Best ways to compete with old domain names and sites?

[maxine]

Sorry if this has been covered before/recently but I couldn't find much in the search function :)

Anyway... I am trying to compete with some businesses in my local county for certain terms and phrases but it seems that no matter what I do at the moment it's hard to rank higher than the businesses that have been around for quite a long time even though I am more relevant than them in a lot of cases.

The only thing that I can see making the most difference is having domain names regardless of age that match the search terms.

I am not sure whether to go down this route so thought I would ask opinions on here first :)

Thank you SEO Gods :)

[crossdaz]

The only thing that I can see making the most difference is having domain names regardless of age that match the search terms.


It's unlikely to be so simple but yes, a key word relevant url always helps - provided that it is pertinent to the content of the page - not just keyword stuffing.

[maxine]

Thanks crossdaz,

(off to look up the term "keyword stuffing" now)...

:)

[AngliaSolutions]

I recently bought another URLin the hope that it might help a bit with site presence/traffic to compliment the anglia cv solutions sites.

Haven't noticed anything yet but still pretty new but it was cheap enough so i wont have lost much if i barked up the wrong tree. (Im sure someone will tell me that shortly!)

[maxine]

Let us know how it goes :) Interested to see how quickly these start working :) Good luck

[OldWelshGuy]

look at your competitors backlinks, and 'aquire' their strongest links.

[sirearl]

Having a keyword rich domain is a big help at present on google but you will also need some powerfull back links and pro onpage SEO.

Of course this is assuming you are in a faily high competition area,if not a good domain can often do the trick.

Earl

[maxine]

look at your competitors backlinks, and 'aquire' their strongest links.

Like directories etc? (have done that) ... what else? (loving all this free help :) )

How do you know what is their strongest link? Should I just 'acquire' all of them?

It's half term this week and I am ready for an SEO blitz! (well, I use that term loosely of course due to limited knowledge, skill, technical ability, but am working my way through loads of SEO threads on here and can say that I am getting slightly addicted to this SEO malarky :) )

[maxine]

Having a keyword rich domain is a big help at present on google but you will also need some powerfull back links and pro onpage SEO.

Of course this is assuming you are in a faily high competition area,if not a good domain can often do the trick.

Earl

Well, I am mighty peed off as at the moment a flipping facebook special domain name has knocked me off the position I did have!!

Can't keep up with it all! :)

[sirearl]

look at your competitors backlinks, and 'aquire' their strongest links.

Good advice but you really need to find stronger links than them to do the trick if they have age on there side.

Earl

[maxine]

Of course this is assuming you are in a faily high competition area,if not a good domain can often do the trick.

Earl

No, not that competitive, but more so than quality-whatever-it-was on that other thread.

It says 489,000 searches on google (the term I want is in my sig) if I have understood that right.

Have a l o n g way to go but it's all fun :)

[Birmingham]

looks like you're really looking for all-round SEO.

but if the "old" competitor is slacking on quantity of content, then you can make lots of pages on your sites to pick up traffic for long-tail search terms that he might not have pages very relevant to.

[maxine]

Yeah I am Birmingham.

Trying to use a lot of the tips on here but when I look at those that rank higher than me it doesn't look on the surface as if they are doing some of those things and the content appears pretty weak (not that relevant, not in the headings or titles, keywords not used very much, not many links) so am a bit bemused but then there are a few that look much more serious

:)

[Birmingham]

Well, it's often the case that medium-competitivity niches are there for the taking if an SEO expert desires, because all the other SEO experts are making bigger money in more competitive sectors

[crossdaz]

No, not that competitive, but more so than quality-whatever-it-was on that other thread.

It says 489,000 searches on google (the term I want is in my sig) if I have understood that right.

Have a l o n g way to go but it's all fun :)

If it's Telemarketing for Accountants than it shouldn't be too difficult. What you need is some good quality backlinks with that term as the anchor text.

Don't waste your time with directories and low value links - look for a handful of 'in-content' links from sites with decent pr.

[david64]

You can buy an established domain that already has a lot of links pointing to it. It works well, even if the domain's previous site was irrelevant. Although it is obviously better if it is relevant as then you get the benefit of the relevant link text. However, this is not the sort of thing Google would encourage you do.

[adventurelife]

Good quality links is what to spend your time on. Just seen a supplier of mine arrive on page one from no where on that back of one new link from the BBC.

[sirearl]

Good quality links is what to spend your time on. Just seen a supplier of mine arrive on page one from no where on that back of one new link from the BBC.

Absolutely a couple of links from the right sites is worth hundreds from lesser sites.

working hard to get the quality links pays big time ,even that buffoon Mayor Boris links to me but I don't hold a grudge.:)

Earl

[eventdomain]

How do you know what is their strongest link? Should I just 'acquire' all of them?


Basically, all links pretty much help in some way. Links will:


deliver visitors
help your Google rankings
You must have links, but keep them relevant.

Always link with the target market in mind for best conversions.

[BusinessIdeas]

You can buy an established domain that already has a lot of links pointing to it. It works well, even if the domain's previous site was irrelevant. Although it is obviously better if it is relevant as then you get the benefit of the relevant link text. However, this is not the sort of thing Google would encourage you do.

