How is this fair?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by twalters84, Mar 7, 2009.

  1. #1
    Hey there,

    I noticed a website was pointing to my website.

    Google crawled that domain and ranked its business profiles way higher than mine and I was the one that created them.

    How do you prevent this?

    Sincerely,
    Travis Walters
     
    twalters84, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  2. magda

    magda Notable Member

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    #2
    What on earth gave you the idea that a search engine would be 'fair'? - it's not a school project, you don't get good marks to encourage you to do better.
    It's an algorithm, the other site has obviously matched what it looks for better than you did. More and better quality backlinks, probably.
     
    magda, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  3. monfis

    monfis Well-Known Member

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    #3
    This happens quite frequently; when a high PR site links to a low PR site, the first one often outranks the site it is linking too. But it's normally a temporary effect, after some weeks your page should rank better than the one linking to you.
     
    monfis, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  4. gldean

    gldean Active Member

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    #4
    I don't think you can prevent it. Google is god(if you play the Google game) and they do as they please. People have been trying to figure why, why, why, for years with no exacts.

    GD
     
    gldean, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  5. twalters84

    twalters84 Peon

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    #5
    Well since it is linking to mine, everything would be the same except for domain name and backlinks.

    According to Yahoo, I have more backlinks and many of them are high PR. The other site has done minimal SEO work. It has a few links at most pointing to it.

    So that makes me think its the domain name.

    The other site does have a higher PR than mine currently but I will be higher than that other site for sure during the next PR jump.. whenever that may be.
     
    twalters84, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  6. contentboss

    contentboss Peon

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    #6
    I don't really understand what you mean. Do you mean that this other site has scraped / copied your entire site??? Because if so, your remedy is simple.
     
    contentboss, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  7. Random Guy

    Random Guy Peon

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    #7
    Get more links, improve your site's standings in the search engines. That's really all you can do.
     
    Random Guy, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  8. Traffic-Bug

    Traffic-Bug Active Member

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    #8
    That may be because that domain is OLDER than your domain. It may also have more QUALITY CONTENT and more QUALITY BACKLINKS. You really cannot expect your PR to go up just because another high PR site linked to you and you can then bypass that site itself. If that were to happen all the text link selling companies will be out of business because linking may then cause the linked to site to bypass the linking site in rankings and traffic. That wont happen.
     
    Traffic-Bug, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  9. gr8liverpoolfan

    gr8liverpoolfan Notable Member

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    #9
    Could be the domain name, could be the quality and nature of incoming links. Could be better on page optimisation too. Age of domain could play a factor as well.

    They simply thought it was a better match for your keyword- you've got to accept that.
     
    gr8liverpoolfan, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  10. scottgrace25

    scottgrace25 Peon

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    #10
    Its a mathematical operation that figures out what is ranked at what level and how that rank is distributed. Certainly not "fair".
     
    scottgrace25, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  11. Canonical

    Canonical Well-Known Member

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    #11
    The other site ranks better than you because when Google looked at their 200+ ranking factors for the two sites for that particular keyword phrase you searched on, the algorithm determined the other site had a better overall score than your site did and is therefore more relevant.

    Who links to who has nothing to do with it. If Google looked at a link from Page A to Page B as meaning Page A is the more relevant page then all I would have to do is put links on Page A to all my competitors in the #1-10 spots in the SERPs and I should then be #1. That logic is severely flawed and makes no sense IMO.

    Be glad you have a link from that site that scores better than you. Google sees them as more relevant, but the fact that they also link to you shows Google that your site, too, is relevant for that particular keyword phrase. A site that ranks higher than you (and therefore seen as more relevant) just gave your site a vote in Google's eyes.

    Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
     
    Canonical, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  12. REALLY Made IN Canada

    REALLY Made IN Canada Peon

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    #12
    Provided a site is not infringing on copyrights (ie, a site is not stepping beyond "fair/use" in how it describes it's link to another site), and there is not a blatent "tainting" (grounds for legal action) of the target site's "brand/image", the prominence in the search engine ranks is often determined outside of who the link is actually about.

    Many sites, especially directory sites, often capture more traffic than the subjects of their listings. However, this is often because they add value to the listings and/or seem more "authoritative" than the target links.

    It can be frustrating to see someone else winning SE traffic "using" "your" information - especially, if the site does not send that traffic back to you.

    To increase your chances of being the top beneficiary or "your" information, in addition to conforming to all the guidelines for well-structured legitimate sites, secure a domain which defines your name, make sure that you offer the most complete and valuable information about your site (to be the "authority" on yourself), and stay on top of copyright infringments by "scrapers".
     
    REALLY Made IN Canada, Mar 7, 2009 IP
  13. twalters84

    twalters84 Peon

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    #13
    It can not have more quality content. It was pointing to my site. The content was exactly the same because of that. It cant be page optimization. Same Content exactly. Only off-site factors would come into play.

    My domain age is over 8 years and theres is closer to 7 so I should have the edge there.

    It certainly was not a gift lol.. I am not talking about a link from their site to mine. It was actually pointing at mine through their domain nameservers.

    It was rather strange. I placed their site in my server IIS and pointed it to a blank folder and their site went down. If I disable their site in IIS it points to mine again. I am just leaving it enabled and pointing to a blank folder now.
     
    twalters84, Mar 7, 2009 IP