SEO battles are typically fought on equal ground. No matter how high the quality of your back links, your competition can always always get back links of equal value. All they have to do is analyze your site, see what links are pointing to it and then copy or out do your work. Same goes for article writing and pretty much all aspects of SEO, you can replicate the lot!
So when you discover an aspect of Search Engine Optimization that is totally unbalanced – and so effective that it can swing the battle in your favor even against the sites of multi-million dollar companies – it’s well worth knowing exactly how to use this to your benefit!
How to identify the advantage:
I use a really cool piece of software called Market Samurai which has the ability to analyze websites on a series of criteria that influence search engine optimization ranking. The example is a screen shot from Market Samurai that shows the top ten ranking sites for the keyword phrase “credit cards”
Do you notice anything out of the ordinary? This might be something you have seen even in your own niche?
The 10 results shown above reveal an important story about one of Google’s great bias’.
If we start by looking at 2nd result…….Visa, MasterCard, American Express – all massive names, synonymous with the phrase “credit cards”.
In terms of search engine relevance – these sites (synonymous with the term “credit cards” itself) have to be some of the most relevant credit card sites online.
Below those, there are some credit card comparison services, and smaller credit card providers such as Discover Card, Citi and Chase – this is typical of the mix of sites that you would expect to find on a search engine results page… The sites are all relevant but with a decreasing amount of authority as you move down the results.
…But take a look at the first result!
This is where things become very interesting indeed….
The first result on the page is www.creditcards.com
It sits ahead of the industries big players Visa, MasterCard, and American Express – all multi-billion dollar companies with advertising budgets that probably exceed the GDP of most small countries. Their names are synonymous with the words “credit cards”…
They have tons of high PageRank links, see the column BLP (Back Link Pages) and BLD (back Links to the Domain) and thousands more than their smaller rivals lower down in the rankings.…And yet they’ve been beaten to top spot – buy a far smaller rival – www.creditcards.com
This is one of Googles last known bias’ – smaller sites with keyword-optimized domain names are seeing their SEO efforts multiplied over time – giving them an unfair advantage that has them outranking competitors who boast better content, more links to higher Page Rank sites etc etc
Let’s dig a bit deeper by using Market Samurai’s SEO Competition module.
The first placed site www.creditcards.com has lowest PageRank (PR) and fewer Backlinks to the Page (BLP) and fewer Backlinks to the Domain (BLD) than most of its competitors. The age of the domain is roughly similar and in some cases younger than the lower ranking sites.
However, it has one distinct advantage over the competition – it has the keyword “credit cards” in the domain name. This example shows just how valuable it is to have a keyword-optimized domain name.
A good domain name will leverage or magnify your SEO efforts – as your keyword will inherently be contained in each post you create, in each link that you create – you can put in less work than your competition and still get better results. This gives you a strong advantage over your opponents and gives you the time to devote your energy to improving your site in other ways.
Using keyword optimized domains is one of the few killer SEO techniques that still remain effective, allowing you to use the search engines’ heavy bias towards keyword optimized domains to your advantage.
So what should you do now?
My four key action steps:
1. Go download your FREE trial version of Market Samurai - I can’t stress how amazing this tool is for uncovering SEO advantages. It now has a tool to identify keyword dense domain names too. Download your FREE trial copy of Market Samurai here.
2. Use Keyword Domains for SEO – Obviously if you’re setting up a new site, and you aim to invest in SEO to attract visitors, get a keyword optimized domain.
3. Consider Moving to a Keyword Domain – If you’ve only recently set up a site, consider moving to a keyword optimized domain. If you have an older site, the decision might be so clear cut as to the eyes of a search engine it will be like starting from scratch again.
4. Block Out Your Competition – Search for high-value keyword domains in your market. Remember however well you optimize your site using other factors you can always be outdone by a competitor using a keyword.com website. Do yourself a favor and register any keyword.com domains in your niche even if you just hold on to them until you have time to do something with them. Market Samurai which can be downloaded from clicking the link above has an excellent new feature that identifies keyword optimize domains in you market at the click of a mouse.
For more Google search engine optimization strategies – CLICK HERE