How do you find these domains that already have links pointing to them?
Sorry if this is a silly question :redface:

[eventdomain]

How do you find these domains that already have links pointing to them?


There aren't any fast routes to find secret 'up for sale' domains I'm afraid.

Such amazing domains won't be available anyway.

[crossdaz]

How do you find these domains that already have links pointing to them?
Sorry if this is a silly question :redface:

They aren't up for sale until you ask :)

[maxine]

Right,

Have now bought telemarketingforaccountants.com and need to decide what to do with it ie; point it to main website or have independant content.

Have also phoned/emailed some relevant companies for links so fingers crossed.

Checked my rankings today and I have gone backwards (great) so either what I am doing is crap or they are all working much harder with their efforts or there is a time lag.

Can I get penalised for trying? lol

[david64]

How do you find these domains that already have links pointing to them?
Sorry if this is a silly question :redface:

You could look for domains for sale. Lost, domains disappear like UFO sightings.

[david64]

Can I get penalised for trying? lol

If you are putting up thin doorway or link farm sites they are liable to get bludgeoned (http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1387/1226322977_254b4bdfcf.jpg) by Cutts and Co.

[maxine]

If you are putting up thin doorway or link farm sites they are liable to get bludgeoned (http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1387/1226322977_254b4bdfcf.jpg) by Cutts and Co.

eek

"thin doorway"?

"link farm sites"?

Don't understand :|

[Hattey]

eek

"thin doorway"?

"link farm sites"?

Don't understand :|

I am definately vacating this thread now - if you are confused can you imagine what I am feeling right now?!?!

Hattey :D

[david64]

"thin doorway"?

These are content-thin sites that are setup with the intention of getting traffic to (usually by means that Google would condem) and directing that traffic to another site.

"link farm sites"?

Sites that only exist to manipulate search engines through hyperlinks.

----

Basically, if you are doing really quick ,grab n' dash stuff to try and get up the SERPs, those sites risk penalisation or total removal from Google.

The aim of search engines is to provide the highest quality results. Quality by nature takes time. Although Google's search application is a series of processes devoid of intelligence, it is possible to 'game' the system by donig things like registering keyword match domains and putting quick punt sites on them. This is not in the interest of search engines nd they make take some sort of action against it.

As mentioned, search engines encorage quality, investment in your website and not doing things just because of traffic from organic SERPs. If you are devising ways to get results as quickly as possible, be prepared for some lessons along the way.

Outsiders to SEO often think that there are a few quick tweaks you can do to beat the "big boys" or get good results. It's not the case, you tend to be up against people who have years on you and you can't just blast them out of the water in a day or a week. Some SEO campaigns may take 6 months+ tp get the desired results. By their very nature, search engines are hard to fool overnight as to try to do so can produce un-natural spikes.

[crossdaz]

Checked my rankings today and I have gone backwards (great) so either what I am doing is crap or they are all working much harder with their efforts or there is a time lag.

Can I get penalised for trying? lol

Making changes when your site is not well established will generally cause a few ups and downd. Even good changes can take a while to bed in.

It's like google comes by and thinks 'mmm, I thought I knew what this site was about - now they've moved stuff around and I'm not so sure now?'

I wouldn't have bought another domain tbh but you can redirect your existing site to that domain. Set your global preference in web master tools to UK and away you go.

You'll need one of those geeky types to sort out the redirects for you - but it's not too difficult :rolleyes:

Doorway pages, thin sites etc are spammy one or two page sites btw

[crossdaz]

Some SEO campaigns may take 6 months+ tp get the desired results. By their very nature, search engines are hard to fool overnight as to do so can prodpuce unantual spikes.

Yeah, I'd agree and maybe add that one should look at maybe 12 months or more to build a good solid site - just try telling people :rolleyes:

[sirearl]

eek

"thin doorway"?

"link farm sites"?

Don't understand :|

If your putting up a site with just a couple of pages or less.:)

Make sure the pages have plenty of relevant content to the subject you are after on the engines.

Many index pages can contain as much content as the average 10 page site,just make it nice and wordy.

some people says a lot but don't do much.Going around scaring the kids he should be ashamed of himself.;)

Earl

[maxine]

Well I have 65 pages including the client login pages (about 20) so that doesn't sound like it is "thin"

The links are all relevant and include sites that link back to mine.

I haven't changed the layout much in terms of pages ... just changed titles, headings, sub headings, and some content, and keywords.

Things I have on my list now from this thread and some others include checking and fixing any broken links, put a site map on (anyone got a good example?)

Buying the domain name was more to secure it than anything else at the moment until I can figure out a good use for it as don't want to point the whole site to it as we don't just do telemarketing for accountants :)

Anything I should do next?

Appreciate that this isn't going to happen overnight btw :)

[crossdaz]

Appreciate that this isn't going to happen overnight btw :)

Just as well :)

A sitemap can be just a list of each page - maybe categorise it to look nice but that's all you need.
Stick a link to it at the bottom of your homepage - 'sitemap' and that's it.

Make sure all your the links you get have your keyphrase or 'variations of' as the anchor text - links are nice but anchor text is even nicer ;)

The domain you bought - keep it up your jumper as they say?

[maxine]

Gotcha! :)

[eventdomain]

Have also phoned/emailed some relevant companies for links so fingers crossed.

Suggest getting lots of content, before requesting link swaps.