Question - Wrong article ranking

Birdiemachine · Oct 30, 2023

Hi,
First of I want to thank the forum as I have learned a lot on here! But today I come here once again for your wisdom as I have encountered a problem with one of my sites. I will post the exact problem below but using a different niche then my own.

The problem is that the wrong article is ranking for certain keywords and three articles have been impacted.

-The best mini vacuum - Ranks for all three terms
-The best small vacuum
-The best vacuum

The solution for "small vacuum" was easy, there I just redirected that url to "mini vacuum", and I rank at the top for both search terms. Even though CTR is a bit smaller its worth it as its a decent size kw. The problem is that "mini vacuum" ranks 9 at the serp with "the best vacuum" nowhere to be found at most times (once in a while it pops up at 15th place). Best vacuum has a few really good and powerful backlinks pointed to it, and I would guess it would rank quite a bit higher if it were alone on that search term.

I have tried to send one backlink with exact match anchor to show google wich url is the most relevant, but to no luck.
So BHW, what is the solution for me here? Just continue to build and wait or can something be done? It has been a problem for over a month now.

Best regards
Birdiemachine

tazarbm · Oct 30, 2023

Birdiemachine said:
The problem is that the wrong article is ranking for certain keywords and three articles have been impacted.

this is usually a content optimization issue (google thinks that other pages are better optimized for your target keyword than the page you think. The solution is to optimize all pages for their main keywords properly, you can use tools like Neuron Writer, Frase, etc for this)

Birdiemachine said:
The best vacuum

from my experience, all keywords that are like "the best [whatever]" are BRUTAL keywords to rank for no matter what the keywords tool tell you. They are buyer keywords, and they (usually) have a lot of search volume, so everyone targets them. I'm actually surprised that you manage to rank #15 for such a keyword, although...

Birdiemachine said:
Best vacuum has a few really good and powerful backlinks pointed to it

...this justifies the rankings

Birdiemachine said:
I would guess it would rank quite a bit higher if it were alone on that search term.

what do you mean?

Birdiemachine said:
The best mini vacuum
The best small vacuum

both of these keywords have the same intent (they're synonyms of each other), so it's no surprise that one of the articles ranks for both of these keywords since they're the same.

Birdiemachine said:
So BHW, what is the solution for me here? Just continue to build and wait or can something be done? It has been a problem for over a month now.

1 month means nothing in today's SEO. If your niche / keywords are tough it could take months for the rankings to improve

I would say you shouldn't hit the panic button just yet and keep on building up your site's content, topical authority, and (normal) authority by building more links (niche-relevant links preferably). Also, work on your internal linking if it's not up to par as google likes to see relevant pages linking to other relevant pages within the silo.

And you can get a bit more aggressive with exact and partial match anchors if you've not reached 4-5% yet

Birdiemachine · Oct 31, 2023

First off, thank you for your reply!

tazarbm said:
this is usually a content optimization issue (google thinks that other pages are better optimized for your target keyword than the page you think. The solution is to optimize all pages for their main keywords properly, you can use tools like Neuron Writer, Frase, etc for this)

Will look over the articles once again. And look into the tools you suggested as I haven't used any tools for writing before.

tazarbm said:
from my experience, all keywords that are like "the best [whatever]" are BRUTAL keywords to rank for no matter what the keywords tool tell you. They are buyer keywords, and they (usually) have a lot of search volume, so everyone targets them. I'm actually surprised that you manage to rank #15 for such a keyword, although...

Forgot to mention that my site is in Swedish so comp are way lower than for the English sites targeting similar keywords. And always manually check comp by looking at competitors actual backlinks using the free backlink checker of Ahrefs.

tazarbm said:
what do you mean?

That the "best vacuum" has quite a few more and better links than the article that ranks for the KW, hence i believe that it would mean better rankings if I can just get the right one there, haha.

tazarbm said:
both of these keywords have the same intent (they're synonyms of each other), so it's no surprise that one of the articles ranks for both of these keywords since they're the same.

The products are different as my niche actually have different sizes for small and mini, but when I read what you wrote it makes a lot of sense. To google mini and small are the same and for ranking its google that needs to be pleased.

tazarbm said:
1 month means nothing in today's SEO. If your niche / keywords are tough it could take months for the rankings to improve

I would say you shouldn't hit the panic button just yet and keep on building up your site's content, topical authority, and (normal) authority by building more links (niche-relevant links preferably). Also, work on your internal linking if it's not up to par as google likes to see relevant pages linking to other relevant pages within the silo.

