I recently reg'd a domain and put up a minisite with affiliate links, the name format is like this:

[keyword1][keyword2][geo].com.au

Roughtly 2-3 weeks later a google alert just came through with a link to a freshly indexed minisite in the same niche. The site is run by the big player in the industry and the format of the domain is:

[geo][keyword1][keyword2].com.au

I'm still working on ranking my site on the 1st page and I'm not an affiliate of that company (on that site) but I was running adwords for 2 weeks.

I've reg'd about 20 names in this niche so I could start with long tail mini sites (already have 3 running) and make my way up the food chain.

Am I being paranoid or have then seen me coming?

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Index > Rank > Monetise

I wouldn't worry about it, just get your site to rank. If you know how to seo, you'll out rank them anyway. All my sites I have wanted to rank number 1 are number 1, some take longer depending on who's the number 1 site already.

Don

This isn't always a bad thing. I met Shaun (who introduced me to this place and the whole drop/netfleet system which I never knew existed until then) simply because we're in the same niche.

The strategy (long term) is more about building authority in the niche rather than the rankings themselves, so I guess I'll just keep chipping away

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Index > Rank > Monetise