Today’s “Ask an SEO” question comes from Julius of Leesburg. Julius asks:
How can I compete with a website with over 1 million backlinks, and why can’t Google confirm that those backlinks were purchased?
It is possible for David to defeat Goliath.
But like in the Old Testament, fighting Goliath with a Goliath weapon can result in instant death.
Everyone wants to be the best at what they do.
But being the best is subjective.
Also, in SEO, being the best doesn’t always mean being #1 for the most competitive keyword phrases.
As I said before, focusing too much on your competitors and not enough on yourself is a losing situation.
More resources, more history, and well… more?
The secret of competition is not to fight with strength, but with intelligence.
Like a guerrilla warrior fitting an empire, a smart SEO can thrive and build resources to one day fight even the greatest of adversaries on an equal footing.
looking for weaknesses
When competing for real estate on the SERP against a “superior” opponent, the first step is to make sure the house is in order.
If you don’t stick to your basics, you’ll fail no matter how much you try to copy what your successful competitors do.
This means making sure your site’s code adheres to the latest best practices in technical SEO.
It’s about making sure your content not only appeals to your target audience, but also shows search engines your expertise, authority, and credibility, while using the keyword phrases you want to appear when queries are made. means
That means making sure there are connections from sites that link to your site, and that those connections themselves aren’t sketchy.
This means monitoring your data to make sure your analytics are set up correctly.
Once you’ve completed these things, only then should you look at its Juggernaut competitors.
And when you look at that Goliath, don’t look at what they do to succeed. See what they’re not doing right.
Start by focusing on that competitor’s weaknesses, but don’t attack them.
Focus your efforts on succeeding where your competitors are failing.
For example, if your competitors aren’t providing enough information about a particular product, make sure your product description is packed with the answers consumers want.
If your competitors dominate key keywords on your topic, look for terms with fewer “tails” that can be successful.
Look for opportunities to succeed where Goliath has failed.
No matter how good Goliath is, he’s not all right.
No one is here.
They are cheating and not fair!
I often talk to prospects who believe their competitors are cheating.
They are amazed that Google allowed someone to escape by blatantly ignoring the rules.
Of course, this complaint is only made against sites that rank higher than prospects.
As the old SEO joke says, SPAM is “S.item P.arranged AhBobe M.Ine.
The reality is more complicated.
Indeed, there are many sites that profit from breaking the rules, both in the short and long term.
But in reality, Google knows more than they let on.
A lot of the time when you dig into why sites are ranking, it’s not because they’re breaking the rules.
Most of the time, they are doing the right thing, which is why they rank higher than their competitors.
Google doesn’t seem to impose manual penalties as often as it used to.
However, many of the tactics used to justify manual penalties are now ignored by Google.
In other words, most people who break the rules or buy spam links are just wasting their time and money without realizing they are.
There may be short-term benefits, but most of the time the millions of links you buy are ignored.
Before you assume that your purchased links are what’s causing your competitors to beat you, it’s a good idea to consider other things your competitors might be doing better than you.
And of course, spend most of your time improving your site.
The benefits of focusing on yourself far outweigh the time you spend trying to figure out what your competitors are doing.
Other resources:
Editor’s note: ask SEO is a weekly SEO advice column written by the industry’s top SEO experts, curated by Search Engine Journal. Have a question about SEO? Please fill out the form. You may find the answer in the next #AskanSEO post!
