Why is this site ranked #1 in Google with such a low DA (is DA not important anymore?)

[igniterman75]

Hi Guys,

Would you mind helping me with the below please? I would like to get your view on it and why Google ranks a really new domain name #1 with super low domain authority? Or is Domain Authority useless now in Google? It seems like from the last update that John Mueller said that they do not use Domain Authority so is Moz Domain Authority tool not to take seriously or am I missing something?

There is a new rehab in Thailand called

https://thebeachrehab.com/ (Domain authority 13)It's ranked #1 in Google.co.th for these phrases:

drug rehab thailand but also for addiction rehab thailand.

So when checking the backlink profile it got merely 21 backlinks from really low DA sites (and some of those are really spammy or not related).

Now there are lots of sites in this industry here which have a lot higher domain authority and have been around for years. The beach rehab is maybe only like 6 months old.  Here are three domains which have been around for many years and have much higher DA and also more relevant content. These are just 3 samples of many others...

<cite class="iUh30">https://www.thecabinchiangmai.com (Domain Authority 52)</cite>https://www.hope-rehab-center-thailand.com/ (Domain Authority 40)https://www.dararehab.com (Domain Authority 32)

These three sites got lots of high DA backlinks (DA 90++)  from strong media links like time.com, theguardian.com, telegraph.co.uk etc. (especially thecabinchiangmai.com) but the other 2 got lots of solid backlinks from really high DA sites.

So when looking at the content, thebeachrehab.com has less content as well.

Can anyone have a look and let me know your thoughts why Google picks a brand new site, with DA 13 and little content in the top compared to competition?  I do not see the logic in this?

Cheers
John

[Code_Web]

A brand new website, even here in Calgary, AB. These sites outrank DA50's while they might have a DA05, but the content is 10 X more valuable.

Also, the technical & on-page SEO from this new website could have been perfected, & this plays a major role, as well!

[R0bin_L0rd]

I agree with the other answers on the following points;

• Moz DA is not a Google metric
• In territories like Thailand and spaces related to drugs, Google tends to have less of an idea of what is spammy or not
• On-page optimisation across your site is a great way to improve your rankings
• Giving your users the best possible experience is a great way to get long-term success.

However, I wouldn't go as far as to say that Google pays no attention whatsoever to links. I think you can treat these findings as frustrating but informative - from what you are seeing, that site having a worse backlink profile is not preventing them from ranking. So for those searches, backlinks don't seem to be as big a deciding factor. From there I'd start identifying what factors are correlated with rankings and, provided those things are above-board and won't come back to bite you (here I mean - don't buy links etc.) then try emulating that stuff while you continue to build and improve your own site.

My new favourite phrase is "You are the Igniterman"

[effectdigital]

'truly' positive SEO metrics (backlinks from quality sites, high authority scores) don't count as much in less competitive query-spaces (world-wide "drug rehab thailand" has only 390 average monthly searches) and they also don't count as much in bad-neighborhood query-spaces

1. if very few users use a certain query-space, Google won't spend as much time refining it

2. if a query-space connects with bad neighborhood sites (drugs, unlicensed medicine, gambling, pornography) then Google won't spend as much time refining it

It seems that whilst 'rehabilitation' centers have noble intentions, obviously they also connect with the theme of 'drugs' and recreational drug usage, which is negative. Google is improving all the time, but it's not perfect yet. If an authoritative source talks about drugs (government initiatives and stuff like FRANK) then the authority carried over from connected reputable institutions stops the negative query-space from causing so much damage

In the instance that most of the results are from unknown institutions which may not be very reputable (like various rehab centers in Thailand) then the query-space may be much more noisy without much effort from Google in terms of cleaning it up

Google also gets into a bit of a muddle with negative query-spaces. The user wants to find something related to "drugs", but usually links from sites about "drugs" result in negative SEO authority, so how do they sort results in negative query-spaces? Clearly they have their methods but understandably this whole area of the web isn't ranked very accurately by Google

