Market Ninja Academy
Cloud Computing Providers
An SEO Audit
How to rank top of Google for the keyword ‘cloud computing providers’.
When targeting a keyword for SEO, we need to analyse the SEO strategies of the top ranking websites. This way we can determine what is needed to take the number one position.
Why cloud computing providers?
The keyword “cloud computing providers” has 390 searches per month in the UK, and thousands globally. It’s a valuable keyword because it directly targets businesses searching for cloud solutions.
The average cost of cloud computing services can range from £5,000 to £50,000 annually for small to medium-sized businesses and £100,000 to £1 million+ annually for larger enterprises.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is high due to long contracts, typically lasting 3–5 years, and frequent upselling opportunities. This means a single client could bring a lifetime revenue ranging from £15,000 to £5 million or more.
Page one results
(Snapshot of rankings in Jan 2025)
| Website | Position | Landing Page |
|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud | 1 | What is a Cloud Provider |
| Cloud Zero | 2 | Cloud Service Providers |
| Datamation | 3 | Cloud Service Providers |
| Allcode | 4 | Cloud Service Providers |
| Dgtl Infra | 5 | Cloud Service Providers |
| The CTO Club | 6 | Cloud Service Providers |
| Digital Ocean | 7 | How to Choose a Cloud Provider |
| Wikipedia | 8 | Cloud Computing Providers |
| Tech Target | 9 | Cloud Service Providers |
| Microsoft Azure | 10 | What is a Cloud Provider |
The first thing that stands out is the lack of actual cloud providers in the results. Google, Digital Ocean and Microsoft are cloud providers, but the others are ranking with list style pages recommending providers.
It’s a largely untapped SEO market for cloud service providers. There are multiple global leaders not ranking on page 1, such as Amazon, Salesforce, Oracle and IBM, but there are also UK providers not ranking, such as UKFast, Pulsant, iomart, and Claranet.
The competitors
Google Cloud, Wikipedia, Tech Target, Datamation, Digital Ocean and Microsoft Azure are all global powerhouses. The other four however, are worth investigating.
CloudZero
CloudZero is not a cloud service provider. They offer a cloud cost intelligence platform that helps organisations manage and optimise their cloud spending. They provide tools for cost allocation, budget management, and visibility into cloud costs, but they don’t provide cloud infrastructure services themselves.
AllCode
AllCode is a cloud service provider specialising in software development services and cloud computing. They offer solutions and support for platforms like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
Dgtl Infra
Dgtl Infra is not a cloud service provider. They are a digital infrastructure intelligence platform that provides information and insights on towers, data centres, fibre optics, and small cells. They focus on analysing and reporting on the digital infrastructure industry, rather than offering cloud services themselves.
The CTO Club
Again, not a cloud service provider, but a professional development platform aimed at providing SaaS CTOs and tech leaders with guidance, resources, and community support. The platform offers insights on business strategy, innovation, leadership, and technical challenges associated with rapid growth.
| Website | Pages Indexed | Referring Domains | Authority Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| cloudzero.com | 1338 | 6675 | 45 |
| allcode.com | 919 | 2069 | 30 |
| dgtlinfra.com | 1899 | 7433 | 39 |
| thectoclub.com | 1344 | 2737 | 48 |
Even though the websites above are the smallest on page one, they are still substantial, especially in terms of links. It’s evident we’re up against some big, established websites. We need to look for weak spots and opportunities and in this case, the weakest website looks to be AllCode.
AllCode, ranking in 4th, must be doing something right to be ahead of DigitalOcean and Microsoft Azure. However, they have the least pages, the least links and the lowest Authority Score.
Let’s look closer at AllCode and see how they’ve gained 4th position.
Name: AllCode
About: AllCode is a software development company and cloud service provider based in San Francisco, California. They are an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner and work with cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
Domain: allcode.com
First seen: April 27, 1999
Current SEO
AllCode's UK keywords are mostly related to AWS and cloud services, so this hints at a lack of UK competition in these areas for it to be ranking so highly.
AllCode benefits from a partnership with Amazon’s AWS and the website has multiple featured snippets related to AWS services.
