Do you believe TLD distribution effects rankings in Google?
-
I have noticed that when looking at TLD distribution of backlinks for many websites that have grown organically, the TLD distribution is somewhat consistent depending on the style of website (I am using MajesticSEO to find this distribution data). Do you feel deviating from this TLD distribution depending on the style of website you have would cause negative effects with Google? Has there been any testing of this that you know of that you can point me to (ex: building all backlinks from .info TLDs and seeing if you rank well for given keywords)? I ask because my companies website has seen some big deviations from this and although I don't see any negative effects currently I want to make sure we create a site that stays consistent with what Google is looking for.
For example, if I look at news sites such as New York Times and Los Angeles Times, I see TLD distributions as such:
nytimes.com
.com = 59%
.gov = 14%
.org = 12%
.uk = 2%
.edu = 2%latimes.com
.com = 59%
.org = 13%
.gov = 11%
.edu = 4%
.net = 2%
.uk = 2%From that, if you are a news site, my assumption would be to try to stay consistent with around 55-65% of your links coming from .com domains, around 9-15% from .org, etc etc .
Now, looking at large blog styles sites I see this distribution:
naturalnews.com
.com = 70%
.org = 11%
.edu = 3%
.net = 2%
.gov = 1%techcrunch.com
.com = 71%
.org = 10%
.edu = 4%
.net = 3%
.gov = 1%Any input or links to tests of this would be much appreciated.
-
My pleasure. While I'm still thinking about backlink profiles, there's a post by John Doherty about analyzing your backlink profile vs. competitors based upon Domain Authority. I think this is a more worthwhile way to analyze your own backlink profile for spam. I won't speculate if Google is doing anything similar.
You can find the article here: http://www.johnfdoherty.com/three-phenomenal-excel-spreadsheets-for-link-analysis/
Also read this follow up post about what a bad backlink DA profile will look like: http://www.johnfdoherty.com/paid-links-backlink-profile-visualized/
-
Thank you for taking the time to respond. Your response seems consistent to what I would have concluded. We'll see if anyone is able to chime in with any links to testing that was done in regards to this question.
-
Good question and good answers, I would like to add, that I dont think that any one thing will get you flaged, as it is posible that something in a story about africa may be funny or important to China and may go viral, but mixed with other suss signals it well could be a reason to flag
-
I agree. I would argue that tld distribution is partly determined by link sources (i.e. what country the page is located in) and the targeted pages language/country. So a strong deviation from that will probably red flag a domain. Exampel: a page hosted in Germany, about Africa recieving tons of links from china might be fishy. A page in Poland about Germany getting links from Poland (or Germany) might be totally relevant, but with differently tld distribution.
EDIT: So the best rule of thumb is to ask yourself "If a human QA rep would look at the page and it's links, what would he think?"
-
I don't believe that it directly affects rankings, but it's certainly a reasonable method to red flag a domain for unnatural looking link profiles. It would also be natural to compare them to similar sites as you pointed out. News vs News, Gov vs Gov, Video site vs Video site, etc.
"From that, if you are a news site, my assumption would be to try to stay consistent with around 55-65% of your links coming from .com domains, around 9-15% from .org, etc etc ."
No way - I'd attempt to build all of the quality links I could - to hell with what's 'typical', doing what's typical will only get you typical results. You have to outperform to rank better, and trying to stay within a natural profile as determined by your competitors' efforts is not what makes you shine.
