How To Gain a Competitive Advantage
Video Transcript
The number one reason why people fail online is because they do not take the time necessary to investigate the strength of the competition in their marketplace. This means that they never get a front page listing in Google, which in turn means they never get any real traffic to their website and therefore never make any real sales.
In this lesson I’d like to share with you some of Market Samurai’s most powerful features that can quickly and easily help you to improve your Google ranking. The amazing thing about these features is that Many Market Samurai users don’t even know they exist!
Specifically we’ll be looking at:
- What is a link network and why it has a massive impact on your Google ranking
- 3 factors that influence your link network and why you must understand them
- And how to reverse engineer your competitor’s link network using Market Samurai to gain a competitive advantage.
What is a Link Network?
Every page on the Internet has a link network which is made up of the pages that link or point to that page.
These links can come from other pages on your own website which are called internal links and from other websites that link to you which are called external links. Together these links form a link network that is unique to each page.
Factor 1: The Number of Links to a Page
Now let’s take a look at some of the factors that influence the impact of a link network on the authority and ranking of a particular web page.
The first factor that influences the rank of a page is the number of incoming links. A good way to think of this is that each link is like a ‘vote of confidence’. If a lot of other websites are linking to and thereby voting for a page then it suggests that the page contains good quality content.
Factor 2: The Authority of the Linking Pages
A second factor that influences the rank of a particular page is the authority of the linking pages. For example lets take a look at two pages on the Internet which both have 3 incoming links.
The first website is linked to by 3 relatively new bloggers who just enjoyed reading the page. These linking pages do not carry a lot of authority and so the ranking impact of these links links will be minimal.
The second website on the other hand, is linked to by CNN.com, USA.gov, and NASA.gov.
These linking pages clearly DO carry a lot of authority. The fact that these high authority sites are linking to this page transfers authority to the page and has a high impact on its rank in the search engines.
Factor 3: Anchor Text of the Links
A third factor that influences the rank of a particular page is the anchor text of the incoming links.
Google uses the text of the links that point to a page to gain a better indication of what a page is about. For example let’s look at these three external websites. If all three of these linking sites use the word ‘dog training’ in their links, then there is a very good chance that the page they refer to is about dog training.
Quick Recap
So just to summarize, each page on the Internet has a link network that is made up of the internal and external pages that point to that page.
The impact of this link network on the rank of a page is based, in part, on the number of links, the authority of the linking webpages and the anchor text of the incoming links.
Reverse Engineering Your Competitor's Link Network
One of the most powerful and effective strategies for improving your ranking in Google is to use Market Samurai to reverse engineer the link network of your competitors.
For example, imagine that you had the number 7 ranked website for the keyword ‘dog training’.
What you can do using Market Samurai is analyze the link networks of the sites ranked 1 to 6 and discover exactly where they are getting their high authority backlinks from.
In many cases, you will be able to get similar backlinks to your own website which can in turn help to improve the ranking of your site.
Let’s take a look at Market Samurai so that I can show you exactly how this works in the real world.
Create New Project
For this example I’m going to start a new project...
Enter Seed Keyword
...and I’m going to investigate the term ‘bomboniere’. This is a term used in some countries to describe wedding favors.
Select Country
And just for a change I’m going to target the Australian market for this term. To do this all I have to do is come down here and select ‘Australia’ from this drop down box.
Click 'Create' button
I can now click the ‘Create’ button.
Access SEO Competition Module
The features I’d like to show you in this video are in the SEO Competition module so I’ll just click this button to access the module.
Generate Competition Data
And to investigate the strength of the competition for the keyword ‘bomboniere’ in the Australian market, all I have to do is click the ‘Generate Results’ button.
Retrieve Data
Market Samurai now conducts a real time SEO competition analysis on the top ten websites that appear when someone enters the term ‘bomboniere’ into google.com.au.
And if I was building a website to compete in this market, here are the websites that would be my competition.