They’re in 2nd position for ‘cloud services’ (1000 monthly searches), but most visibility is related to AWS. For example, they’re 4th for ‘AWS services’ with 5,400 searches.
Google has placed AllCode as an authority on cloud computing providers, globally. For example, in the UK, they’re 1st for ‘cloud providers’, 2nd for ‘AWS services’ and 4th for ‘cloud computing service providers’. They are ranking in similar positions in Australia, India, Germany and more.
The keyword 'cloud computing providers' appears to be a global search term, so websites ranking for this keyword will have global visibility.
Google categorises keywords based on user intent. For example, many service keywords have local intent, such as family solicitors. Google considers that people searching these keywords are looking for a local company, so the results will be tailored to your IP address. Other keywords could be considered national, and so everyone in the UK will see the same results. Then similarly, some keywords Google will consider as global. This means most countries in the world will see the same results. It seems cloud computing providers is one of these keywords.
Website and UX
Google rewards pages that deliver great user experiences. Fast load speeds, clear structure, and optimised content are all ranking signals.
Improving LCP can increase website conversions by as much as 11% to 61%.
Home page
The AllCode homepage is well-structured, professional, and designed to highlight the company’s expertise in cloud services and software development.
They present strong credibility with certifications like “AWS Advanced Consulting Partner” and stats like “90% client satisfaction rate.”
- The services section provides easy access to key solutions such as software development, cloud computing, and cybersecurity. The icons and descriptions make it scannable and engaging.
- The layout uses bold headlines, large icons, and clear calls-to-action (CTAs) to guide users toward important sections, such as booking a consultation or case studies. The use of red as an accent colour draws attention to key elements like CTAs.
- Testimonials and case studies reinforce trust and the inclusion of well-known brands as partners enhances credibility and authority.
- The footer has links to social media, as well as services and sectors. They have the required E-E-A-T elements, such as office address, telephone number, privacy policy and terms.
Landing page
The page that’s ranking is a ‘Top 10 Cloud Providers in 2024’ listicle. They also offer advice on learning about cloud computing and how to choose a provider.
It is a helpful page with 2026 words, and ‘cloud’ being mentioned 81 times (4%), ‘computing’ 14 times (0.69%), and ‘provider’ 21 times (1.04%). This makes it highly relevant to the search term.
The top cloud providers listed are:
- Amazon Web Services
- Microsoft Azure
- Google Cloud Platform
- Alibaba Cloud
- Salesforce
- IBM
- Digital Ocean
- Dell
- Adobe
- Dropbox
- CloudContactAI
Each provider has a summary and a Learn More button which links through to a dedicated page about that provider.
They also offer advice on learning about cloud computing and how to choose a provider. It would definitely be considered a helpful page, and provides users with pretty much everything they need to know about choosing a cloud computing provider.
Technical SEO
Factors like UX, site speed, mobile-friendliness, structured data, and URL structure, can enhance user experience and help search engines understand and rank content.
Page Experience
Google introduced Page Experience as a ranking factor in June 2021 as part of a broader algorithm update. Initially applied to mobile search, it incorporated signals like Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, HTTPS, and safe browsing. By February 2022, Google expanded Page Experience to include desktop search as well. While not the most significant ranking factor, it plays a crucial role in improving user experience and can give optimised websites a competitive edge.
Although the AllCode website has failed the Core Web Vitals Assessment, it isn’t performing bad for Page Experience.
It has a Largest Contentful Paint of 1.8 second, which is below the 2.5 seconds recommended by Google. It’s Interaction to Next Paint and Time to First Byte are also on or below the recommended thresholds.
The only elements it failed on is the First Contentful Paint and Cumulative Layout Shift.
Site Issues
The Semrush Site Audit tool checks for over 140 technical, SEO, and site health factors.
ALLCode has a score of 78% and have 4 errors and 12 warnings. These include broken links and other minor issues, but nothing that would majorly affect ranking positions.
On Page SEO
The on page SEO for ALLCode’s landing page is good. It contains the keyword ‘cloud providers’ in the metadata and the headings. It has good internal linking throughout and images contain relevant ALT text.
