we can't always know. The sheer number of links, PA, DA, etc, those are from a third party, Moz. As much as it is the best external look at link equity, domain strength and more, it's still not from Google.
There is more to ranking than just links and strength though. On page factors are important of course, but there are so many other pieces of the puzzle.
In this instance it looks like a language preference issue. Your screenshot shows that the first result is in English. The others are not, as they offer translation inside the SERP. The first result is the best result for this particular search for this particular user. It might not be across the board, but that is why you are seeing this result right now. It's a relevance to the user issue.
-
These sites could be penalized (Panda, Penguin etc).
Hope it 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
-
What to do about one site dominating search results? (multiple pages ranking)?
Anybody have thoughts on dealing with search results where the same site gets listed multiple times? "weebly vs wix" is one example (same site #1-3, repetitive articles, not crazy high authority), but I see this now and then. I know Google likes variety, so it's weird for me to see results like this dominating search results. Thoughts? What gets these sites to take over the top rankings for a specific term? Any way to rise up in this situation, outside of the usual? Any tips on duplicating this kind of success?
Competitive Research | | davidwaring0 -
Free tools to find country of origin of backlinks/urls
Hey are there any free tools out there which can allow me to insert a large list of urls, and it determines the country of origin of the domain. I know the paid version of majestic does, but i was wondering if theres any free tools? Cheers, Chris
Competitive Research | | monster990 -
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 -
How can I compare twitter accounts?
I'm trying to compare, by follower numbers, up to 50 different twitter accounts. What would be the best way to do that? I'd like twitter handle on the x axis and number on the y.
Competitive Research | | matthewcashmore0 -
Is there a way to do a reverse keyword search?
I want to enter a domain name and see what keywords that domain is ranked at. Is it possible to do this with Moz?
Competitive Research | | scoutzie0 -
Does it makes any difference if i use 's' at the end of keyword.
In terms of ranking and other stuff, how does adding 's' at the end of a keyword works ? For example - 'Custom Cases' in place of 'Custom Case' I am getting different results as well for both. Please advice....
Competitive Research | | viniyog0 -
What is the difference between "external backlinks" & "referring domains" on Majestic SEO?
According to Majestic SEO's glossary, a "Referring domain, also known as "ref domain", is a domain from which a backlink is pointing to a page or link." Given this definition, I'm not sure what an external backlink is?
Competitive Research | | nicole.healthline0 -
Creating Sub Pages To Target Specific Keywords
Hi Guys, Hope you can answer this question. Our website is currently on the first page in position 6 for a competitive keyword, domain is 11years old and currently has a PR of 4. At the moment there are 4 competitors above us one of which as two listings, they have managed to do this by creating a page dedicated to the keyword. E.g www.ourdomain.co.uk/key-word.html. Do you think we would achieve a good ranking if we built the same page but with fresh content and links pointing to that page? Cheers.
Competitive Research | | ScottBaxterWW0