Click Small Arrow
Now in order to dig deeper and explore the link network of a particular website, all I have to do is come over here and click this small arrow next to the website URL.
Access Link Network Analysis Options
Market Samurai then displays an additional level of powerful analysis options.
In this video I’m going to focus on the PR Analysis and Anchor Text Analysis features.
Clarification of Page Rank (PR)
Just to clarify, PR stands for Page Rank which is Google’s measure of authority.
Google gives every page on the Internet a rank from 0 to 10 to indicate its level of authority. A brand new web-page usually has a rank of 0 and the home page of a site such as USA.gov has a page rank of 10.
It’s important to note that the Page Rank scale is not linear, rather, the authority of a webpage increases exponentially with each increase in Page Rank.
What this means is that a PR 1 website has approximately 10 times more authority than a PR 0 website, but a PR 5 website has approximately 100,000 times more authority than a PR 0 website.
This is why a single link from a PR 5 website is more valuable than 100 links from PR 0 sites.
PR Analysis
So coming back to Market Samurai, I’ll now click the ‘PR Analysis’ button to explore the link network of this particular website.
PR Analysis Table
Market Samurai then opens a new window and conducts a real time page rank analysis.
This table shows me the total number of backlinks that point to the page I’m analyzing.
It also shows me the Page Rank breakdown of these backlinks.
So the link network of the homepage of this site is made up of:
- 106 links from webpages having a PR of 0.
- 6 links from webpages with a page rank of 1
- 2 links from pages that have a page rank of 2
- 2 links from pages that have a page rank of 3.
URLs of Contributing Pages
But it gets even better, because over here on the right I can see the URLs of the actual pages that are contributing to my competitor’s page rank.
Explore Competitor's Link Network
One of the best things I can do is explore the links that are providing my competitor with high page rank backlinks.
For example, this site is providing a page rank 3 backlink to my competitor’s link network.
To see what this site is, all I have to do is click on this link.
Check High PR Links
Market Samurai opens another window and now I can see that this is the dmoz directory.
Now of course, I am completely free to submit my own website to the dmoz directory and there is a good chance that if it is accepted, I will be able to get a high PR back link to my own website which will in turn improve my ranking in Google.
So I hope you can see that by reverse engineering your competitor’s link network and then working to be just a little bit better than them, you can systematically construct a more effective link network for yourself and thereby move up in the Google rankings.
Anchor Text Analysis
Another incredibly powerful feature of the competition analysis window is that I can also come up here and click on the Anchor Text Analysis button.
Anchor Text Results
Market Samurai now analyses each of the backlinks that make up the link network of my competitor and displays the actual anchor text for each of the links.
Anchor Text Example
For example, this particular link comes from a Page Rank 1 website and uses the anchor text ‘perfect wedding’
Anchor Text Matrix
I can also check this matrix to find out what are the most commonly used terms in the anchor text of linking websites.
Now don’t worry if this all seems a little confusing at first. Remember the basis of the strategy we’re using here is quite simple.
All we’re doing is reverse engineering our competitor’s link network to identify what sort of backlinks contribute to their ranking. We can then use this information to create our own backlinks and enhance the strength of our own link network.
Once you start using this feature in Market Samurai you’ll very quickly realize what an incredible competitive advantage it gives you.
Summary
So just to summarize, in this video we’ve discovered that every page on the Internet has a link network which is made up of the pages that link or point to that page.
We also saw that three of the factors that influence the ranking of a webpage are
(1) The number of links in the link network
(2) The authority of the linking web pages
(3) The anchor text used for the links
And finally we looked at how to use Market Samurai to reverse engineer your competitor’s link network in order to gain a powerful competitive advantage.
Search
More SEO Competition Lessons
- Introduction To SEO Competition
- How to Assess the Strength of Competition
- How To Gain a Competitive Advantage
- How To Unmask Your Google Competition
guys you are the best
Another great tutorial guys! Thanks for that - I thought I'd seen the PR Analysis section but maybe an older version? Incredibly powerful tool!