Relevance
Relevance is the most important metric Google looks for when ranking a website. It’s goal is to provide users with the most relevant search results.
AllCode has the the highest % of ‘cloud computing’ throughout content, but for other metrics, they are near the lowest.
- The website has approximately 919 pages indexed on Google. This is the least number of pages of all competitors on page 1.
- It has 363,437 words overall, which is an average of 395 per page. This could highlight issues with thin content.
- 4 pages contain ‘cloud computing’ in the H1 (0.44%), and just one contains variations of ‘provider’ (0.11%).
Content
AllCode has around 919 pages. Their URL structure isn’t the cleanest and they haven’t segmented content such as blog posts in a data friendly manner.
They have a good amount of educational/informational content, offering advice on topics such as productivity and privacy, but also have a high percentage of low quality pages.
- A large part of their content is related to Amazon’s AWS, with 240 URLS (26.11%) containing AWS.
- Around half of the website (approx 450 pages) is actual content, the rest are categories, tags and other paginated pages.
- They have around 34 case studies on the website and the rest are either service pages or informational blog content.
E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness, a metric Google uses to assess the quality of content, particularly for topics that can significantly impact users’ lives (like health or finance).
- Experience evaluates whether the content creator has firsthand knowledge or practical experience on the topic.
- Expertise measures the depth of knowledge demonstrated in the content.
- Authority assesses the creator’s credibility within their field, including recognition by others.
- Trustworthiness reflects how reliable and transparent the content and website are, including clear sourcing and secure practices.
Websites with strong E-E-A-T signals are more likely to rank well because they provide reliable, user-focused content that aligns with Google’s quality standards.
E-E-A-T Checks Include:
- Content Quality Signals
- Academic and Professional Credentials
- Academic and Research Links
- Professional Association Signals
- Authority & Trust Signals
- Schema Markup
- AllCode has a score of 0.73% for content quality signals, which is the second lowest of the four competitors.
- AllCode has a score of 1.48% for academic credentials, which again is the second lowest.
- AllCode has Person schema on 113.38% of the website. This is much higher than anyone else and will provide an advantage.
Scanning for terms like research, study, data, and evidence within paragraphs can assess how well content is supported by factual information. Outbound links to educational institutions and research organisations help demonstrate commitment to scholarly research and connections to professional bodies demonstrate active participation in professional communities, helping establish authority within specific fields.
AllCode excels with its use of schema markup, particularly Person Schema and Organisation Schema. Their schema is related to their leadership team and a number of authors. Though well respected, none of the people could be considered influencers or leading experts in the cloud computing space. However, this number of people will definitely provide transparency and an advantage with E-E-A-T.
Off Page SEO
Backlinks are a major part of the Google algorithm and act as endorsements from other websites. High-quality backlinks, especially from relevant and authoritative sources, can significantly boost a website’s visibility in search results.
Backlink Analysis
IMPORTANT: They have by far the most relevant backlink profile for the keyword ‘cloud providers’.
Authority Score
30
Semrush scores AllCode 30/100 for link authority.
Ref Domains
2069
Over 2000 websites are linking to AllCode.
Relevant Links
1510
With the keyword ‘cloud’ in the anchor text.
The websites linking with relevant anchor text are low quality (many are on Russian domains), and look to be potentially toxic.
AllCode has the least number of links and lowest Authority Score, so are trailing their competitors in terms of link volume.
Backlink Relevance
While the domain has the lowest link volume and Authority Score among its competitors, its backlink relevance is by far superior.
Additionally, 1959 backlinks originate from cloud computing-related pages, and 45 from pages specifically about “cloud providers,” far surpassing its competitors in relevance.
Anchor text is one of Google’s foundational ranking signals, despite the risks associated with over-optimisation.
AllCode’s highly relevant anchor text profile gives it a significant edge.
AllCode’s anchor text profile is the most targeted and relevant to the keyword.
