How did less link overtake my site from nowhere?

Pam Danny

Elite Member

Feb 9, 2019

1,979

356

• Feb 17, 2019

• #1

Are links more important than visitors?

My site is about 3 months old and I was doing all sorts of good seo (white hat and good black hat).
I got to 7th position for my preferred Long Tail Key Phrase.
I have over 300 backlinks from related keyphrases and related niche sites/ related intitle sites.
I receive about 200-300 visitors per day (Jetpack says about 40-70 via search)
But from nowhere, this website has come to kick me down to 9th (and one of those I beat is now in 8th).
The thing is that these sites have very few backlinks (11 and 53 each).
But I know they are old and seem to have much more visitors.

So I am wondering how they are able to beat me off the 7th position?
Is it the visitor count?

 

mhtro

BANNED

Dec 3, 2017

1,411

1,892

• Feb 17, 2019

• #2

Google results manipulation. People don't talk about this but it works

 

nSnoopy

Supreme Member

Jun 8, 2013

1,292

1,115

• Feb 17, 2019

• #3

Old domain+PBN links+Good content maybe?

 

Pam Danny

Elite Member

Feb 9, 2019

1,979

356

• Feb 17, 2019
• Thread Starter Thread Starter

• #4

mhtro said:

Google results manipulation. People don't talk about this but it works

Click to expand...

Hi,
Can you explain further? How is this done, and is there a penalty to it?

 

Pam Danny

Elite Member

Feb 9, 2019

1,979

356

• Feb 17, 2019
• Thread Starter Thread Starter

• #5

nSnoopy said:

Old domain+PBN links+Good content maybe?

Click to expand...

Old domain, maybe yes, but PBN, I doubt. I have checked their backlinks, they are mostly irrelevant and unrelated to the niche.
Their content is normal content that is available in millions of sites in same niche (sports betting)

 

Geasy

Elite Member

Jr. VIP

Jul 26, 2016

2,267

3,646

• Feb 17, 2019

• #6

It can be CTR (Click Through Rate). People have clicked on your site, didn't like the content and turned back, clicked another article.

 

mhtro

BANNED

Dec 3, 2017

1,411

1,892

• Feb 17, 2019

• #7

Pam Danny said:

Hi,
Can you explain further? How is this done, and is there a penalty to it?

Click to expand...

There is obviously a penalty to this, Google it. We don't discuss this on public forums because you know, google

 

seocrab

Elite Member

May 2, 2013

1,579

1,991

• Feb 17, 2019

• #8

a 3 month old domain is always going to be unstable with rankings. Don't get too hung up on position number for a single keyword, work on adding more topical content so your site gets established as an authority in your niche.

 

ahriyu

Regular Member

Nov 6, 2016

239

80

• Feb 17, 2019

• #9

It's probably hidden PBN, you cannot check it with ahrefs, majestic, semrush or popular tools because they are blocking it

 

Webbers UX

Elite Member

Apr 3, 2010

4,944

5,288

• Feb 17, 2019

• #10

In addition to the hundreds of other factors...just keep working on the site and growing it.
Time tells all

 

LGNDFRVR23

Regular Member

Jan 23, 2018

352

145

• Feb 17, 2019

• #11

It might be the content. People just hit back and spend their time reading somewhere else. What’s your Bounce rate and sessions time?

 

jamie3000

Elite Member

Executive VIP

Jr. VIP

Jun 30, 2014

13,752

5,226

• Feb 17, 2019

• #12

ahriyu said:

It's probably hidden PBN, you cannot check it with ahrefs, majestic, semrush or popular tools because they are blocking it

Click to expand...

There are other ways of finding these links ;-)

 

Pam Danny

Elite Member

Feb 9, 2019

1,979

356

• Feb 19, 2019
• Thread Starter Thread Starter

• #13

Thanks to all of you for your tit bits. Its obvious I cant do much more than work on my own site - mostly articles