Learn from a Rankings Dominator - NYMag.com

Mystery Guest and I arrived in New York on Saturday and have been enjoying the city tremendously. During our stay, I've been conducting a remarkable number of searches to find museums, shows, restaurants and shopping. One site has consistently dominated the results at Google and, as an SEO, I couldn't be more impressed - NYMag.com has done a remarkable job building and marketing their site.

A few of their top rankings:

• #1 for New York Restaurants
• #1 for New York Sales
• #1 for Best of New York
• #2 & 3 for New York Nightlife
• #1 for Balthazar Soho (a popular restaurant)
• #3 for New York Galleries

They're at the top for general queries & specifics and the best part is - their content is truly top-notch. Every time I see them in the results, even if they're not #1, I click their listing. To help analyze why they've had this tremendous success, I'll point out a few of their best features.

Layout & Design

The layout follows some good conventions - top level navigation at the top, section-specific navigation on the left sidebar and featured content navigation in the center. Ads don't overwhelm the site, though they are present, and a multi-header on the right helps make for more accessible content. The design is terrific - simple, elegant & classic - it fits perfectly with the branding of the magazine.

Navigation

The navigation throughout the site is good, but the restaurant (and store) finder in particular are brilliant. The criteria allow you to refine quickly via a drop-out sidebar, sorting by price or cuisine, name or rating are easy.

Content

The content throughout the site is top notch - great reviews of restaurants (like this one for Craft) include maps, slideshows, a brief but informative write-up, user reviews, links to the official website (I hate when that's missing) and often, even a link to the menu. The screenshot above showcases their shopping section, where the latest sales are posted the day they're announced so smart New Yorkers can save on Allessandro Dell'Acqua's Italian fashion. Content like this is bound to attract links - it's one of the major advantagesof being a respected publication, too. With reporters and relationships in place, your access to breaking news and direct sources is considerably higher than a site like Yelp, Judy's Book or even Citysearch.

Smart SEO

NYMag.com has nearly perfect title tags & URLs:

• http://nymag.com/movies/ - Movies in New York City - Showtimes and Reviews - New York Magazine
• http://nymag.com/restaurants/openings/30315/ - New York Restaurant Openings - Provence - Resto - Gold St. - Zipper Tavern - New York Magazine
• http://nymag.com/realestate/ - Real Estate - New York Magazine
• http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/provence/ - Provence - Soho - New York Magazine Restaurant Guide

These follow nearly every rule I've got for good title tags & great URLs, and although I might try things a bit differently, when you compare them to the NY Times, Citysearch or other competitive listings, they're a clear leader.

I've got to run, but please share with us some of the sites you learn from and what you've gathered.

p.s. SES NYC is going great - Mystery Guest and I were treated to Babbo last night after the IM-NY event.