Keywords in Anchor Text
Anchor text is probably the biggest ranking signal in Google’s algorithm. In fact, it was the key idea that led to the invention of Google. In the original paper written in 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page ‘The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual Web search engine‘, they outlined how hypertext can be used to create a search engine far superior to search engines that relied on metadata.
Google owns the patent for ‘Using anchor text with hyperlink structures for web searches‘, and it forms the basis of their search algorithm.
This has been known since Google first launched, and the abuse of anchor text by SEOs escalated until 2012, when Google introduced the Penguin update. This update detected anchor text manipulation and penalised websites for unnatural link profiles. Penguin has been part of the core algorithm since 2016, and so anchor text manipulation in the form of link farms is a highly dangerous practise that will likely lead to a penalty.
Regardless, the anchor text of links is still a huge part of the algorithm. This means that a website with the most links containing the keyword in the anchor text, will likely rank highest on Google for that keyword.
Although AllCode has the lowest quantity of links, and their link quality isn’t the highest, they have the most relevant links to the keyword ‘cloud computing providers’ by far.
This is likely the reason why they are beating their competitors on page one for this keyword.
I’m not claiming that AllCode is conducting black hat SEO on purpose, but if they are the victim of scrapers, then it appears to be currently in their favour. However, a backlink profile like this would have me worried, and I would focus on building more authority links.
Final assessment
It’s been interesting analysing AllCode and its competitors on page one for ‘cloud computing providers’. While they have many elements that give them credibility, they also have elements bordering on low quality.
They are clearly punching above their weight to have such a high ranking position. However, apart from AWS services, cloud computing, and specifically cloud computing providers, they have relatively low visibility.
It would be interesting to see what traffic they are getting for these keywords and whether they are gaining genuine leads. Their E-E-A-T score is relatively good, and this may be saving them from a borderline spammy link profile.
Why are they ranking 4th for cloud computing providers?
It appears the only reason AllCode is ranking so highly for the keyword ‘cloud computing providers’ is because they have a well optimised, helpful landing page, and multiple links with near exact match anchor text to the keyword.
Exact match keywords within anchor text is a major Google ranking factor, and they have much more than any of their competitors on page one. Many of their links appear to be web spam, but their strong E-E-A-T profile may be saving them from a penalty.
Areas for improvement
There are many areas I would like to see improved for AllCode. They have good content, but it could be segmented better. Also, I would like to clean up their pages, because they have too many category, tag and paginated pages compared to their genuine content. Many of these pages are thin and contain duplicate content, so there is a risk being hit with a core update penalty.
I would be concerned about their backlink profile too. They have some good authority links and a strong affiliation with Amazon AWS, which will be helping the quality of their backlink profile. However, there is clearly web spam linking to their website, and although they are benefitting from this currently, they could be flagged by Google at any time and lose their ranking positions.
Advice for competitors
Cloud computing is a growing sector in the tech industry. The IDC compiled a report on May 2024 that stated:
“Spending on compute and storage infrastructure products for cloud deployments, increased 18.5% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2023 (4Q23) to $31.8 billion. This category continues to capture the largest share of spending compared to dedicated deployments and non-cloud spending.”
Cloud computing is a high ticket item and customer lifetime value can be in the tens, or hundreds of thousands. Ranking for the keyword ‘cloud computing providers’ will provide global visibility, so a company offering these services will gain excellent exposure worldwide.
To achieve it, you will need a solid landing page, filled with helpful information and optimised for SEO. Your website will need to be quite large, maybe 1000 pages or more. The good news is however, you will only need around 12 pages dedicated to cloud computing providers for search engines to see your website as the most relevant.
If you want a shortcut to the top, similar to AllCode, then you will need multiple links with exact or near exact match anchor text. Traditionally this has been achieved by building link farms, but this is highly dangerous and will most likely trigger a penalty.
Instead, you can focus on creating the ultimate page, or section on your website dedicated to cloud computing providers. Then using outreach, you may be able to attract natural links that contain the anchor text. Ideally, you want to gain sitewide links, because this is how AllCode has managed to gain 1510 links from only around 100 websites. Most of their links are extremely low value however, and with better quality you may outrank them with far less links.
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