If Content is "King" Why is This Site #1

I have been trying to rank for my keywords Florida Bass Fishing for http://www.floridabassfishing.us since May. I have been adding new content (original) and doing a linkbuilding campaign. I currently rank OK in Google at #11 (just recently from about 18).

I am researching my competitors and have no clue why http://www.bassfishingflorida.com is ranking #1. Their content is very old and not updated. I did do some link checks for this site, and they do have a considerable amount of relevant links with mediocre PR.

Is it the links and age that makes this site dominate SERP, 'cause it sure isn't content!

 

"Their content is very old and not updated."

Ironically, your biggest complaint against the site is probably its strongest SEO asset. The site was created in 5/1998 compared to your 5/2007. The content may seem old and outdated to a fishing expert like yourself, but Google doesn't know the difference. The site has authority links pointed towards it and Google trusts it because of its age and history.

There's really not much you can do other than to continue to create quality content and build links. Over time, Google will shift its algorithm to favor sites that actual people prefer. (hopefully yours)

 

Knowing google, I am sure they probably use domain TLD type as a factor in ranking pages. They probably rank .com the highest and then .net and then .org. I am sure the newer tld's like .biz are ranked lower and cournty tld's are ranked lower like .us and .ca. The .co.uk is probably ranked high since it is the british equivilent of .com, but I bet .com ranks higher than .co.uk.

This is all just a guess, but I bet it is a factor in determining page rank. Is your domain registered for the full 10 years? Or just 1 or 2? Do you have the landing page optimized for those keywords using the correct heading, sub heading, formatting, etc.? Are all of your backlinks from Forums? Or are they from other types of sites?

 

Serious?

Your site is 6 months old, his site is over 10 years old.

Nobody said "NEW" content is king.

You'd have better luck buying that site than trying to rank with good content.

 

LOL jjpmarketing what are you talking about? Google doesnt show favoritism to any TLDs. They are equal when it comes to TLDs in rankings.

 

My guess is that the DMOZ listing helps and the fact that their domain is 10 years old.

 

The domain issues don't really account for much in this case. Except for country specific TLD's, the extensions are not ranked in the order you mentioned. It just seems that way because there are more .com's and .info's and .biz's are so new to the industry.

Also, registering your domain for a longer period of time does not help your search engine rankings. It just wouldn't make sense for search engines to factor this into their relevancy algorithms. Here's an article supporting this view: http://www.searchengineguide.com/jennifer-laycock/does-registering-your-domain-for-longer.php

I hope that helps!

 

I totally disagree... there are many, MANY ways to rank... get those links out there Dude!!

 

I was taking a wild guess with the TLD order. My reasoning behind ranking .com over .net and other domains is because of domain name issues. Say company A went out and got mydomainisthebest.com, then another company went out and registered mydomainisthebest.net. I was thinking google would rank the .com higher because that is what most people go after first... which is sort of a play into their method of using age as a factor.

 

Im sure many wont agree with me here, but i have a pretty new website & a very competitive keyword (although a sucky genre) and i am moving up the ladder currently #3 for it while there are many establised sites , some even 5 yrs old who were on top earlier, so i think it all boils down to better seo.

 

That's a good guess but it isn't necessarily true. If that was the case then domainers could just buy their way to top rankings. I would say that ranking potential between a .com, .net, and .org are on the same level.

 

I agree. The best overall SEO wins the #1 slot. That site may be really bad with stale content, but if they have put together a lot of good SEO, age included then it will stay at #1.

Decoding their SEO tactics would help you improve your ranking by knowing exactly what main keyword, then secondary keywords they are using to get that rank. Add links for your site on the sites they have links on.

in the end if you have everything they have seo wise, and you have fresher content, then you will overtake their ranking.

gyutae, it wasn't the main factor, just a small part. I doubt it carries a huge weight, but when comparing apples to apples and .com vs .net, then I would say .com wins out, in a perfect world where both sites were identical except for their TLD designation.

 

Exactly ,Just because "Tiger woods" was the "new" guy and took the rains in golf doesn't mean in a robotic world that the search engines will see you,

Pretty much like the other said, The old site is "old"

Search engines and kind of like religious people, They tend to like the "old wise men" better then some young alter boy.....

In time you will gain more respect from the serps

 

Thanks for all the comments, they are really appreciated. Yeah, I'm the new guy on the block, but I'm not buying the other website unless it's really cheap. Besides, I like the challenge and am learning quite a bit on SEO. I remember when I was ranking like 550 for the 1st 3 months or so, gradually getting more on page SEO and content as well (very key) as link building.

I am getting quite a bit more traffic over the last month, some search engine some linkbaiting in some forums, as well as some from links on other sites to mine.

Yes, I kinda knew that the "age" factor was a big one as well as the sites decent related links, but I have received some nice emails from other fishing sites that are linking to mine because they like the content (without recips requested) which is nice!

Oh well, I'll do what I can, learn more here by reading and posting...Thanks again!

 

When was the last time the design of a spoon or a candle was updated? It's the quality of the content, not how new it is. Some things are perfected, and don't need changing. That's probably more true offline than online, but...

Well, it sounds like you're basing that on the rank for one particular key phrase? Over time, better content winds up earning more links, which are really the strongest ranking factor.

 

Also, your fresh content will help you rank for the long-tail keywords which have more volume in aggregate anyway. Don't just focus on one keyword.

 

Trust me age isnt gonna win out over a good seo. My seo recently got a fresh new site(under a year old) ranked number 1 for many tough keywords over sites that are much much older. Content is important and makes a great seo's job easier but content isnt king. read my lips "LINK BUILDING IS KING".

 

considering you're on the first page already (i saw #10)... your plan is working

give google more time and they will reward you

their domain age and strong/old/relevant links are probably keeping them there

your domain extension .us has nothing to do with it

 

Although the website is old and established, you will be able to overtake it. I've recentley overtaken established jobs sites which had around 5/6 years advantage over the sites I worked on. If the content hasn't been updated in that amount of time, perhaps the website's SEO hasn't either.
- Write Unique Content
- Send it around the social news websites
- Submit articles to article directories
- Use directory submissions

Keep at this, even uniformly so many per day, you will overtake in time.

 

I have the same problem.

I'm currently #8 in google for a search term where the #1 ranker is an old site with horrible 1997 era html coding. I'm talking multi-color fonts, animated gifs, every cliche imaginable. But they've been up since 1999. I started in June of this year.

I've risen from #50 to #8 in about a month. Directory submission, adding a blog, fresh content. It all works. Don't give up and keep trying.

You'll rise past them eventually.