Competition Sites

[c4yrslf12]

So I've been spending the last day or two really checking out the top ranked sites for my competition, and those with the closest KW. Now, the niche I'm going after is somewhat obscure, with only about 3 or 4 sites promoting 'exactly' what I am. So the "competition" is virtually nothing, and none of us are really ranking, other than EM search. However, the KW's which are very close to us, have a high level of traffic.

I was investigating the backlinks for some of the close KW sites and we're looking at around 1,000+ backlinks on average, not shocking. What I can't figure out is when I look at their list of backlinks, it's got NOTHING to do with our KW's. Like, zero.

Let's assume my niche was white tigers. The backlinks from the KW comp is along the lines of arnold schwarzenegger, the black hole, and cell phones....??

Can I assume this is just crap for links, and easy competition to beat? The 3 or 4 of us who are attacking the niche right now are all pretty much content(assume article)/direct social media traffic based, and I am going to go heavy for links in the next 2 weeks. Should I go for specific links, or shotgun like the other guys?? Or both?

 

[sixthcutuan]

IMO I don't really think the anchor matters that much. One good link and you can easily beat multitudes of other crappy links but the fact that they have different anchors doesn't make them crap. Could just be building authority to the site.

Put it this way, I don't think Google ranks your website positively depending on how often your links say "white tigers". Many people believe that too much of one anchor will harm your link building efforts.

The easiest way to tell competition is to run SerpIQ if you have it. Otherwise you should be analysing their links. Doesn't particularly matter how many they have (to a point), it more depends on quality. Look out for guest posts etc.

Go broad in your links. Maybe only 20% should be money keywords. Good luck.