How did I outrank big sites in just a month? Is it the latest update?

General
1

I managed to outrank Lenovo, TechTarget, and even Wikipedia within a month.

It seems like the new update played a big part in this shift.

Before the update, I was hovering around positions 9-12, but within two days, I moved up to 1.4. Check out the comments for a screenshot.

I noticed that a lot of pages are ranking based on authority alone, but they could be outranked with targeted semantic SEO. That’s the strategy I’ve been following.

They have big teams, so I don’t see myself as their direct competition, but there’s definitely room for them to improve their content approach.

Sometimes, it’s just a matter of putting in the effort, and no one else seems to be doing that right now.

2

Not to be rude, but without knowing the keyword, this doesn’t say much. You might be ranking higher for a random long-tail keyword with almost no volume, which these big sites only rank for because of their authority, not because they’re actually targeting it.

3

@YoungG
‘How do monkeys use Lenovo laptops to order bananas online?’

4

@YoungG
The screenshot shows a few hundred impressions per day, so it’s not some random keyword. It’s something that a lot of tech enthusiasts search for at least once.

Lenovo, TechTarget, and others are also discussing this same topic.

5

@NooserMooker
Can you give an example of the keyword?

6

Why did you show impressions but skip the clicks? Just being at position 1 doesn’t mean you’re actually the top organic choice. Can you tell us the keyword and show the clicks from the screenshot?

Also, are you sure you understand semantic SEO?

7

@Layla
Exactly, without clicks, it doesn’t mean much. I accidentally rank 1-2 for a term with around 200 impressions a day, but people still click on the other top links because they answer the question better.

Search intent is what really matters.

8

From the impression count, I’d say it’s a term the big sites aren’t actively targeting since almost no one seems to be searching for it.

9

Chris said:
From the impression count, I’d say it’s a term the big sites aren’t actively targeting since almost no one seems to be searching for it.

It gets a few hundred searches per day. Isn’t that decent?

According to Semrush, it has a search volume of 21K.

10

@NooserMooker
Your screenshot shows only 41 impressions with an average ranking of 1.4. How does that match up with a search volume of 21K? Or am I missing something here?

11

This is just standard SEO stuff—find gaps in the search results and fill them. The brand size doesn’t matter if you can satisfy search intent properly and have some authority yourself.

12

What’s your method for getting backlinks?

13

howdyrobert said:
What’s your method for getting backlinks?

I started with 10 links initially. After that, I focused on creating content that naturally attracts links.

14

NooserMooker said:

howdyrobert said:
What’s your method for getting backlinks?

I started with 10 links initially. After that, I focused on creating content that naturally attracts links.

What do you mean by ‘linkable assets’?

15

@Sadie
Things like evergreen guides, research, statistics, etc.

16

When you mention Semantic SEO, are you talking about schema?

17

Lucypiper said:
When you mention Semantic SEO, are you talking about schema?

No, it’s more about machine learning and deep learning techniques.

18

Don’t celebrate too early. Wait and see if you can hold your rank. I’ve outranked big sites before because I had better content, but that doesn’t mean it’ll last since Google’s rankings can shift.

19

Joan said:
Don’t celebrate too early. Wait and see if you can hold your rank. I’ve outranked big sites before because I had better content, but that doesn’t mean it’ll last since Google’s rankings can shift.

image

20

@NooserMooker
I get it, all I’m saying is give it some time. I’m not rooting for you to lose rankings, just saying it’s early to be sure you’ll stay on top.