Google's John Mueller discusses one of the eternal problems of a competitor's site ranking well, yet it's not as good as another site. Information we probably knew, but sometimes it's good to be reminded.
goodroi
9:26 pm on Jan 13, 2021 (gmt 0)
It's kinda like someone picking their favorite automobile. Just because a truck has horrible gas mileage doesn't mean it won't be someone's favorite. The cargo space, towing power, or simply the truck shape could be enough to score enough points to be higher than other options. A similar thing happens with websites when Google is taking into consideration so many different ranking criteria. A website can often rank high despite making mistakes in a few areas.
Best for webmasters not to obsess over a single issue (of their site or a competitor's). Focus on seeing the big picture and where the overall trends are headed.
aristotle
9:07 pm on Jan 14, 2021 (gmt 0)
Over the past ten years or so, google's algorithm has been gradually giving more and more weight to perceived "authority" and less and less weight to relevance.
For this reason, a high authority site can now rank above other sites that have more relevance and better content.
This is much more common now than it was ten years ago.
Note: E.A.T. (Expertise, Authority, and Trust) are often lumped together as the "big three" that google has more and more come to rely on. From what I can see, authority is the one that google puts the most weight on.