So, I definitely don't think going outside the typical profile would automatically have a negative affect, but I definitely think accumulating an extreme number of .info links looks spammy, and if I ran a search engine it would definitely be one method I would use for red flagging sites for manual reviews. Going outside the natural link profile might get you looked at by the webspam team, if they ever get around to it, but if you're playing by their link quality rules I don't think you need to worry. Eventually the TLD landscape is going to change from where it is now, and Google is fully aware of that and unlikely to punish you unless the links suck.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
I am searching for page ranks but all results show 0
i am searching for page ranks but all results show pr 0 when i search, doesnt matter if the site is a pr ma or a pr10, i was using scrapebox to find the backlinks but now nothing is showing as far as pr goes, i have also used various websites to check the page ranks and still get the same results. maybe its my ip but i doubt it cus i am using private proxies. any idea guys? cRbWC65
Link Building | | djgbshows0 -
Ex-Googler: “To Please Google With Your SEO, Forget About SEO”
Lets discuss, Ex-Googler (Search Quality/Webspam team) talking about SEO. http://searchengineland.com/ex-googler-to-please-google-with-your-seo-forget-about-seo-136800 The bit that got me thinking was 'title tag over optimisation' so what we looking at, shorter title tags with a max of 2 keywords? And the PR quote, does relevance come above PR/DA/PA? Thoughts?
Link Building | | activitysuper0 -
#1 in yahoo and bing, not in top 50 in google. Why is that?
Just noticed that some keywords #1 in yahoo and bing and not in top 50 in google. Some keywords. Vice Versa. #1 in google and not in top 50 in yahoo and bing . What could be the problem? Thank you
Link Building | | vadimmarusin0 -
Looking for Feedback on Rankings Dropping
Hi, I am looking for some guidance on figuring out a problem I am having with one of my clients. Their site is http://www.macton.com. They have seen a pretty significant drop in rankings for "hoist systems" "industrial turntables" and "railroad equipment." Below is my analysis and thoughts. Please let me know if you have any input you can provide me with. Hoist Systems Rankings started dropping significantly July 2nd. Their average position was around the 2nd - 3rd page. They're now in position 100. Some things I noticed is that Google is now ranking the page /freight_rail/portable-car-hoist-freight for this term, whereas a few months ago it was ranking /rail_equipment/car-hoist. I'm not sure why Google has started to rank this new page for this term when there is no reference to that keyword in the page and the other one is better suited. Industrial Turntables Rankings started dropping off in January and they have been up and down and even fell off for a bit in March. They took a deep dive May 28 - Jun 11 and are slowly picking up. I noticed that Google is also changing which page it is choosing to rank for this term. Currently it is ranking /rail_equipment/locomotive-turntables, previously it was ranking the homepage around May 28th, and before that it was /equipment/industrial-testing. Some things we thought would help this was to create a whole new page just on industrial turntables in order to rank better for this term. Another thing that I think would be highly beneficial is to do some more aggressive link building. Their top anchor text is all brand related, and very few include their target keywords.To my knowledge, I don't think they have a penguin issue, although I could be mistaken. Can anyone provide input and/or guidance on my analysis? Any suggestions?
Link Building | | TopFloor0 -
BBB.org Listings and Local Rankings
So I joined the BBB for 1 of 3 stores we have located in difference cities and states. My local rankings dropped in all cities except the one that's registered with the BBB. Coincidence? Anyone experienced something similar?
Link Building | | schmeetz0 -
Page Rank Update
I was hit by Google’s latest Page Rank update. I know “don’t be obsessed with Page Rank”, but it concerns me. I thought that I was developing a very good link profile and actually was hopeful that it would go to a PR-5 and it dropped to a PR-3. www.simply-bags.com I have another site www.keepsakes-etc.com and have done very little link building and it also dropped to a PR-3. Can anyone give me some honest feedback about my concern?
Link Building | | b4tv0 -
Is there a way to Rank above wikipedia?
Is there a way to Rank above wikipedia? Please share any strategies.. Thanks
Link Building | | DmitryP0 -
SEO Optimization is causing rankings to drop
The more I improve my site and the more links I try to get it seems that my site is just ranking worse and worse. Any ideas? domain name: www.musillawfirm.com Top Keywords wanting to rank for: Melbourne FL DUI lawyer Melbourne FL immigration lawyer cocoa FL DUI lawyer cocoa FL immigration lawyer
Link Building | | musillawfirm0