12 replies to this topic

[thatsitcreative]

Okay. I posted this question in another forum and the response I got was sarcastic and smart. I hope that doesn't happen here.

So... Here goes....

I own a website design company. I put a link in the footer of each site I create back to my homepage. Some of my competitors do the same thing. Here is the issue...

When I check competitors backlinks, it is showing that each page of the sites they have created has a seperate backlink. When I build a site, it only counts as 1 backlink. (I have checked backlinks through Majestic SEO, Link Assistant, and link:sitename search at google. For example...

Let's say I build a site that has 50 pages that are indexed by Google and my competition builds the same site. My competition is getting credit for 50 individual backlinks to their site while I only receive credit for 1 backlink. There has to be something to how I am coding vs. how my competitor is coding. I have placed the examples below. If anyone can help me figure this out, it would be greatly appreciated. Please do not respond with a smart answer like "if that is your SEO campaign, you are doing it wrong!" I am not asking if this is good for SEO or not. I am simply asking if anyone knows what I can change to make the backlinks in the footer of the sites I build count as another backlink on each page of the site.

An example of a site I built
http:// www.my three kilts . com (without the spaces of course- no I don't want any backlink credit here...Just want the question answered if possible.)

An example of my competitor's site

http:// the 315 project .com (without the spaces of course)

At the bottom left of my site you will see "Website and Graphic Design By That's It! Creative Services" That is my backlink.

On my competitor's site, at the bottom right you will see a rollover for "amcreative" that is his backlink.

I know we are both using wordpress... I have checked the code myself and cannot figure it out. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

[chrishirst]

http://www.highranki...bsites-i-build/

[Tiggerito]

The site: search is known not to provide all results.

Try registering with Google Webmaster Tools where they give you a more complete rundown.

Also, do you promote your customers websites? If not, Google may not think much of them and bother to crawl them to find your links.

And watch the above video.

[Michael Martinez]

You cannot use link research tools to determine what a search engine is doing with links. You should not be worrying about this.

[thatsitcreative]

Ok. Thank you all for the help and the information. If what the video says is true, then why is the other site outranking mine? I have checked every seo factor I can think of....

1. On-Page - Mine is almost completely the same as the competitor. Metas, site title, semantic indexing, etc.
2. Domain age - The competitive domain is a couple of years older than mine, but, I have had no real problem outranking other sites that have older domains than mine.
3. The ONLY backlinks I can find to his site are from non-relevant client site footer links. I have tried every SEO backlink checking tool I can find.

So, what am I missing here?

[Jill]

Who knows? There are hundeds of factors. You only named a handful.

[Vultren]

Jill is right- there are a ton of factors that go into it.... I'm not sure on the link building side, but your optimization can definitely be improved if you're trying to get top rankings for terms in Goldsboro NC.

I'm confused about your H1 usage too... not only that, but your title tags looks like they are directed towards search engines, not people... i'd change that too.

[chrishirst]

So, what am I missing here?

Only that most of what you have assumed are "factors" AREN'T.

[thatsitcreative]

Only that most of what you have assumed are "factors" AREN'T.

If they are not factors, then what is? Are you saying that domain age, relevant backlinks, metas, site title, semantic indexing, etc. are not factors in SEO?

I agree that my <h1> <h2> etc. tags need some help.

Also, I always run into issues with my <img alt=> needs some work as well. What should I put in the alt section for images?

The site: search is known not to provide all results.

Try registering with Google Webmaster Tools where they give you a more complete rundown.

Also, do you promote your customers websites? If not, Google may not think much of them and bother to crawl them to find your links.

And watch the above video.

Will Google Webmaster Tools help me analyze my competition as well? I have only been able to use it to analyze my own site. The problem with Google is that they say one thing and do something else.

[Jill]

First, this isn't the place for you to get a site review. The only way to know why your site isn't doing as well as you want is for it to be thoroughly reviewed by a professional.

Second, what the heck is "semantic indexing"? Sounds like one of those fake things some wannabe SEO made up.

[chrishirst]

If they are not factors, then what is? Are you saying that domain age, relevant backlinks, metas, site title, semantic indexing, etc. are not factors in SEO?

Correct! That is EXACTLY what I am saying.

Well, okay, maybe you can have the DOCUMENT title, but even that doesn't seem to have anywhere near the effect it used to have.

[thatsitcreative]

Wow! Ok. Well, thank you all for the information you were willing to share. Now, back to the original question and away from the SEO Crusade... Does ANYONE know how the competitor's site is coded in order to make that happen? If not, maybe I should be posting this on a web development forum.

As far as "Semantic Indexing"...

http://en.wikipedia....mantic_indexing

[Jill]

Oh you meant latent semantic indexing. That's not an SEO technique or something you can DO to your site.