How come a page can rank in top 10 for medium difficult keyword, with poor link profile.

[raymondlii]

Hi Moz Community,

The keyword that http://customsigncenter.com/ is ranking for is "custom sign", the keyword difficulty is 38 (according to Moz Keyword Explorer). Here are the link metrics for the page and domain:

• Page authority: 27
• Domain authority: 18
• Facebook shares: 50
• Linking RDs to the page: 7
• Linking RDs to the Root Domain: 8

From the SERP, a lot of its competitors have better link profile than this guy. How come the page http://customsigncenter.com/ can rank 6th for the keyword "custom sign". Are there any important "hidden factors" behind the scene? Thank you for any help and support.

Best,

Raymond

[EGOL]

If I search for "custom sign" where I am right now, which is about 3+ hours drive from this company, the customsigncenter.com website is no where to be found.  Instead, I see local sign companies because Google knows where I am and applies localization.

So, I am guessing that you are located near Columbus and your searches for "custom sign" are getting local influence from that area.

If you are not in the sign business in the Columbus area you should learn about this company to understand this website.  It is  owned by Yesco, one of the world's foremost sign companies, with 100 years of sign-making history, in its seventh generation of the same family, with some of the biggest name sign designer's in the world working for them, and fame from Las Vegas, NYC, LA, Undercover Boss, Vegas Vic, Stardust.

One link from the Columbus page of the Yesco site should be enough to kickdown the doors of the sign SERPs across most of Ohio.  Add that to their featured spot - right in Columbus - on Undercover Boss - and the buzz from that should be enough to rank them with few other links.

Links and mentions from this page on Moz contribute further to the abilities of their website, even though the links are nofollowed.

[dohertyjf]

I'm with EGOL on this one. It has to be a local ranking, as I am in Denver and don't see them in the top 100 for the [custom sign] query (I used to work in that space, actually). I see local sites and way down in deep pages I see random sign companies in random cities.

I bet all of the following is coming into play, beyond what EGOL said:

• Results are likely personalized to you since you have obviously been watching this site and been to it, I would guess, more than a few times.
• Localized results and they have citations squared away well. Check for local listings etc to see if they have those. If they're hyperlocal and you're local, this would explain a ton.

I do see one redirected domain into this one, so I actually wonder if they are doing something like that (buy dead domains with links, redirect them in) that is kind of undercover, if you will, but really works. Could be something else to investigate.

Hope that helps.

[signcreator]

Hi there!  Tamara here, digital marketing specialist at Custom Sign Center.  Great to hear some buzz about our company. However, while we are not owned by Yesco our owners do own the Columbus Franchise of Yesco right next door here on Valleview Drive and have enjoyed the backlinks from their site to help increase our search visibility. We are a family owned business since 1969, owned by Tim & Judy Sheehy.

While I do work hard connecting to people/businesses for backlinks we do not purchase dead sites with links to garner backlinks to our site. We do work harder on our local areas, Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, Ohio, Ocala, Orlando, & Cocoa, Fl.  These are locations where we have branches that permit and install our signs. Our manufacturing area is here in Columbus which is why you'll find us in the top 10 when you search for custom signs in the central Ohio area. You'll also see our Ocala branch, Marion Signs #7 if you're searching for custom signs in Ocala Florida.

I have only been here for about 8 months but during my time here I have concentrated on our main store Custom Sign Center. With very little budget to purchase any ads we've used Moz local to increase our visibility immensely with our corrected directory listings as well as using the crawl to fight off any errors. I am constantly connecting with marketing sites that have small business viewers, like fitsmallbusiness.com - I share their stuff, they share ours.  Also connecting with ongoing customers like Wendy's, Tim Horton's, Epcon Communities, Jerry Leggett's Peace Building Tour and the like for links and shares to benefit both of our company sites. And just thinking about the no follow links, even if Google doesn't count them, the traffic we get from those links still count!

Trust me, this is not something that has happened naturally, we work hard daily to keep moving forward. We've hit some bumps in the road along the way but we always find our way through.

[EGOL]

Nice work!  Thanks for sharing the details.

[signcreator]

As I stated earlier we do not buy dead sites and redirect them. If you're in Texas you could search for 24x24 real estate frames and see us on page 1.  I've had a few orders from there and that is what they relayed to me when asked how they found us. You might also search for custom re/max banners and probably see us on page 1. We're the only ones who work with the standards dept for RE/MAX to assist their agents in getting the size they want and a custom design that is compliant with their requirements. Most other vendors, even approved vendors do not offer more than 2 sizes of banners.

We do have all of our directories displaying correct info, and I check them routinely. I also connect on social sites with online customers to tout their event, agency or business. A lot of times they reciprocate. We also support some local charities and have run contests for military welcome home banners. Trust me we're not sitting on our thumbs over here.  Building relationships is a huge priority.

Recently I've added diagrams, which appear to be linking to sites who love diagrams. To date we have over 3k backlinks when I started there were about 300. This shows what a bit of focus and determination can accomplish with very little budget.