Why a terrible website ranks number 1??

[MarnusW]

Hi,

I'm an SEO newbie.

A couple of months ago I launched a new E-Commerce website for my client :

http://www.corporategiftsshop.co.za

The site has over 1000 pages indexed in Google. I've done some link building and on-page SEO for the keyword terms :

corporate gifts
promotional items
promotional gifts

Currently the website ranks number 31 for "Corporate Gifts" in Google.co.za

What I cannot comprehend, is that the site which ranks number 1 is simply shocking!

http://www.corporategifts.co.za/

It is a single, static webpage with all links pointing to another website : http://www.promogifts.co.za

It has 1 back link and a page rank of zero, yet it still ranks number 1? Can anyone give me a reason or some insight into this as it has me stumped..

Some of the other sites in the top 5 are also poor, yet they still rank high.

Our site has a Page rank of 5 and 67 unique domains which links to it (  according to our webmaster tools ) yet it still only manages a 31 ranking??

Any advise would be greatly appreciated as I need to make sense of this, otherwise hang up my SEO gloves..

Regards,

Marnus.

[SanketPatel]

Hi,

Please check these three sites in opensite explorer. Your site has less backlinks and domain authority and social presence then this site http://www.promogifts.co.za/ and it contains keyword in it's domain.

http://www.corporategifts.co.za/  This site contains corporate gifts keywords in their domain thats why it has top ranking. If you search with corporate gifts shop then your site appear on 2nd position.

[MarnusW]

Hi,

Yes it does, but that still does not explain why the site www.coprorategifts.co.za ranks number 1 for the term "corporate gifts"

Surely having just the keywords in your domain name cannot be the main ranking factor? I thought Google did not give that much weight anymore?

Regards,

Marnus.

[SanketPatel]

hi,

Please check both site in opensite explorer www.coprorategifts.co.za has 67% links from .co.za domain and you get only 33% If you get relevant backlinks and dofollow links then you can also beat that site. Also check keyword density of that site is has higher keyword density for corporate gifts compare to your site.  They put keyword in title and also in H1 tag so Google gives more preference to that site compare to yours. Do link building which have .co.za extension so it will help you to rank higher.

[MarnusW]

I checked www.coprorategifts.co.za in OpenSite Explore and it says :

No Data Available for this URL

Site only has 2 Pages indexed by Google as well..

[SanketPatel]

<cite>www.corporategifts.co.za/</cite> <cite>are you check this domain ??? because i cheeked this domain and it has many indexed pages and 10 backlinks. I also check in</cite> ahrefs.com it has 8 Dofollow links.

[MarnusW]

Hi,

My Client Website is www.corporategiftsshop.co.za

The site which ranks number 1 is www.corporategifts.co.za ( Does not return any data in OpenSiteExplorer )

[MarnusW]

I checked without the WWW. I checked OpenSiteEx sing the full domain www.corporategifts.co.za and it returned only 3 domains which link to the site

[SanketPatel]

Ya it is redirecting, it open with or without www. but see  with www it has 10 links and domain authority is also higher than yours and 67 % links comes from .co.za domain. so my suggestions are that if you increase keyword density and add that keyword in H1 tag then you can also beat that site. Try to do relevant and dofollw  link building. If you get backlinks from .co.za domains the it will also boost your ranking.

[MarnusW]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've built numerous links from Relevant .co.za sites, but I see Google has not indexed them as yet. Not sure hat I can do to speed things up a bit? Still blows my mind that such a site can rank number 1. I thought google now rewards content and quality?

[SanketPatel]

Hi,

If you have built good links then wait for some days Google will crawl your site. I suggest you should do local listing in .co.za and get backlinks from local directories of .co.za. SO it will good for your site for getting top rank.

[Jacques-Serfontein]

Very good question,Marnus.I also checked other websites such as giftwrap is also ranking high but has a low DA.

[johan8]

I know this is an old thread but both these websites are on the 1st page now hahahah