Perplexed?

[MaxOtto]

Hi! We've been using SEOMOZ on a client's site for a while now. We've been working to improve both onpage and offpage metrics and optimization. Out of nowhere another site has moved to the top position in Google. I don't understand it. In SEO MOZ' dashboard we blow them away in every category. All they have is a blog roll link that is getting picked up as a link on a blog and a couple articles on another blog.Plus they have the keyword in their domain name and title tag. That's about it.

We create new unique content each week and have been following the Google rules. Just wonder if this isn't all Voodoo!

Any ideas?

Here's a 5 minute video that shows.

http://screencast.com/t/36c7PxkL1

[ResslerMotors]

I don't know if this is the case, but occasionally there are ranking spasms.  For example:

I ranked #2 for the search "City Car Dealerships" even though I am located over 150 miles away.  To make things even more complicated, I had used that phrase one time in all of my pages of content, and did so as a comparison.  For all intensive purposes I shouldn't have ranked that well for it.  Anyway, I stayed at that position for about 2 weeks, and have since dropped down to page two - where I should probably rank.

My advice would be to keep checking things out, but don't stress too much unless it lasts more than a few days.

[RDK]

This is one of the most frustrating phenomenon in SEO- you kill the competition on every level, yet your most prized keyword leaves you in 2nd.  If you're tracking your high-value keyword (and a slew of others), you will probably notice constant flux in rank for most terms, even if only by 1 position.  I wouldn't be surprised if what you're seeing is temporary.  A client of mine struggles constantly to keep the #1 position for a high-value term and, without fail, temporarily falls to as low as #3.  Sometimes that temporary lasts longer than others.  In my experience, the most effective tool for quickly returning to paradise has been keyword-rich links from moderate to high PR pages.  Sometimes, a few internal links that use the keyword/phrase in context does the trick. But, Google is getting smarter and these old tricks aren't the near guarantee that they use to be.  People are included in the algorithm now and I'm guessing you've already done this, so back to the drawing board...

The .org domain may be giving the site some footing.  What I would consider to be a much more significant factor- The competition has more on-page text, making it more informative (in a textual sense), while the ultimate site is more obviously commercial in my opinion.  I'm also suspicious of the affiliate advertising possibly carrying some weight for your competitor.

All this said, the competitor's site is much more informative and less commercially-oriented.  Obviously, changing the content will affect conversion, so weighing the pros/cons of position vs. conversion will probably have to be talked about. You can either hope that this is a temporary change that can be fixed by a good link or tackle the real problem.  Google is getting smarter, so informative webpages are creeping past their more commercial competitors.  I'd argue that 99% of the web is commercial, but what dominates your pages- persuasive advertisement or information?

[RyanKent]

Hi Max.

I understand your frustration and we have all experienced similar issues at times. A partial explanation would be along the lines of what RDK and Ressler shared with respect to the results being temporary. Google considers "freshness" of content as a ranking factor in their algorithm (QDF). It is not uncommon for you to have a rank in Google knocked down due to a competitor publishing new content on a given topic. Your ranking is normally regained after the QDF boost wears off.

To offer more specific feedback, can you share a couple examples of specific search terms where the other site is beating your client? I watched your video and see you are winning on the domain offpage metrics, but onpage and page specific results are huge and can't be ignored on any level.

[ResslerMotors]

Funny, I forgot about that aspect.  Great answer!

[AlanMosley]

I did a scan on your site, and you have quite a few technical issues. You are leaking LJ unnecessarily
You have a lot of unnecessary 301 redirects, I would direct the links directly to the correct page, each redirect leaks LJ
You also have a lot of irrelevant link text, again leaking LJ in the way of relevance
You also have a lot of pages blocked by noindex.
Quite a few broken links
Canonical issues, again wasting juice
Also you code is very messy, heaps of css and script, and huge blocks of JSon objects. You should get them into css and js files and off the page

This does not answer why your competitor ranks , but you could be doing a lot better yourself.

I think of it like this, if a fisherman has holes in his fishing net, he has to do a lot more fishing that a man who does not, if you have a lot of violations in your site, you need a lot more links

I see a lot of this
The link to "http://www.ultimatesandbagtraining.com/?p=178" has resulted in HTTP redirection to "http://www.ultimatesandbagtraining.com/sandbag-fitness/getting-strong-without-barbells/".

Why not link directly to http://www.ultimatesandbagtraining.com/sandbag-fitness/getting-strong-without-barbells/ and save the link juice.

How is your site made, with a cms? cms sites are always behind the 8ball technicaly.
You competitor has a lot less technical issues even taking into account his site is smaller

[MaxOtto]

Thanks RDK! I suspect you are right. Need to balance the commercial aspects with content. The Ultimate site does have a great blog with post happening twice each week. Should we add that content to the home page? Or create a separate blog only info site?

I really appreciate your feedback!

[MaxOtto]

Thanks RDK! I suspect you are right. Need to balance the commercial aspects with content. The Ultimate site does have a great blog with post happening twice each week. Should we add that content to the home page? Or create a separate blog only info site?

I really appreciate your feedback!

[MaxOtto]

Thanks Ressler!!! I really appreciate your input.

[MaxOtto]

Thanks Alan, I really appreciate your input! This is a WP based site. Contact me a andyrenk at gmail.com to discuss. I may want to outsource the correction of these issues.

Andy

[MaxOtto]

Hey Ryan, I appreciate your feedback greatly! Good stuff here. The site has been #1 for this term for years and just the other got knocked to #2. Previously this was little or no competition. That is changing. A couple others are looking to pick of the term "sandbag training". That the term we're primarily targeting.

[RDK]

This is a complex issue because if, for example, you decide to include more informative textual content, the consequent increase in rank and traffic may not off-set the drop in conversion rate that a 'new informative' layout might result in.  That said, I think you can find creative ways to move in the direction of informative without sacrificing conversion.  You may even find conversion improving, but you'll only figure this out through experimentation. I would introduce new textual elements- articles (targeted text) to compliment your already successful homepage- and also fill in the basic 'holes' in your strategy outlined above.

A side note: fitness has a huge internet presence.  Get social and take advantage of the many bloggers who are happy to host a good colorful article or video about such 'unconventional' training.