We’ve all wondered, why a competitor’s webpage is outranking other websites. There are a number of reasons why this would happen. To save time and attention span, we’re going to give you the top 5 factors to check for why a competitor’s webpage might be outranking your own.
Keyword research isn’t all there is to ranking keywords. Don’t let competitor research get the best of you, know what to look for and know when professional SEO help is needed.
The Top 5 Reasons A Competitor’s Webpage Is Outranking Your Site Is:
Backlinks Hidden Or Visible Are Signaling Trust
Backlinks are so powerful right now, that despite the legitimacy they can still provide benefits. Checking 1st for any backlinks to both the domain itself as well as the webpage will provide some clues to what your website might need in order to outrank. The reason many won’t find any backlinks for webpages via website indexing services like AHREFs and SEMrush is mainly because the website is blocking these crawlers.
When blackhat SEO services are done, they often try to hide their tracks as not to be uncovered by SEOs and be reported. Since they are manipulating the way search engines are viewing their webpages. Sometimes all it takes is a simple webspam report to foil such efforts. Other times the blackhat SEO service is very clever and masks most of the operation, leaving little to go off of.
Content Relevancy Engages The User
You’ve heard it before, ” Content is King ” although that can be debated. What is certain is that a well crafted webpage that targets user intent via content relevancy, will convert web traffic. When website content speaks to the users the right way, the turn users into customers that easily. Google see’s these signals and will rank keywords better as a result, increasing potential web traffic. If the keyword isn’t in high competition, ranking for it won’t take much effort, hence the term keyword difficulty.
It’s not just about content message or facts, we live in the age of search engines and fake news. Facts alone don’t cut it, user optimization, design, brand trust and much more play a role in how the content is perceived. Many people can smell BS within the 1st paragraph of a webpage. And many more people click the back button after that 1st paragraph if the content is dry and stumbles to get to the point.
The Domain Has Great SEO That Boosts Webpages
Website SEO is so important that by just focusing on the domain, as a result the connecting webpages can benefit without much SEO. Many websites have bad overall SEO but have focused so much on their homepage that by proxy the other webpages can rank for keyword searches. Backlinks, social media and even the redirecting to homepage can be the cause. It’s not always a desired result, as you often can have the homepage ranking for all keywords. Which wouldn’t be good for goal conversions always, since content message can’t line up for all keyword searches on the homepage.
The Website Publishes Frequent Fresh Content
Content frequency can impact webpage keyword rankings as well. Google has already said it values fresh content and websites that publish more relevancy content that users engage with could end up outranking websites who trickle content or let content stagnate. When content is released on a regular schedule, Google takes notice, since Google’s main goal is to show users content from searches. If content is well written, and researched, outranking competitors on page 1 isn’t out of the question. Even with featured snippets, it’s possible to take content from most of the top 10 results, so develop a content posting plan.
Your Website Has SEO Problems To Fix
If a competitor’s webpage outranks your own website and the above 4 factors didn’t fit, there is greater chance that it’s not the competitor it’s your website’s SEO. While websites can rank well without backlinks, they need every on page SEO factor checked off. Sometimes it’s something as simple as a lack of a call action button, or internal linking. But most of the time, it’s the content and lack of organization of said content. Users are looking for content to even become potential customers. If they can’t find information to back up the idea of purchasing, then they will look for trust elsewhere. The SEO dance involves many twists and sidesteps, don’t step on user’s feet by focusing on goals and not the user’s journey.
Stuck With Competitor Research?
Contact SEOByMichael and schedule an SEO audit, let’s see how your website measures up against your competitors and develop an attack plan for success!
