How the heck does this rank?

[JoshNosh]

So, was recently doing KW research for a client who wants to build a website in the motor industry and came across a site ranking #1 for a particular niche KW (wrong fuel belfast).
Looking at the site I see it is 9 months old, has 300 words of content, 0% KW density, and NO indexed backlinks pointing to it, and most of its content is below the fold.
What I would like to know is how on earth is a website like this able to rank #1 ahead of more established sites that seem to more closely follow Google's guidelines for ranking?
Anyone have any ideas on this?

 

[sashilover]

pm the url, i will check for you

 

[Muni lee]

Google

Newbie

Newbie

Minimum amount of content on a PBN domain ?

 

[Deleted member 720373]

Google

Newbie

Newbie

Minimum amount of content on a PBN domain ?

Why the 4 posts?

If you're trying to boost your post count I can guarantee you won't get far.

 

[JoshNosh]

pm the url, i will check for you

I can't. Not enough posts yet
And I don't want to paste it here in the forum

 

[davids355]

Google

Newbie

Newbie

Minimum amount of content on a PBN domain ?

Posts merged. In future just keep your reply to a single post rather than 4 because it makes the thread hard to follow otherwise, and it also looks like you are either spamming the forum or trying to increase your post count.

 

[jennionline]

It seems this is low traffic low difficulty keyword so few people will compete for this term. The domain itself has half the keyword in it, and Belfast is in the homepage text, great combination for ranking.

 

[JoshNosh]

It seems this is low traffic low difficulty keyword so few people will compete for this term. The domain itself has half the keyword in it, and Belfast is in the homepage text, great combination for ranking.

I agree - but I see a number of other sites there that have exactly the same - half the KW in the domain, and Belfast on the page text.
It's not even really that I don't see why it would rank higher than those other pages - it's more that I don't see why it would rank at all. It would seem that it shouldn't (if we are to believe google's guidelines)

 

[rickydzine]

Could be a 301 redirect.

 

[safeSEOboost]

@JoshNosh checking your query it seems (and I am guessing for the conclusion):

- #1 has no backlinks, and also does not rank on page 1 for other queries (other than brand)
- this query seems to have very little traffic
- domain includes wrong fuel + NI (Northern Ireland); no other competitor has a better PMD on page 1 (and below I guess)
- they are clearly a real local business by looking at the site
- they are also #1 for their domain name/brand name (similar to OP query)

So it seems to be a case of a website ranking without links using PMD (near EMD) for a local business query. As the domain says NI (Northern Ireland) + there is a referral from someone from Belfast on the homepage, it could be the case that google cannot find another domain more clearly locally based in Belfast. And the business address is in Belfast. Finally the 3rd word in domain relates well to the issue at hand.

 

[JoshNosh]

@JoshNosh checking your query it seems (and I am guessing for the conclusion):

- #1 has no backlinks, and also does not rank on page 1 for other queries (other than brand)
- this query seems to have very little traffic
- domain includes wrong fuel + NI (Northern Ireland); no other competitor has a better PMD on page 1 (and below I guess)
- they are clearly a real local business by looking at the site
- they are also #1 for their domain name/brand name (similar to OP query)

So it seems to be a case of a website ranking without links using PMD (near EMD) for a local business query. As the domain says NI (Northern Ireland) + there is a referral from someone from Belfast on the homepage, it could be the case that google cannot find another domain more clearly locally based in Belfast. And the business address is in Belfast. Finally the 3rd word in domain relates well to the issue at hand.

Thanks safeSEOboost. Looks like this must be the case. Just really fascinating that Google "seems" to go against its own guidelines so clearly here (content, backlinks, social signals, above the fold, etc).
I wonder if this would mean trying to rank nationally for low-competition KWs in certain areas would be boosted simply by having a "local address" on the page?
Theoretically then, if, for example, I want to rank for "wheel balancing" in - say - Dundee, according to the above example, having a homepage on a domain like "wheelbalanceandtyres.com" which includes a Dundee address should rank very well.
If so it looks like a step backwards for Google - back to the days of over-emphasis on KW domainnames.

 

[JoshNosh]

Could be a 301 redirect.

How so?