Strange Ranking On 1st Page Of Google For Competitive Keyword
-
Hey all, So, I've noticed a site ranking on the first page in Google for a keyword that I have been targeting for years. The keyword is "mixtapes" and pretty competitive. The site, http://www.newyorkmixtapes.com is ranking around #4 in Google. It seemed odd to me so I looked into the site using some of the tools here. Open Explorer showed that they have minimal links. The actual site is pretty spammy also. Does anyone have any idea how this site ranked so high so fast? Is it ranking because I am located in New York? Does Google still put lots of weight on exact match domains? It's just been bothering me because it's a keyword that I put a lot of work into and then the site rolls around an ranks well for it with barely any backlinks. I just wanted to put it out there and see if I'm missing something obvious. Thanks everyone!
-
Thank you guys! It's definitely personalized results. It's still such a weak domain though to show to me so highly ranked in Google. I guess that's an exact match domain type of thing though. Sometimes I wish my site had my main keyword in it
Thank you all though for your quick responses. Sorry if it was an obvious answer.
-
Can you please take a look at this question(see link below)? It's kind of similar but Google results don't make any sense based on results from different SEOMoz tools.
http://www.seomoz.org/q/keyword-ranking-authority-information
Thanks.
-
Yeah, it's your personalized results. If you go to http://www.google.com/search?q=mixtapes&pws=0 (the &pws=0 removes personalization), you won't find it on the first page, or in the first several pages of results.
-
I couldn't find it in the first 15 pages of Google either. It could be that it's someone in your social circle that has shared it and that's what is pushing the results up higher.
One thing I like to do before I panic too much is fire up Safari, go to Edit -> Reset Safari to set everything to like it's a fresh install (clear cookies, history, etc. in one easy step), then search when I know that I have a minimum amount of personalization.
-
I believe the keyword has personalized results being shown for you. I just checked the keyword on Google as well as the keyword difficult tool and neither of those are ranking http://www.newyorkmixtapes.com on the first page. Location and a variety of other factors could be affecting your SERP page to have them at number four. Hope this helps.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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
-
Duplicate Pages
Hello, we have an issue which I'm hoping someone can help with. Our Moz system is saying that this page http://www.indigolittle.com/fees/ Is a duplicate page. We use this page purely for mobiles and we have added code to say This has been on for over a month now however Moz is still picking the page us as a High Priority Issue.
Moz Pro | | popcreativeltd0 -
My Keyword Stats are Lagging?
In several of my PRO campaigns, I'm noticing that my keyword traffic stats are several weeks behind. Any idea what is causing this? Here's today's report from a campaign: Any help or explanation is great. Thanks!
Moz Pro | | jeffpic0 -
Ranking report and language
Unfortunately I noticed a huge problem in rank tracker amd ranking report. My site is in italian and I configurate the ranking report using google italy. The problem is that the ranking is related to www.google.it but using a browser set with english language!! Infact for a specific keyword the ranking position is 8 (using english) and 12 (using italian). This is a huge problem for me and makes useless any report! F
Moz Pro | | fabrico230 -
How do i target keywords locally
I am working for a cosmetic surgeon with clinics in three geographic places. I would like to give him specific keywords that he can go after successfully. When I use the keyword tool with terms like botox cosmetic staten island or breast augmentation tarrytown, I get competitive rankings like 36% or 37%, but it doesnt tell me if there are only a few searchers doing this per month. In Google's Adwords tool, it thinks that the number fo searchers with these same terms is too small to measure, literally giving me back a dash (= insignificant traffic). However, it I use Google Adwords with more general terms, say breast augmentation surgeon, and get a medium/110 global monthly searches, when I come back to SEOmoz tool and assess the same keyword, I find that the traffic picks up doctor sites in Arizona and elsewhere, where clearly no one who wants cosmetic surgery in new York is going to fly to Arizona for it. So, how do I ensure a balance between targeting too little traffic but including the names of specific towns, and targetting more general terms but not having local prospects. Has anyone tackled this in a specific medical niche?
Moz Pro | | DianeDP0 -
Keyword Ranking weekly update didn't happen
A new campaign of mine is supposed to update its keyword rankings on Wednesdays but as of Thursday morning it didn't happen. I've got the original stats from the first few keywords I added when the campaign was set up, but nothing for the keywords that were added in the next day. Previous experience with this tool was pretty reliable so I'm just wondering if anyone is experiencing the same thing.
Moz Pro | | ninjaprecision0 -
Why site is getting ranked in top three positions on Bing and Yahoo but not in Google?
My site Business-Training-Schools.com is getting descent traffic from Bing and Yahoo but very little from Google. Can you please help me in finding out the root cause of it?
Moz Pro | | HQP0 -
Competitive Link Analysis
How can I make the a new report for the Competitive Link Analysis? My report has a date from two weeks ago and I would like to see an update.
Moz Pro | | CalgaryRealtor390