SEO competition quesion

[thisisacoolname]

So this guy's ranking for a keyword that he didn't even use as anchor text... He has 240 backlinks, 79 referring domains but all of them are using related keywords only. They aren't using the main keyword he is ranked for. He is very optimized in his on-page SEO though.

What do you think, guys?

Is anchor text not that important in the latest google update?

Let's say the keyword I'm checking out is dog training. his on-page seo is very optimized for the term "dog training". however his off-page anchor texts are "train your chihuahua" "stop your dog from barking" etc.

No trolls please. I'm just wondering if somebody has a similar experience with this. Is this kind of competition tough to beat or not at all?

PS. I'm just getting back in the SEO game after doing some mobile apps.

 

[THUNDERELVI]

It's not easy competition, however it's not that hard as well.. Any more information on the backlinks ? What kind, platforms, PR/PA/DA breakdown etc ?
As always you can beat him with more backlinks but HQ/High PR/PA/DA ones. Authority Web 2.0 and especially PBN links would help a lot!
Also make sure your on-page SEO is perfect and you are not in the over-optimization filter!

 

[prab1996]

he may be using a underground PBN.

it's easy to block backlink checkers.

-=-

 

[thisisacoolname]

It's not easy competition, however it's not that hard as well.. Any more information on the backlinks ? What kind, platforms, PR/PA/DA breakdown etc ?
As always you can beat him with more backlinks but HQ/High PR/PA/DA ones. Authority Web 2.0 and especially PBN links would help a lot!
Also make sure your on-page SEO is perfect and you are not in the over-optimization filter!

thanks for the response thunder! can you recommend me a new tool to check out the PR of the links? I'm using marketsamurai but -correct me if i'm wrong- it looks like they aren't showing the PR of the individual backlinks anymore.

this PBN thing is new to me. looks like i need to do tons of reading to update with my seo knowledge.

are there any new awesome tools for SEO research besides market samurai?

 

[thisisacoolname]

judging from the links i see here looks like they're mostly high quality links.

 

[ikilledkenny]

I don't know what you were thinking you're gonna get here beside the "build more quality links than him" ........

no one can determine the comp without seeing the sites + you're not gonna want us to = useless thread
not here to break your balls but seriously

 

[thisisacoolname]

I don't know what you were thinking you're gonna get here beside the "build more quality links than him" ........

no one can determine the comp without seeing the sites + you're not gonna want us to = useless thread
not here to break your balls but seriously

thanks for your input. i was asking for some advice. i had some. move on

 

[BusinessMagnet]

As you said, it may be because he is optimizing the Keyword in the content of the post with niche relevant backlinks.

 

[THUNDERELVI]

thanks for the response thunder! can you recommend me a new tool to check out the PR of the links? I'm using marketsamurai but -correct me if i'm wrong- it looks like they aren't showing the PR of the individual backlinks anymore.

this PBN thing is new to me. looks like i need to do tons of reading to update with my seo knowledge.

are there any new awesome tools for SEO research besides market samurai?

You are welcome!
Yes you are right, MS only checks the competition regarding the on-site SEO, DA (domain age) and PR of the domain/page as well as generally the number of total backlinks to the domain/specific page, but it doesn't go in more depth details about the backlinks, however within MS if you click the "backlink number" it will redirect you to Majestic SEO website and you can use their service to analyze further.
After all, MS pulls the data from this website. There are paid plans as well as free ones there to fully check your competitors backlinks, take a look!

What I personally use is a website called Ahrefs! It's used also by many other IM-ers. I like their interface, and their reports are usually pretty accurate. It also includes the number of social signals.
You can check the PR, anchor text, source of the backlinks, etc..
For checking DA (domain authority) and PA (page authority) I use opensiteexplorer by Moz, it's for free!

So, as a summary:
On-site SEO check: MS or Traffic Travis (a pretty good alternative to MS and does an awesome job, plus it has a free version capped at 10 max searches per day)
Backlinks Check: Ahrefs or Majestic SEO
PA/DA Check: Opensiteexplorer

And yes, you need to do some reading
There are tons of long threads explaining PBN-s, which explain it better than me.
In short, PBN stands for private blog networks, and in a nutshell: You create your own private blog networks that are powerful authority websites without leaving footprints and then link to your money sites for powerful link juice and high rankings!
Good luck!

 

[thisisacoolname]

i'll definitely look into all the things you recommended. thanks again! I really appreciate it!

looks like i have a lot of catching up to do!

 

[Deleted member 708208]

Often times people who magically rank really well might have a private blog network backing them or some other high risk open
market but you do not see that. Then we tend to speculate what they are doing when actually it is just bad ass link juice.

-RK