Member Avatar for christopher

My goal is a first/second google page listing under the competitive keyword phrase 'cell phones'.

I've developed a little over 300 backlinks over the last two months (not high pr sites, but about 150 unique ip blocks and websites that I have traded services for links with). I have the site basically well seo'd (though I'm not an expert).

The backlinks are not showing up as backlinks on the google toolbar yet, but I know these sites are indexed by google. I can look up a particular keyword I have in the description and these links have all been seen by google. The anchor link in all instances is either 'cell phones' or that plus an additional word (cheap, discount, etc).

Yet, my site does not rank in the top 1000 under a search for 'cell phones'.

But there are some sites that don't seem to be well seo'd that are showing up. For example, when you look up cell phones, the site listed in the 14 position is a site with little content, 18 backlinks, and a pr of 3. (the site is ).

The number 2 position is taken by an amazon page, with no backlinks and pr of 0.

Given what I have read about how google figures rankings, how do these sites do so well?

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A quick reality check: raw backlink counts are only one signal. As found, pages with few visible links can still beat heavily linked newcomers because search engines weigh link quality, domain-level authority and on‑page relevance far more than the total number of traded links. As hinted, an editorial or “root-level” link from a trusted, topically relevant domain can carry much more weight than many low-quality reciprocal links.

Two practical causes to consider here: anchor-text and link-patterns. If most of your partners use the same exact-match text and many links come from the same sites or tightly clustered hosts, those signals look manufactured and get downweighted. Also, adding more anchors across the same linking partners can spread the ranking signal rather than concentrating it for a single phrase, which explains the rapid rise-and-fall behavior you described.

Hosting/IP questions: moving to different IP blocks is not a reliable shortcut. Search engines can and do look for suspicious link networks, but simply changing IPs won’t help if the links themselves are low-value or obviously reciprocal. Invest effort into getting editorial, context-rich links from a variety of independent domains in your niche rather than chasing IP diversity.

Actionable next steps:

  • Audit referring domains: count unique domains, review anchor-text distribution, flag clear reciprocal/trade links.
  • Check indexation and manual-action status via webmaster tools/Search Console; review crawl logs for clues.
  • Improve the target page: unique content, stronger internal links from authoritative pages, tighter topical relevance.
  • Shift outreach toward editorial links (blogs, industry sites, press) and vary anchors (brand, long phrases, natural language).
    If links can’t be cleaned up, document them and consider a disavow only after a careful audit.

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Member Avatar for christopher

hmmm, I have a question to add to the one above.

I have another site with a very competitive keyword phrase. It did well when I first put the link on the 300 sites I mentioned above, went from 170 to 11, but now it's falling, down to 34 so far.

The sites that I have backlinks on, I have three spaces on each of them. I started using one (the site that did well), then added and cell phones and then a third.

I wonder if, because my sites are all on the same server and ip block, I am deluting (sp?) the value of the backlinks. In other words, I have three backlinks on each backlink partner, and while different domain names, they point to the same server/ip block. Is that hurting me?

I have several ips on my server, but all in the same block. My hosting company is a big one, if I can get an ip in a different block, can I have multiple ip blocks on my server? Does the server care or is a number a number to it?

Thanks for any thoughts on this,

Chris

Member Avatar for seobook

>Given what I have read about how google figures rankings, how do these sites do so well?

powerful links pointing at the root of their site maybe?

>server/ip

search engine can check and discount whois data or ip address or link patterns

Member Avatar for Mr.'BackUp'

If anyone does let you know the answer to your questions then please let me know!

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