I thought I would bring some data/insights to show you why websites rank. I used @Jerryll Noorden website as an example. FYI, I have been building, buying, growing, and managing websites for last 10 years. I am by no means the best SEO expert.
The domain is https://www.webuyhousesinconnecticut.com/
If you have any questions on the terms used, I am happy to help explain more.
Off-Page SEO
Pros:
- Ranked #1 for lucrative keyword, “we buy houses in connecticut”. Note: Advertisers are willing to pay upwards of $30 cost per click (CPC) to advertise for this keyword.
- Ranked #1 for keyword “sell my house ct”. Advertisers willing to pay $88 CPC.
Cons:
- From a quick overview, this website is using a Private Blog Network (PBN), which is blackhat method to gain links from a network of websites that is usually managed by the owner, or acquaintance of the owner. The owner of the site can also pay third-parties to “rent” links from a network of sites to get a boost in rankings. In the real-word equivalence, this is the same as “buying” your way into knowing people, if that makes sense. Google has stated they will penalize PBNs if they can spot them (see https://searchengineland.com/private-blog-networks-great-way-get-site-penalized-286489)
- Google also loves to see diversified anchor texts. This website has too many anchor texts that are similar. This will cause issues long term and require diversification. Here are the top 5:
- jerryll
- cash for houses in connecticut
- jerryll noorden
- dixie
- we by houses in waterbury ct
- All of the traffic comes ONLY to the homepage of the website. Diversification is extremely important. Google can penalize a single page and thus overnight the traffic will go to 0. A healthy website has traffic from search engines coming to various pages. This website needs diversification.
Page Speed:
Google takes page speed, on-page metrics into account. Google wants the website to rank that provides the best experience for the end-user. The tool to do the analysis can be found here: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insi...
Pros:
- The Desktop version of the website received a score of 96/100. This is great!
Cons:
- The mobile version is not friendly at all. It received a 42/100. This needs to be significantly improved or Google will not rank this website for mobile visitors.
Others
- The website gets a rank of C (79/100) from Pingdom.com. The website needs caching to be done.
- Images need to be optimized
- HTTP requests need to be limited
Overall, the website is ranking well due to a massive number of backlinks (about 1500). However, to ensure long term stability, the website needs more diversified links. The website needs a blog where frequent content can be posted. Frequent content is the strongest signal to Google and a blog can help.
If any questions, let me know.
