Analysis of MS SEO comp. - STILL can't read these :/

[NikLP]

I can't interpret this accurately - what the hell is going on in this SEO competition matrix?!

The other results are good, and on the surface this looks promising, but potentially too good to be true. The number one spot seems like too easy a picking. What gives?

[Sadiver]

i'm not a pro, but if I see a matrix like that my gut tells me to stay away...

Although the actual page backlinks is low the domain bl is very high, domain age, etc.... just tells me STAY away...

I've come across a few like those, and it looks good at a quick glance, but if you go and look at the sites that get these top positions it is going to be very difficult to outrank them....

Sorry I'm not much help.

[imrat]

Tend to agree with Danie. Looks odd.

Its worth doing a backlink check in google (the BLP/BLD stats in MS are Yahoo ones). It might be that the Google Backlinks are higher then Yahoo's, but I have never seen an example of this myself so its unlikely. You can use this by typing the following in the google search box

link:yourcompetitorsite.com

In addition to that, I would do a backlink and PR analysis on the BLP for number 1 2 and 3, and just check whether the anchor text for the backlinks of the number 1 site are highly relevant to the keyword. (You can do this by clicking the little down arrow next to the site url).

Hope this helps

[NikLP]

The backlinks to the #1 result are all PR0 - however, some of the backlinks to the domain are from Wikipedia, which rather lends itself to there being some emphasis placed by Google on the BLDs.

That said, the on page SEO for all the results looks quite bad, and I'm wondering if targeting the phrase match might be worth a bash?

The sector is quite competitive tho... although as I say the searches and competition aren't too bad.

[imrat]

What about the anchor text of the links, compared to the number 2 site?

[NikLP]

Actually, even in the anchor text for the #1, the *Exact* phrase is not used. The other sites do not make heavy use of the phrase either.

Does this = good news?

[JasperEliot]

Something's a little fishy there. I'm wondering if you're using an alternate (or intentionally misspelled) spelling of the keyphrase. Even having a space (or lack thereof) in your phrase, it can throw off odd data like this. (For example, 'paintball supplies' could yield an excessively competitive matrix whereas 'paint ball supplies' could be wide open.)

[NikLP]

I might as well say, the phrase involves "laptops" so I'm not holding out a load of hope, but no, I'm perfectly competent at english, it's three totally distinct words, in their normal, natural setting.

[imrat]

I suggest you put that one on your "interesting markets" list and keep looking for some others. That way when the 30dc starts you can validate your markets against the criteria set by ed&the team, and maybe they can shed some light on the seo comp stats.

alternatively, setup a quick hubpages and squidoo lens for the keyword to see if you can rank it for the keyword. If it ranks easily it allows you to test traffic volumes.