We can't figure out why competitors have better position(s) in Google

[wilcoXXL]

We are using MOZ analytics for some days now, and it really helps us with important information about our rankings.
I hope you guys can help us out with the following particular case;

In google.nl (dutch) we rank position #18 with the following searchterm 'sphinx 345' one of our competitors rank position #3.
We used the MOZ On Page Grade tool to find out some details about the two pages:
Our page #18: http://goo.gl/cTsbmI
Competitor page #3: http://goo.gl/qk21sM

Our page hits an A and Keyword usage for "sphinx 345" = 52
The competitors page hits an A too and Keyword usage for "sphinx 345" = 45

About the link structure; for our page there is no link data found in Open Site Explorer. The url exists about a year and a half now.
I'm also very sure we have many internal links to this url.
Does Google and other crawlers have a hard time to crawl our site?(it's a Magento site, our competitors do have custom-made e-commerce systems, maybe that has something to do with it?)

As i were saying;we can't figure this out. I hope you guys can help to get us any further.

Regards,

Wilco

[OlegKorneitchouk]

On your competitor's site, to reach that page I...

http://www.badkamerconcurrent.nl/ > Click "Sphinx" link on bottom > Click '345' in left navigation

How do I get to that page on your site?

In addition, that page has the following tag: rel="canonical" href="" /> [you should either remove it or use the correct url]

[ClaudioHeilborn]

Hi Wilco

Having a quick look I believe you have hit the nail about internal links, I believe you are lacking on those, check if you are linked with do follow links from pages inside your domain that transmits some authority from your root domain and other authoritative sections.

Your competitor has 32 internal links from his own domain, you have none...

In a quick glance I believe that’s your problem and it should quickly solved, maybe you´ll be touching your competitors back in a short time...

Let us know how you manage with this and your results when making a correct internat link building.

Cheers from a very rarely rainy day in southern spain.

[wilcoXXL]

Hello Oleg, 
Thanks for your response. We will fix the canonical problem asap, this is important.
About your first question; 
There are many ways to get to that page, for example you can get there by homepage, there are links in the footer. (check attached image)
Once you are on Sphinx page, you can select the Serie 345 link on the left navigation.

7a0k9Sl

[OlegKorneitchouk]

So there are a lot more links on your sphinx page than your competitors so a lot less link authority flows to it (you have way more filters).

As Claudio mentioned, you should get more direct links to that page from your site... "featured products" on your homepage, link from a post in your blog, mention it on category pages (i.e. alle douche).

In addition, you should add rel="prev/next" on pages that have pagination.

[wilcoXXL]

Hello Claudio,

We always doubted the internal link structure.
We do have internal links to that particular page on these pages, two examples:

http://goo.gl/SRTtn8
Click on second tab 'Specificaties' and look under the specs table.
Maybe the tabs is our problem? Does google have problem with content/links in tabs?

http://goo.gl/arxcR5
On the left side you see a 'Serie' filter (checked attached image)
This filter is also in a css div, can google have problems with this also?

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[ClaudioHeilborn]

Doing what you mention I arrive to another url

http://www.badkamerxxl.nl/f/merk-sphinx/serie-345_xs/

which is not the one you are asking for...

http://www.badkamerxxl.nl/f/merk-sphinx/serie-serie_345/

[wilcoXXL]

i think you click the first link; which is the 345XS serie, you should scroll down and click the Serie 345 link. (see attached image)

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[OlegKorneitchouk]

Google considers link location for link authority (e.g. header links get more weight than footer/sidebar links). Maybe try adding a "Featured" sidebar widget above your filters and link to your hottest selling sections (would prob improve conversions too )

[ClaudioHeilborn]

Hi again Wilco, as Olleg accurately says you must link from authoritative pages, also doubt about this link which you mention as they are very diluted and behind a tab, actually opensite doesn’t detect it nor majestic Seo. NO LINKS AT ALL....

Start linking as Olleg proposes from your root domain as featured article or promote it, or blog on it, put images with links and alts... construct a strong internal link structure and you should see immediate results. Let us know how this works and good luck!!

Cheers

[wilcoXXL]

On our home/root domain we already have links from brand logo's to the most popular brand pages.
We just fixed our canonical problem as you can see on this page: (other pages are still in page cache, they will get primed this night)
http://goo.gl/d4f2OQ

Also fixed alternate rel's and prev/next in head meta.
We also reduced the amount of filters on the brand pages:
http://goo.gl/DXIZAw which should increase the link authority.

We already had ALT tags on the product images on page(s) mentioned above.

Maybe you guys have more tips/tricks for better rankings?

[OlegKorneitchouk]

On http://www.badkamerxxl.nl/f/merk-sphinx/, in the top paragraph.. maybe mention the 345 series and link to it? That would be a strong prominent link.

You'll need to give G some time to reindex structure/links and adjust rankings.

[wilcoXXL]

We had some issues to edit these textblocks above the brandpages, but i just fixed this problem and we will start to rewrite some of those text and add some popular/important links to these textblocks asap. Thnx!

[wilcoXXL]

hi Oleg,

We fixed it. We edited the textblock and added some prominent links. Now we wait for G;)
Also we will continue to edit other page the same way.