Why Do Other Sites Outrank Mine?

Competition Analysis

First – here’s an example of terrible web design so you know what I’m on about..

Competition in digital marketing can come form several directions. A website’s online competition may be quite different from it’s offline or “bricks and mortar” competition. Finding out what websites you are up against, their strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and risks this brings to your own business is the key to assessing and then combating your digital marketing competition.

Why does my competition beat me so easily?

Taken from a real e-mail. An example that serves well as an idea of what competition analysis is, and what factors are important. Thanks to Many Hart for allowing me to re-print this
The Problem:

Hi,
I have a company that manufactures various bits or kit for the equestrian community. Mostly tack and other equipment. We specialise in custom made items and have been in this business since the 1950’s when my mother started making browbands, reins and some girths and clinches before we expanded and took on staff and we now create a whole range of products.
We have had a website since 1997, and have always ranked pretty well in the USA for these products, often on page one. We do not update the site that often as the product range is pretty static, but during show season we always add a few photos and news stories, but that lasts only 4 months of the year, for the other 8 months the site normally remains untouched.
Majestic shows we have around 800 links built up over 17 years and it’s a rare month that the figure changes by more than 5 links up or down. Every link seems to be from another equestrian site or from a media site with a dedicated equestrian section. We have never created a link our self.

All was going well until the end of 2017 when little one or two page sites started to outrank us for our key buying terms. Small sites with maybe 3 pages of content and affiliate links to some of the large leatherwear companies. The content on these sites is often little more than the standard manufacturers description that is cut and pasted from the manufacturers own page. Unique content might then consist of a 400 word article with a really generic description of the product such as:

“To ride a horse comfortably and safely you will need a saddle…” nothing interesting, and nothing a 12 year old wouldn’t instinctively know.

Yet these sites have pushed mine out of the way, and now in early 2017, they have been ranking highly for these phrases for almost 2 years. Others have joined them,. and even the manufacturers pages themselves, the ones who seem to run the affiliate schemes, have pushed in front of ours. The pages that are ranking so high have next to no content on them at all, and no links. A picture and a 30 word description of the product and the generic Amazon-style copperplate guff.
Why is this happening? I thought Black Hat techniques for ranking affiliate sites were short lived? This has been years now and the impact on my business is profound. Is this the set of results Google want to promote? If so, why?

Mandy

My reply
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I’ve taken a look at your rankings, and can see that in this market sector the main keywords such as “equestrian equipment” are taken up with some serious and large authority sites in the field. Some that seem to have been there for many years.
It looks like you are ranking low on page one for some specific equipment items like “saddles” and “browbands”. But yes, at first glance it looks like you are being outranked with spam of individual item names. However overall your competition for more generic terms is very strong and these big players seem to have seriously upped their digital marketing game in recent years. One site in particular [name redacted for this article] appears multiple times in some Google top 10’s and analysis of their digital marketing shows they have over 14,000 links build over 4 years. A very high trust and citation rating with Moz and active participation on equestrian forums and blogs as well as social media presence which is updated multiple times per day across several platforms.  A look through Linkedin shows they have recently advertised for both a social media manager and a digital marketing director suggesting that their monthly spend including direct advertising costs in likely over $10,000. They are serious competition.

Rule1: Make a list of the sites currently ranking on page one for the words and phrases you would like to rank for.

The first few spots for these sites seem to be genuine enough. Quality sites, aged with content.

However, below that, from positions 4 downwards, I see your problem. There are 3 or 4 small sites that are clearly affiliates for the larger ones adding nothing to the niche in terms of product choice or discussion. Then at the bottom of the page, your site is sitting. In most cases it is the oldest, highest authority, highest trust rated and fullest (in terms of unique indexed content) on the page.

So why is it ranking below other sites with far weaker metrics in those fields?
Here’s a list for one of the key phrases involved. Your site is number 7 on the list.
The number one on the niche for many of the terms is “statelinetack” – this is the case here;

Page One Google Ranking And Metrics

I’ve named the niche and the search terms used above. It’s the medium and long tail search terms (3-7 words) I don’t want to link directly to any of the sites involved for obvious reasons, it’s easy enough to see these for yourself though Smile.
It seems clear why the top three sites are ranking where they are. They have very high trust ratings (getting over 50 on the scale of 0-100 is a real achievement). The URL’s ranking 4,5 and 6 though really do stick out like sore thumbs.

Rule 2: Know how well established the competition is.

By all quality measures they should not be there. Having looked at the sites, they are not good, they have virtually zero unique content and are really just glorified placeholders for affiliate links. Two of them link straight back to products for sites ranking in second position in this list effectively giving the site in second place 3 spots on page one for this term.
Checking through the other mid to long tail buying terms in the USA for equestrian, this set up seems typical.

