What is Fishy About These Websites?

[PROFRBcom]

When I see huge discrepancies in the way sites are ranked by different authority tracking websites, my spider-senses go off. Things like DA, PA, TF, TM,CF, Alexa ranking, topic authority... they tend to have certain ratios at real websites and skewed ratios at sites that are "fake" or highly manipulative.

I know that link sellers know how to manipulate many of these metrics through various link schemes be they spam, PBN, very strategic backlink purchases, hired traffic, etc, but I don't specifically know how to spot many of these things.

With that background in mind, here are the metrics from two known, real websites that have organic search engine traffic. Both websites are predominately "online poker" themed:







Now here are two suspect websites for comparison:

The first website is a video game news website...


And this website is a sports news website...



No, I did not mix these last two screenshots up, I triple checked them.


Now, I am convinced there are shenanigans going on with the final two websites/screeenshots, but my questions are:

a) What are those shenanigans?
b) Would you still want links from such sites?
c) Regarding your answer to [b], why, or why not?

[popopdc]

I don't understand what you're asking or implying.

[must]

Like popopdc, I'm not sure what's the question. However, if it's something like "should I get a link from sites with these metrics?", I recommend to check their organic traffic, what keywords they are ranking for, and if there are signs of penalties along the months/years (big drops in rankings).

A site can have an outstanding link profile and still been penalised by Google (for example, because Google understood the site was selling links ). If that's the case, you don't need that link (because Google will be discounting it anyway).
If a site is ranking and without much ups&downs along the last 12/24 months, then you can assume it's a good site (at least, in Google's eyes).

When checking the rankings, be sure to check the keywords they are ranking for.

[Michael Martinez]

There hasn't been a legitimate Google Toolbar PageRank score for years.

[PROFRBcom]

Looks like no one sees what I see.

That leads me to think one of two scenarios is true:

1) I'm delusional and there is nothing to see.
2) I'm better at SEO than all of you and have a hidden edge.

The world will never know :P

[Michael Martinez]

Okay, you're trying to do some sort of analysis with a lot of unrelated metrics computed from different databases. It's sort of like judging card players sitting at different tables playing with different opponents using different decks of cards.

And some of them are playing Whist while others are trying to play Spades or Crazy 8s.

[jsmith144]

Honestly I’m not seeing what you’re seeing; these appear to be high quality, legit sites—just the kinds of sites I’d consider when looking for backlinks to my gambling site.

[universal4]

Looks like no one sees what I see.

That leads me to think one of two scenarios is true:

1) I'm delusional and there is nothing to see.
2) I'm better at SEO than all of you and have a hidden edge.

The world will never know :P

Is there anyone you would like us to call for you?

But to be honest I am leaning toward both scenarios to be true.

Sorry I just couldn't pass that up. LOL

I have seen time an again different search results made by me and others at the same time, say while discussing searches on the phone with someone. Some could be related to different geo's affecting the list of results etc.

I have also seen different results on different browsers.

Rick
Universal4

[wonderpunter]

Root domains is the give away... however the most important metric is how many keywords do they rank for.. how many high difficulty keywords do they rank for.,. everything else is just smoke.. if google loves them then so do I