As usual, Dr. Fernando, your videos are quite informative.
I always look forward to your training videos to help me expand my MS ability, or even just reinforce what I already know.
You can't put out too many too often - keep 'em comin'! ;-)
I wonder if it's possible to set up the Dojo video trainings to be delivered by RSS in addition to email?
That would be convenient.
Thanks!
David
Bravo! You guys have done it again! I was only vaugely aware of these adavnced features in Market Samurai. Thanks for detailing them for us.
This series has been some of the very best training on the Internet. Great job guys!
There are so many cool features that you guys have added to Market Samurai that I have trouble remembering to use them all. Very excited about this new way of researching the competitor's incoming links. Thanks guys. This really is the best keyword tool.
Thank you for explaining what a link network is and its importance on Google ranking, the factors that influence my link network and how to reverse engineer my competitors' link network. Very impressive! Your explanations were clear and to the point. It was valuable for me to follow your presentation by reading the script along with you and being able to refer back to screen shots and/or narrative. Market Samurai is an a amazingly powerful tool and one I will use more often. I assume there are other tutorials I could view like this one? Thank you.
Were you ever a teacher or professor? You make the most complicated process so easy to understand. I have learned more from your videos about so many aspects of internet marketing than I have from years of reading ebooks and hours of watching webinars. You are truly a communicative genius. Thank you so much for your efforts. They are greatly appreciated.
My favorite feature by far of Market Samurai, but the total links max out at 1000. Is there a way to override this?
Thanks for the video. I just tried this and got immediate links. You guys are the best!
Hi Guys,
Very interesting but with the exception of a site like DMOZ how are we to get authority sites to link back ?
Regards
Lawrence
This is great, however why does it list all of the no-follow links? Isn't there a way to filter the no-follow and the follow?
THANKS, you guys are the best.
It's difficult to believe the professional level of tools being handed to one by Market Samurai. One can easily become the captain of their destiny and compete for real against the competition in your town, if you have a local service, or on the internet globally if you are working there. I still can't believe my good fortune to find Market Samurai and who knows, I may have a new job once I complete development on the two sites I am currently working on for my wife in her local business.
Again, you hit it.
Muchas gracias Fernando.
Thank you for the video. I learn how powerful having market samuari really is.
This is the best and clearest explanation of back link strategy I have seen in a long time. Trust the Aussie to do us proud. Good on you guys, keep up the good work!
Excellent, valuable piece of information. Every time, when I see e-mail in my Inbox from MS Dojo, I became exciting and very positive!
Top Notch! You guys Rock, keep up the Great Training. Your pace and voice are perfect for video training. And your on-screen information, rates with the best.
As always, great information. There is soooo much information Market Samurai provides, these video tips are pure gold. Thank you...
As ever brilliant, content and tutor!
One question: does one use the anchor text uncovere by this technique as a keyword?
Good stuff. This is my second go around with Market Samarai. Powerful tool, wish I had used it better the first time.
Talk about taking the competition to pieces.
Great Tutorial!! Quick question:
After doing SEO analysis for a page, my page has more, higher PR backlinks than the top 10, still my page only shows a PR of 0. Most of the sites in the top 10 only have 2-10 backlinks to their page. All of my anchor text is highly targeted to my key phrase also. It is this way for over 10 different pages I\'m trying to rank for. I guess there\'s another hidden factor I\'m not seeing. Any suggestions?
Thanks, -Chris
Hi,
Amazing video!
I just wanted to know how do we analyse the market BLP's are very low like (between 0 -50) but the BLD is increadibly HIGH (2000 - 2 mil)! It is increadibly difficult to know what do i need to outrank these.
Any kind of help really helpful.
Thanks
Amarjit
Thanks again guys! I can't tell you how refreshing it is to periodically receive this type of information from you guys just for being a paying member. I've seen and watched all the internet offers and programs and it's nice to keep receiving this kind of valuable information long after my purchase. VERY FEW other programs do this once you've purchased their product. Thanks and keep up the good work!