And you can get a bit more aggressive with exact and partial match anchors if you've not reached 4-5% yet

This is what I'm doing and am posting every week and building a few links here and there, very hard to get Swedish backlinks that isn't crap though (same reason comp is low) so get what i can from .se domains, sometimes I sneak in a more powerful English link and a web 2.0 or 2 where content is very relevant. Am quite aggressive with partials and variations, but only done one link with exact anchor. Most links have brand anchor.

Really appreciate you took the time to respond!
Best regards
/Birdiemachine

tazarbm · Oct 31, 2023

Birdiemachine said:
Will look over the articles once again. And look into the tools you suggested as I haven't used any tools for writing before.

if you're using a popular SEO plugin (RankMath, Yoast, etc) those can offer good optimization tips, too, you don't need to buy a separate service for this)

Birdiemachine said:
Forgot to mention that my site is in Swedish so comp are way lower than for the English sites targeting similar keywords. And always manually check comp by looking at competitors actual backlinks using the free backlink checker of Ahrefs.

yeah, the comp might be lower in Sweden... But checking the links alone is not enough, you should also check the authority (although, backlinks are always a direct cause for high authority), topical authority, content quality, etc. Google factors all of these in when assessing the quality of sites and deciding where to rank pages...

Birdiemachine said:
That the "best vacuum" has quite a few more and better links than the article that ranks for the KW, hence i believe that it would mean better rankings if I can just get the right one there, haha.

got you! And fair point...

Birdiemachine said:
The products are different as my niche actually have different sizes for small and mini, but when I read what you wrote it makes a lot of sense. To google mini and small are the same and for ranking its google that needs to be pleased.

yep, that's how it goes usually. The retarded googlebot needs to be pleased regardless of whether or not it makes sense

Birdiemachine said:
very hard to get Swedish backlinks that isn't crap though (same reason comp is low) so get what i can from .se domains

that's the norm with non-english markets..

Did you ask in the marketplace (the WTB forum more specifically)? It's a pretty big (and scary) place, I'm sure someone will be able to find something for you behind the counter

Birdiemachine said:
sometimes I sneak in a more powerful English link and a web 2.0 or 2 where content is very relevant. Am quite aggressive with partials and variations, but only done one link with exact anchor. Most links have brand anchor.

hmm, nothing wrong here. English backlinks are still good...

Birdiemachine said:
Really appreciate you took the time to respond!
Best regards
/Birdiemachine

No problem, man! Good luck with your thingy

Birdiemachine · Nov 1, 2023

tazarbm said:
if you're using a popular SEO plugin (RankMath, Yoast, etc) those can offer good optimization tips, too, you don't need to buy a separate service for this)

Ah, use Yoast so will look them over again.

tazarbm said:
yeah, the comp might be lower in Sweden... But checking the links alone is not enough, you should also check the authority (although, backlinks are always a direct cause for high authority), topical authority, content quality, etc. Google factors all of these in when assessing the quality of sites and deciding where to rank pages...

Yes always check content quality too. But very few sites have topical authority in Swedish serp. Most are big review sites that go after all the bigger key words regardless of niche. Example: Rare to find a kitchen site that ranks top for frying pans, and extremely rare to find a niche frying pan website. I try to beat them by making one website that just focus on one product, and to be fair it seems to work pretty well as there are a lot of small keywords not targeted at all.

tazarbm said:
that's the norm with non-english markets..

Did you ask in the marketplace (the WTB forum more specifically)? It's a pretty big (and scary) place, I'm sure someone will be able to find something for you behind the counter

Yes, have ventured there too haha. Either very expensive or about the same quality. FB groups has been the best option so far.

tazarbm said:
hmm, nothing wrong here. English backlinks are still good...

Seems like they work, but thing I shouldn't overdo them as its quite weird for only eng sites linking to a Swedish site.

tazarbm said:
that's the norm with non-english markets..

Did you ask in the marketplace (the WTB forum more specifically)? It's a pretty big (and scary) place, I'm sure someone will be able to find something for you behind the counter

tazarbm said:
No problem, man! Good luck with your thingy

Thank you!

tazarbm · Nov 2, 2023

Birdiemachine said:
Yes always check content quality too. But very few sites have topical authority in Swedish serp. Most are big review sites that go after all the bigger key words regardless of niche. Example: Rare to find a kitchen site that ranks top for frying pans, and extremely rare to find a niche frying pan website. I try to beat them by making one website that just focus on one product, and to be fair it seems to work pretty well as there are a lot of small keywords not targeted at all.

