Checking Competitors

[moody_92]

Hi,I am trying to do some SEO on my site to improve my rank against competitors for keywords. My main keyword is online computer training. Now i do a search in google and take a list of the top 5 competitors and then in google i check to see who they are linking to link:www.competitor.com. None of these site have a huge amount of backlinks.But then i do it on my own site link:www.learningsteps.com and i notice in google i only have two back links - one is pr4 and the other p3 (is this the reason why i am pr3).I suppose my main question is if you submit to site and get added how do you know if these sites are going to help in google or yahoo etc.I have a lot of backlinks in yahoo but only two in google.Any help would be appreciated.thanksFergal.Welcome to OZZU!With backlinks, Google (the way your doing it) will not show all backlinks to sites. Since these competitors sites are not owned by you, I would try Yahoo's backlink checker (it shows internal and external links pointing to the homepage): http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/Your backlinks have a part in what your Pagerank is. Homepage Pagerank is also increased by the number of pages within your own site that link to the homepage, so that helped you get a PR3 as well.A backlink is a backlink is a backlink. Search engines just don't always display the same amount, it doesn't mean that the search engine doesn't see them. You never know if one link is going to help over another, but that is why you try to go after high PR, relevant sites to get links from. Also, make sure to get into the Yahoo Directory and DMOZ.Hi Vetofunk,thanks for the reply, i am working hard trying to get higher pr links, i also have tried web directories and even thrown my hand at creating a web bloghttp://fergald.wordpress.com - have submitted this link to other blogs (not sure if this is the correct way of doing it.).Would you recommend buying links - how much do links cost anyway. Do not have a lot to spend - but if it was going to really benefit i would gather some cash from somewhere.thanks again for all your help. great forum here.fergal.I don't think you need to yet. I would start off by submitting to DMOZ. Pay for the Yahoo Directory and Best of the Web, http://www.botw.org, one of the oldest Internet Directories.This will begin to build up PR. Then once the next update comes through (April-May), you will get some PR to your site, as well as your link's page. Begin to do link exchanges with related sites. Once you really start having trouble finding good links, try purchasing from relevant sites or submit to more paid directories.Do a google search for SEO Plugin for firefox! It's Great!IMO... when starting a new site, spend more effort on making the site useful, and write content that people need to have. By this you will gain more visitors, and user recommendation.for top ranking issue, you just need more inbound links. and prefer with higher PR sites. this helps to rank your site in google.