Wow! Just when I thought I had a plan for the week, you've gone and caused me to do a major overhaul - and I love it! This is phenomenal. One way to build great customer loyalty - show your customers how to leverage the tool to their advantage. You delivered!
Thanks!
I was completely unaware of these 'hidden features' contained within Market Samurai. This will definately help me pinpoint exactly why my competitors are outranking me ! Great job.
Another great video. You have an amazing way of explaining things in short and with great clarity. I too noticed that if you have over 1000 links then the PR and Anchor text doesn't work anymore.
Aaron
Thank you for sharing this with the rest of us. I have serious been underestimating the power of this software that I have. I will definitely put this to work for my sites. It gives a much better understanding of what Google is looking for when it comes site relationships. this software is priceless. I can't believe i can afford it, LOL
Great effort - this explains it all in simple plain english - saves me having to dumb it down (but keep it accurate) for my seo newbie work colleagues :-)
Everytime I read one you your great lessons, it re-inspires me to use Market Samurai and explore its nuiances.
The fact that you guys are Australian like me is just a bonus really ;-)
Eran Malloch
World Wide Web Marketing
Perth, WA.
That's really cool and useful! The most important part to me, though, is how do I get other, important sites to link to mine? If I write to them and ask, why would they do it? Few high quality sites have a Links page full of links to other sites they like. So, how do I get great sites in my field to link to mine and what's in it for them?
I hadn't been using your product for awhile but this video motivated me to get into it this year. Good and simple explanation on how to use your system and also great info on SEO.
Keep up the good work.
This has been sitting on my market samurai for months! Quite honestly, havent been using it.
Ive been hiding an atomic competitors bomb right in my own desktop.
Thanks nobles! As usual, this rocks!
Bagus sekali, dijelaskan secara detail, dan dibawakan sengan jelas.
Terima kasih
Market Samurai is one product that I never regretted buying. It is simply awesome! And the training videos are so useful (like this one) that I've actually learned more from them than from some blueprint training program that I now regret purchasing.
You guys keep over delivering. Thank you!
Yet another goldmine hidden from my awareness until now! What a fantastic resource to have available for planning your SEO attack. I'll be giving it a good work out today.
for someone who is tatally virgin to the concepts of internet marketing, you made understanding seo extremely clear...Thank You.
I *love* these training sessions. One of the things I hate most about training online these days is that everyone wants to toss up a screenshot video. Problem is, you have to wade through the whole thing, frame by frame, to get the meat of it. I read fast, and between your good descriptions, the little summary windows, and your screenshots, I can absorb the whole lesson in a couple of minutes.
Far better than wasting 10-15 minutes or more on a video that might teach me one or two little points.
Keep it up! People who like video get their video and those of us who like to read get our transcript.
I invest $97 to buy this great tool and this is one of my best investment so far I can tell! Bravo...
Dr. Anthony you are the best! You just keep reinforcing the great decision I made to purchase Market Samurai with all your wonderful tutorials. They are the highest quality tutorials I have ever seen. As always, I look forward to your next!
Thank you.
You guys are the best! Best tool and best education anywhere.
Thank you so much
Susan
I am so happy to find MS! You guys keep continuing to provide excellent training, like this video. Anthony\'s training videos are the best I have ever seen in any product/tool that I have purchased. Thanks guys!
Never before have I looked forward to receiving internet marketing training. Your stuff truly is how to be a "Market Samurai training".
Thanks thanks and more thanks!
Thanks! Great info...
A fantastic tool which I'm constantly using. I also find that it helps find backlinks in general as you can add any URL to the SEOC module and find other related backlinks to your niche - not just the ones in the top ten.
MS is by far the most important and powerful internet marketing tool out there. Thanks again guys!
As a newbie, I'm grateful for your clear and concise explanation of the many aspects of SEO. Please keep up the great work, it's appreciated. By the way, I recently purchased Marketing Samurai and it's fantastic. For me the learning ramp is a bit steep, but I'm beginning to discover how powerful a tool it is.