You Are Right To Ask Why

The short answer is, the criteria for ranking is not as simple as being a genuine business with a long standing offline reputation. Unless you are a global brand your online reputation starts at zero

Rule 3: What are the link profiles of the top-ranking sites.

You will need to equal or beat this in commercial markets.
Where are the links coming from? How many links are there? How long have they existed? The number is slightly less important than the source where links are concerned. I can see that some of these competitors have managed to get links from some well-known and respected sites.
While no link is older than a year of those I have examined, the authority and trust ratings of the sites they are on is very high. I see links from sites such as The Huffington Post, Forbes – attached to articles about outdoor activities, so the links are also somewhat relevant.
In terms of quantities the best sites have only a few dozen links, the top site for example has 70 exactly from 44 different domains.

Content

Rule 4: How good is the sites content

I’ve looked more closely at the top three sites ranking for the term “riding tack” the pages that are ranking (remember it is a URL that ranks for a specific term – not a site)
The content on most of the landing pages is around 350 words, ranging from a minimum of 180 up to 500+. The content is well structured. They have used the phrase “riding tack” in the title as well as on either a H1 or H2 title tag. I notice in most cases it is also in the meta description of the page.
The main bulk of the written content on the page is on topic and contains words and phrases that would strongly be associated with riding tack. This is important for context. Bridle, reins, saddle etc.
Again, the plan here would be to beat this. Get the META data set up correctly, fashion the right text and place headers in the right place with the right terms. Context phrases related to the phrase you want to rank for are important. Google measures context and relevance in commercial fields so spamming the main keyword over and again will rarely result in good outcomes.

Rule 5: Landing pages are for people not search engines.

In terms of these competition pages ability to convert visits into sales, we obviously cannot know what revenue these pages create.
However, they do follow solid landing page criteria.
There is a solid description of the proposition at the top of the page, followed by the unique selling points; locally produced, unique styles, quick delivery, very good guarantee terms and of course competitive pricing are among the ones cited. This is followed by the page’s main call to action. A clear and unambiguous buy button. Below this is more produce explanation for those who are looking for either more evidence of quality or features or benefits that do not fit easily in the USP section. The call to action is repeated, then under that is typically a strong list of citations and/or testimonials
What else are they doing well?

Rule 6: SEO might not be their only route to market.

It might not be the best route and other avenues should be explored
A couple of the sites have very strong social media presence. I notice they have Facebook pages with very nice images of their products and now and then videos of them in use.

Despite this it’s clear they do not particularly take advantage of their social media presence. I cannot find any examples of offers posted to Facebook. No opportunity to buy either directly through Facebook or by linking specific offers from their websites in their Facebook posts. They are using social media for brand awareness only and this could be an opportunity for you.

After all, if someone sees a very nice saddle in a video or image – why not offer them the chance to buy it?
One of your competitors has a strong presence in some topical blogs and forums. Riding, hunting, point to point and show jumping forums and blogs are more common than I thought and [name redacted] is present on all of them, answering queries, contributing articles and taking part in the community. They have a banner link in most of the forums they are active in. This is a great idea. They are right where their customer base already is and using that for commercial intent. This is something you might want to try as well.

Rule 7: Make a plan

I would recommend

Crafting slightly more content for the main pages of your website. 300 words minimum. Remember context phrases and correct use of META data and tagging

Create specific landing pages for all offers. Follow the template I outline a few paragraphs above. Ensure the content is good. This page is for visitors – always consider real people reading your content first, then the SEO aspect after
Consider broadcasting interesting content to attract quality inbound links. In this market visual content posted across social media channels and also the blogs and forums I mention above as part of an honest and active community involvement will pay dividends.

While there are more specific actions than these three. Fixing your content, getting some presence and taking part in existing communities are the three things that you can tackle quickly and effectively with little resource and make an impact on your sites success.

Remember SEO is not everything. If Social media is working well look to that. Don’t be afraid of being part of existing 3rd party communities on social media, in blogs and on forums. I can see several in exactly your market area full of potential customers for you. Get involved and become a valuable member of these communities.

Good luck

Hi, A quick introduction. I’m Paul Rone-Clarke. Some of you may know me as “Scritty”. I’ve been in DM/IM for almost 21 years at the time of writing this. Full time for almost 10. When I started Google did not exist, social media was almost a decade away (even MySpace), email marketing was too expensive for most to contemplate and the internet was quite a jumbled and disorganised place.

The organisation and legislation of the last 20 years has changed the landscape considerably, and these changes are likely to continue for many more years to come.

What this means is that, in practice, the lessons of the past are often not applicable to the present and may well move on again the future. Yourmetalife is an attempt to make sense of these changes and is particularly aimed at creative and web design agencies looking to break into digital marketing via cost effective, efficient, repeatable white label services and automation. And lone internet marketers and affiliates looking for a way to scale their operations effectively.

Please browse the site, comment, criticise and suggest. You are all most welcome.