My suspicion is that, Google has a simplistic view here where they think the user is searching for drug-related sites, which is something Google usually doesn't want to condone. The query-space is noisy as the result of colliding positive and negative metrics shooting across a perceived negative query-space. You might even find that in some negative query-spaces, you could rank better with more negative signals (go figure)

[EGOL]

I believe that Google uses information about the expertise, authority and trustworthyness of a website's authors.  To make this happen, you must display it obviously.  One way is to have author pages that present information about the author such as education, work experience, publishing history and more.  Link to these from each article on the website that the author writes.

We were not doing this well, but then we spent time on it.   Shortly thereafter, a Google update occurred and our pages rose nicely in the SERPs.   Not a little increase, it was a surprising increase.

Are there sites with lesser credentials and lower quality content ranking above us.   Yes, in many places, but we are also above them in many places.  These things are not silver bullets.  There are still many factors used in the rankings - and it can take time  for Google to find and appreciate all elements of a website.

But, we spend zero time looking at our links, zero time looking at the links of our competitors, zero time looking at DA.  I can't tell you the last time I looked at DA and have no intentions of looking at it anytime soon.   I am too busy working on new content, improving old content, and trying to make the site operate better.   I am spending my energy where it makes an impact that my visitors can see and use and share and link to.

You are the igniterman.  Get busy.

[igniterman75]

Hi Roman,

Thanks for this. I am with you on all these but still that site is ranked #1 which is very strange. We have taken a very deep look at the backlink profile so this is why it's perplexing cause that site has only a few spammy backlinks compared to the others. I know what you mean no follow but those 3 others have many more relevant and higher quality backlinks, and still that guy ranks ahead.

If you look at them and compare onsite you can see the other 3 sites have more and better content, they have the necessary titles and meta tags etc. Still that site ranks way ahead.

So you do not think Google uses any trust/authority factors when ranking websites?

Thanks

John

[igniterman75]

Hi Egol,

Thanks for this, but when you compare the content on that site, it's less content and inferior as well to all those three.  That site does not have the credentials as well. Not even a certified rehab in Thailand. Their site is not that useful as well compared to the other sites. I am with you in making the best site, so it's very strange that Google would rank such a site in the top because it's not following that logic.

So you do not think Google uses Authority/Trust when ranking websites?

Best

John

[Roman-Delcarmen]

As Egol mentioned the Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/learn/seo/domain-authority

So is a unit measure created by Moz sometimes can be useful sometimes not and of course, has nothing to do with Google

In the other hands, there are many factors involved in ranking a website such as

On page optimization: meta-tittles, meta descriptions, content length, internal backlinks, website performance, internal backlinks, site structure, schemas and so on.

Off-page: which basically means backlinks but is not that simple of who has more backlinks, but to analyze the backlink profile of website you need to keep in mind the type of the link ( follow or no follow) the anchor text distribution, the content of article where you get the backlink and so on.

You mentioned links from sites like times.com well let me tell you something usually this big sites usually give you a no-follow backlink which for SEO purpose is useless. So if you really need to understand what is happening need to make an in-deep analysis of all do-follow backlinks, all the anchor text, all the on-page and so on.

[EGOL]

Hi John,

You are placing way too much importance on DA.  Google does not use DA in its rankings.  Google most likely has never looked at the DA of the websites you are talking about.    Your post uses "DA" or "Domain Authority" in almost every sentence, sometimes two or three times.

I suggest stop looking at DA and work to make the best website possible.    Don't allow DA to be a decoy that takes you away from doing the work needed to win on the web.

So, get some coffee, and make a map of what it will take for you to have the best possible website in your niche.  Then start working on it every day.  Make sure you have the credentials needed to be taken seriously and valued by both your visitors and Google.  If you don't have them, get them.  Education is the key to writing the credible content that is needed to win on the web.

E