Competitor ranks high, but how?
-
On our campaign, I have three local competitors which I like to keep an eye on. Two have been around for years but the other is pretty new. According to Moz, he has a Domain Authority of 1, has no backlinks and ranks lower on every keyword I keep track of.
How then is he getting ahead of us for certain search terms? Can Moz not give any more information?
-
If you click a users profile, you can click a link that allows them to message them directly.
-
Very welcome. I came across that article yesterday so it was fresh in my mind when I saw your question.
Best of luck!
Zack
-
That is very useful, thanks Zack.
-
Thanks Robert. I suppose really I'm a bit frustrated that Moz doesn't do a bit more when it comes to competitor information. Majestic and a couple of other FREE tools list quite a few backlinks (though less than ours) while Moz reports... zero.
-
Thanks for your response. Is it possible to send URL privately? Distinct possibility that the other person is on here!
-
I think it's well worth mentioning also that there are many other important factors beyond backlinks. You find the following article very helpful:
Google’s 200 Ranking Factors: The Complete List by Brian Dean for Backlinko
http://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factorsBest,
Zack -
Hi Rob and Sarah,
My first guess is that the websites is answering that specific question/query better than yours. Are those well performing pages significantly different than the pages that don't come up so high?
Ps: keep in mind that Domain Authority is an interpretation of Moz, and not from Google. Also keep in mind that Moz is nog aware of all the backlinks. Even if the links are out there for a year. Moz tries to "only show the most important links to the domain".
Google sees a lot more links to a domain than Moz does.
-
Rob and Sarah,
I would like to point out a few things:
1. Try Majestic's backlink checker. It more comprehensive than Moz's.
2. Don't forget that Google Algo isn't that simple. There are a ton of factors that could be influencing it: Maybe the website has great user signals like CTR, dwell time, etc. Do they have a great social presence that has provided visitors?
Anyway, i am speaking in generalities and we would need more specifics to help further...like both your web addresses
Nails
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
-
Why my website's Alexa rank is dropping
My website Alexa rank has dramatically dropped in the past 3 months: Website: www.sastasundar.com End of July, 2012: 5217 Global, 265 Local(India) But Now: ** 29260** Global, 2274 Local(India) Definitely something big has affected my global ranking and I'm not able to figure it out. Please help.
Competitive Research | | foreseegame0 -
What tools can give reliable competitor traffic data?
Could you give details of reliable tools that can measure and provide competitors' traffic data? Google Adplanner used to provide such information until June of last year, and while it's numbers didn't match Google Analytics data, the numbers were reasonably close. The metrics we are most interested in are visits, page views and unique visitors. We have looked at sites such as Compete -- but feel it is far too inaccurate/ skewed with US data only; also, would prefer to not rely on Alexa traffic stats. Thanks in advance.
Competitive Research | | ontarget-media0 -
What keywords & phrases are my competitors targeting?
I wanted to compare our keyword focus, to my competitors. What is the best way to audit what type of content / keywords - my competitors are using?
Competitive Research | | jwochna0 -
Using Semantic Language to rank, how much stock do you put into this? (LSI)
In theory, analyzing the top results for a given phrase and comparing the common words and phrases would indicate what google considers relative language to the query. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) was and still is a buzz phrase for some SEOs. But how much stock do you give to the idea that if you can determine the common language for top rankers and then duplicate that language and density of common words that your website will then rank for that query you desire? Has anyone here tested the theory of using semantic language from the results themselves to better rank?
Competitive Research | | Thos0030 -
My average visit duration is UP by 110% from 2 minutes to 4 minutes... and my visits (rankings) are down by 6 %.... I would have thought to see more positive ranking affects from that..
Latttteee last night I asked this question Just like the question says, I would have thought that Google would reward a site with more traffic that clearly has a growing level of user engagement. I can't imagine that there are other sites in my niche that are having a longer rate of user engagement... Well, since I can't guarentee that, let's not debate what we don't know.. But shouldn't SOME benefits be seen for a 110% increase? I mean shit, if I could replicate those results with sales, I would really be able to afford higher rankings... Maybe that's how they feel? If I get longer duration, I should get more sales, which means I should be able to afford to pay a professional more to get me to rank higher....? A nice guy Marcus Miller(http://www.seomoz.org/users/profile/78416) answered by saying Hey Tyler Google analytics data is not used in anyway in the search ranking algorithm. It's a great thing that your user engagement is up, but it will not benefit you with a better rank on the back of that. That said, if people are enjoying your site more, it should be easier to generate more links and sharing to get more traffic and hopefully boost your standing in search. This is worth a watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg... Hope this helps. Marcus I was still a little unsure though, so I said Solid answer man, I really appriciate the youtube link too, gotta love when an answer is chizzled in stone. I was thinking though.. Google does track data for bouncing back to search for similar queries, and some types of time on site, etc, right? Do you, or does anyone else know the specifics about the data that Google tracks, in relation to how a user interacts with your site?
Competitive Research | | TylerAbernethy0 -
Wondering why my site ranks well for one page and not another.
Customers mainly find our site from searching very specific part numbers on google. My site is launch3telecom.com. Take for example these two parts:
Competitive Research | | launch3
MT500A-81015 MR050-81045 Search only those parts in google - we rank 3rd for one of them and don't rank at all for another. Is there any way to check backlinks pointing to those pages? We even show up before big sites like ebay and such on one of them. Can anyone help me understand this?0 -
Google Page Rank not working?
My Google PR in the toolbar has not worked since last night? Is it on my end or is anyone else have the same issue??
Competitive Research | | Robbie82990 -
Can i have chance to rank higher than official website in google local domains ?
Q : can i have chance to rank higher than official website in google local domains ? for example : rank higher than microsoft,kaspersky,nokia etc... in google italy or google germany or any other local domain for google
Competitive Research | | activeacts0