Can a small niche site compete against a mega-site

June 4, 2006

Author: AgentQ

Each Paragraph is an answer:

I’ve got a small niche site about “fuzzy blue widgets.” I’ve done the basic SEO that I know and I’ve got several links from related sites, including many that link to me with that phrase. However, several mega-sites about all types of widgets, including one or two types of similar blue widgets, are presently outranking me.

My site that covers only fuzzy blue widgets and has tons of useful information about them is much more appropriate for the search user than the big sites that only briefly mention them (IMHO). However, it seems that because the mega-sites have such huge PR to pass down to individual pages, I’m having trouble out ranking them.

Has anyone else faced something similar? What can I do to improve my ranking?

Create more content about fuzzy widgets and get more links with more than just “fuzzy widgets” get… “cheap fuzzy widgets”, “new fuzzy widgets”, “company name”, “website name”, “Cheap widgets”.

AgentQ, small companies and sites always have certain advantages over big companies and big sites. If you’re not sure what your advantages are, take some time to figure them out and then figure out how to best exploit them. IMHO, this is the essence of what it takes to succeed as a small business.

To get a bit more specific regarding your question, you should absolutely be able to outrank them in some SE’s at least, but to an extent it will depend upon the category. Do not think just in terms of going out and getting links, however. Think hard about your true advantages. That path will lead you to more effective marketing strategies and tactics, typically ones that will also positively affect your rankings in the SERP’s.

yeah just keep analyzing the bigger sites compared to yours, no site is 100% perfect if you examine them more i am sure you can find some weakness that they have and use it for advantage to your own site.

Has anyone else faced something similar? What can I do to improve my ranking?

Write content … lots and lots of good content. Become “the” authority on your topic. Don’t think of yourself or your site as “the little guy”. You are the top dog and your site should reflect that.

Its a lot of work, but it is an effective strategy. Most of the big sites which have one page of generic information on any given topic often outrank really good quality sites with dozens of pages of excellent info. Its not right … but its the way it is.

To outrank them, you have to put in the effort to get noticed. By getting noticed, you will eventually begin attracting natural links. Its a very slow process, so be prepared to wait a loooong time and put in many, many hours of work to topple them.

I think the big companies with mega pages (like that site that is “about” stuff) have a huge internal linking advantage. You have to get a lot of good links to overcome that.

But you can beat them on a lot of long tail searches.

You have to get a lot of good links to overcome that.

Not really annej, you just have to get a few good quality (natural) links with good anchor text. Really! I have a site which outshines many of the big sites for various keyword searches that aren’t what I would consider “long tail”. Two words is all it takes. Single keywords searches are admittedly very difficult to beat the big sites on.

But if you provide the information people are looking for, you can eventually beat even the mega sites.

There are four big sites that I just can’t seem to beat but that is for my top single search word. I do think they have an advantage with thier size and internal linking clout.

I guess my point really is that beating the big sites isn’t really necessary. The long tail and even the not so long tail can overcome them if have you have articles with good information on a lot of specific but related topics.

The competition isn’t between their homepage and your homepage. It’s how well you do with thousands of search phrases that bring visitors to your various topics.

Without knowing the specifics, it’s hard to know. Personally I agree with both sets of comments. There are some categories where it’s just not feasible or wise to beat the top players, if they are big and well established enough. Factors include which SE we’re talking about, what term, how competitive, site resources and a slew of other things.

But generally, in most cases, I’ve never seen a SERP that can’t be penetrated. That said, often, it’s not the top, sexy, category defining term that wins the game. That’s just bragging rights. The winner of the game is s/he who makes the most money, and that’s a combination of battling on the bigger terms and being smarter on the longer tail terms.

many things matter on the SERP’s positions, such as how old the site is since google prefers older websites and for internal linkin the bigger websites just maybe have a bigger budget then you, to get effective links, but i believe too that SERPS are breakable you just need to analyze your competition and figure how to beat them