I'll be honest, I don't know enough about the Swedish market to say anything, so I'll leave this discussion to someone else. Besides, you do seem to know what you're doing, so you won't be needing my advice in this regard

Birdiemachine said:
Yes, have ventured there too haha. Either very expensive or about the same quality. FB groups has been the best option so far.

yeah, FB groups can be a gold mine if you know how to harvest them. Kudos to you for succeeding with them, I've always sucked at social media (well, I never liked it to begin with), and the only time I joined a FB group I got banned 2 days later because I posted a link

Birdiemachine said:
Seems like they work, but thing I shouldn't overdo them as its quite weird for only eng sites linking to a Swedish site.

it is weird, but hey, as long as google doesn't care and keeps you ranked why would you care? Just milk the cow for all it's worth, and when the Z day comes you can move on...

l0cke · Nov 3, 2023

Birdiemachine said:
Hi,
First of I want to thank the forum as I have learned a lot on here! But today I come here once again for your wisdom as I have encountered a problem with one of my sites. I will post the exact problem below but using a different niche then my own.

The problem is that the wrong article is ranking for certain keywords and three articles have been impacted.

-The best mini vacuum - Ranks for all three terms
-The best small vacuum
-The best vacuum

The solution for "small vacuum" was easy, there I just redirected that url to "mini vacuum", and I rank at the top for both search terms. Even though CTR is a bit smaller its worth it as its a decent size kw. The problem is that "mini vacuum" ranks 9 at the serp with "the best vacuum" nowhere to be found at most times (once in a while it pops up at 15th place). Best vacuum has a few really good and powerful backlinks pointed to it, and I would guess it would rank quite a bit higher if it were alone on that search term.

I have tried to send one backlink with exact match anchor to show google wich url is the most relevant, but to no luck.
So BHW, what is the solution for me here? Just continue to build and wait or can something be done? It has been a problem for over a month now.

Best regards
Birdiemachine

Try gathering high-quality links and improve the content's relevance and also consider using 301 redirects if needed to boost its ranking

Birdiemachine · Nov 6, 2023

l0cke said:
Try gathering high-quality links and improve the content's relevance and also consider using 301 redirects if needed to boost its ranking

Yes, I am building links at a slow but steady pace. Have tried some things with the content the last days to see if it can help. Will come back to this thread to share what worked if what I have done succeeds in ranking the right article.

Thank you for your response!

NeedMyLink · Nov 6, 2023

Quick tip: tighten on-page SEO for "best vacuum." Adjust the title tag, H1, and ensure the keyword's peppered in the content. Internally link to it from the "mini vacuum" page using "best vacuum" as anchor text. Give it some time, might just be the algo sorting itself out.

Birdiemachine · Nov 7, 2023

maxmayer said:
Quick tip: tighten on-page SEO for "best vacuum." Adjust the title tag, H1, and ensure the keyword's peppered in the content. Internally link to it from the "mini vacuum" page using "best vacuum" as anchor text. Give it some time, might just be the algo sorting itself out.

Thank you for your answer!
I have done exactly this, but so far no results. But will give it more time.

Birdiemachine · Dec 6, 2023

Hi again,
Thought i should update how its going as the people in this thread took the time to answer. So far i have optimized the content for the respective keywords, added links with anchors relevant to the articles and taking care of the site in general by posting new content every week.

So far the results are: That the wrong article still ranks, and in fact has climbed to spot 8 on google.

But will continue on this path and slowly continue to add links that are very relevant to the respective articles.

Best regards.

Birdiemachine · Jan 20, 2024

Update
If anyone finds this thread later on I do think its good if I posted the results of the things I tried to fix the problem I had, so here it goes.

The right article is now ranking at position 3-4 on the first page. The solution to the problem was to:
1. Optimize the content, both in the article that was in the wrong place, and the one I was trying to rank.
2. Building backlinks, both to the article I wanted to rank, but also to homepage to increase overall domain authority.
3. Keep posting new articles regularly as I have noticed that google seem to increase rankings and like the site more when I do so.

I dont know if you have to do all the things above, but it is what worked for me so far.

Side note: Keyword seems bigger than i was expecting and it get tons of impressions but CTR is still pretty low due to not having the top spot. So now comes the next challenge of ranking it at the top.

Best regards
Birdiemachine

Question - Wrong article ranking

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