Mike
Thank you for the help...but the text was so small that I couldn't see it...so I could only read the larger print.
Sharon
~The Baby Boomer Queen~
With failing eyesight....
Hi Guys
Thanks for your very in depth videos.
This new series of videos really does Rock!
The depth of information in this software astounds me each and every time I watch the Videos, as I seem to miss some of the features, when I have missed the detailed videos.
Thanks again
Hamant Keval
Great video. I have been using Market Samurai for months and did not know this feature was in there. I have been wanting a tool for backlink analysis and used to use a competitor product and was very disappointed
I love the simplicity of the videos and its ability to convey the most important features of the software. With what I've learned from watching the videos, coupled with reading the Black Book, I'm confident that I can successfully implement my own SEO and save the $1K/month some SEO companies want.
Thank you for providing such a valuable resource.
I have still yet to use MS to my advantage to due to time/slow DL speed(watching videos takes a lot of it.
However, I found the video useful and I owe it to myself to take full advantage of MS.
Love these trainings - they are short and sweet and really help me get a handle on the many levels of Market Samurai. I appreciate "lack of bloat" - so much online video is time wasting and I love how you stay focused and on point. Terrific stuff.
This is without a doubt the best product in internet marketing that I have ever bought. This product provides free upgrade to existing customers unlike others that keeps robbing us every single time they improve their product. WHY can't Niche Blueprint follows Noble Samurai's steps. I am just mad that I was charged another $97 to be able to have their new feature, improve ecommerce design, etc. They are robbing me again and again..
Noble Samurai... your work is noble!
Good video except for one thing.
It explains how to see the competitions backlink sources very well. Easy to follow that part.
Than it just says \"ok now reverse engineer the backlink or link network of your competition.
The video as far as I can tell does not tell me \"how to reverse engineer anything\".
Am I missing something?
Norm
That is so awesome! I was not aware of that tool in market samurai. I tried it on a keyword i'm trying to rank for and it lifted my spirits ;p
Thanks for all the great videos
Another excellent video! I'm very glad I bought Market Samurai. The training that comes with it is really invaluable. Thank you so much.
Google has recently stated that they are no longer using page rank as a factor in assigning value to a pages incoming links, essentially making all links the same value in determining a pages SERP. Any thoughts on this subject? Love Samurai!
well done!thank you for implementing my recommendations.. you have done a great job --
Funny. I started doing this a few months ago when the new functionality was added.
Now you've given my trick away to all market samurai students!!! :D
Simply fabulous. Actually learnt a few new things I didn't know.
Thanks so much.
and I thought I was beginning to really know Market Samurai like the back of my hand...
glad school is back in session :) Thanks!
I think the one thing that I would want to know after I have seen this video is do I at least try to replicate the link structure of the #1 ranked competitor or the competitor on page 1 of SERP's that I have a good chance of replacing?
Spot on again - timely reminder for me...Sam
Excellent like always, but is there a way to see which links are dofollow and which nofollow without checking each single site? SY
Great information, the heart of Backlinks. I found that if this isn't considered someone could be fumbling in the dark for a long time. By the way would comments that leave a link be considered a link? I won't leave mine here lol, but a serious question????
Great instruction, and invaluable tool - thanks again MS
I am thankful for the complete tutorials you give but
I may have missed something. I didn\'t understand how
to actually get the backlinks once I have found high authority web sites I would like a link from can you
help. Thank you.
@Barry
RE: getting backlinks from websites
Once you have identified which sites your competitor has recieved backlinks from you should visit the sites to see if you can get links from them.
Some potential sources of links are leaving comments in blogs and forums and Pingbacks from Wordpress sites.
WHy does the backlinks number show as 126 on the MS tool, then when you go itno PR Analysis it shows only 116
I have an example I found where the links shown as 53000 but in page rank analysis there were only 1000 .
How come and where did those missing 52000 odd links go?