Does you page need to be unique to rank

[seoanalytics]

What I mean by unique is :

Let's imagine I want to rank one "seo ranking factors."

In order to compete do I need to have (in terms of design) that is totally different than everything out there or can I rank with a page that is presented in a very similar way than everything out there but with different content.

Thank you,

[KevinBudzynski]

The overall look and feel is critical, but is secondary to content. Create original, compelling and useful content will help you get ranked. To get high rankings, specifically for competitive keywords, will take more than that. So yes, a site that the template is similar to someone else will not matter much as the content. Just make sure the template is responsive and user-friendly. Good luck!

[seoanalytics]

Thank you but just one more thing.

On competitive keywords you say it takes something additional, what is it, other than content and overall look and feel.

and by the way what do you mean by competitive keywords. Do you look at the difficulty in keyword explorer ?

Do you mean for example that with a difficulty of 13 I can rank just with content and no links to the page but I get to 20 or 25 I need links or traffic to that page otherwise it will be hard to rank even with good content correct ?

Or can I rank on a competitive keyword without traffic or link and just excellent content but it will just take more time ?

Thank you,

[KevinBudzynski]

**On competitive keywords you say it takes something additional, what is it, other than content and overall look and feel. **Some off-page--specifically inbound links

**and by the way what do you mean by competitive keywords. Do you look at the difficulty in keyword explorer ? **Yes, you can do that. Typically one word term that is in high demand (ie - many sites are trying to rank).

Do you mean for example that with a difficulty of 13 I can rank just with content and no links to the page but I get to 20 or 25 I need links or traffic to that page otherwise it will be hard to rank even with good content correct ? Yes, as competition decrease, the easier you could rank with less effort. These are typically the long-tail terms.

Or can I rank on a competitive keyword without traffic or link and just excellent content but it will just take more time ? It's possible, but most unlikely.

Good luck!

[seoanalytics]

What difficulty score do you consider too competitive to rank without links ?

Thank you for your replies they are very helpful.