Google listings becoming too competitive

[Richie]

Last night I was top in Google for many popular search terms for the topic of our site. Today it's been moved down to around the 3rd listing mark and often 10.

I was quite annoyed at this. I've noticed too that loads of other sites in the same industry have lots of different domain names registered with just one (tacky and unprofessional) page on, full of keywords and rows of links to their main web site. Sometimes a results page will have about 4 of such domains listed, all for the same company.

Also sites that get in the dmoz / google directory are always top for the main search phrase. I have applied for the directory twice in 2 years and haven't got listed yet. There's no reason why it shouldn't be in there and is a very professional web site.

A lot of the businesses now have google adwords boxes too. 9 on one results page. What's the point if there are so many?

I think some companies are doing all this to get high listings specifically in Google and make sure competitors don't get on the first page of results. It isn't fair.

:¦

[ukgimp]

>>It isn't fair.

This may sound harsh but the above is not really that well received round here, there is not much that is :). Read these forums ask questions and you can outdo this sort of thing. Stay legal in the eyes of the search engines.

Fill out a spam report. Rest assured that Google are working to rid the world of closed linking and other dubious tactics.

There are other dir's appart from the dmoz.

>>There's no reason why it shouldn't be in there and is a very professional web site.

The dmoz is backed up and "maybe" your competitor is a the cat editor.

Get some decent on topic links with good targeted anchor text. Providing you are not in a cut throat industry, with time and effort you should be able to do quite well. Get some heavy content up there as well.

Cheers and good luck

[needinfo]

Richie,
I see where you're coming from. However I don't agree with your comments about DMOZ listings getting to the top of the SERPs. In my industry sector there are examples of sites not in DMOZ getting higher rankings than sites which are.
Being listed in DMOZ is only a small part of what is taken into account when Google's algorithm decides what goes where.

there have been a few debates on how important a DMOZ listing is worth, I think the general consensus of opinion is that it can be very good for new sites because it delivers quite a few link to your site from the various portals who use DMOZ data. However for older more established sites with more external links I think DMOZ has much less impact.

[heini]

Welcome to the real world, richie. Oh, and to WebmasterWorld too :)

If you want to rank top for highly competitive phrases you will have to do a lot of work or spend some good money. It's not easy.
The good news: You can do it.

Start reading the forums here. Digest all the info. Then go to work.