Can someone help me understand why this page is ranking so well?

[FPD_NYC]

Hi everyone,

EDIT: I'm going to link to the actual page, please remove if there are any issues with confidentiality.

Here is the page: https://www.legalzoom.com/knowledge/llc/topic/advantages-and-disadvantages-overview

It's ranking #2 on Google for "LLC"

This page is a couple months old and is substantially heavy in content, but not much more so than all the dozens of other pages online that are competing with it. This is a highly competitive industry and this particular domain is an extremely huge player in this industry. This new page is suddenly ranking #2 for an extremely competitive head term, arguably the most important/high volume keyword being targeted by the entire site.

The page is outranking the home page, as well as the service page that exactly targets the query - the one that you would think would be the ranking page for this head term. However, this new page is somewhat of a spin-off with some additional related content about the subject, some videos, resources, a lot of internal links, etc.

The first word of the title tag exactly matches the head term. I did observe that almost no other pages on the site have the exact keyword as the first word of the title tag, but that couldn't be sufficient to bring it up so high in the ranks, could it?

Another bizarre thing that is happening is that Google is ignoring the Title Tag in the actual HTML (which is a specific question that is accurate to the content on the page), and re-assigning a title tag that basically looks like this: "Head Term | Brand." Why would it do this on this page? Doesn't it usually prefer more descriptive title tags?

There are no external links coming up on Moz or Majestic pointing to this page. It has just a couple social shares.  It's not being linked to from the home page or top nav bar on the main site.

Can anyone explain how this particular page would outrank the main service page targeting this keyword, as well as other highly authoritative, older pages online targeting the same keyword?

Thanks for your help!

[FPD_NYC]

I wrote this over 2 years ago

http://www.flyingpointdigital.com/2013/04/16/google-thinks-your-title-tags-and-meta-descriptions-are-not-good-enough/

[FPD_NYC]

I know about their ability to do so, but don't you agree that in this case they "dumbed down" the title tag to something much less relevant to the actual content on the page? It seems like they made it MORE keyword stuffed / spammy in this example.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Google has the ability to change title tags, and does so often. Again, this is just the way it is.

[EGOL]

Google has been rewriting title tags for about two years.

[EGOL]

This domain could beat the Pope's.

[PatrickDelehanty]

^ Answer, in the simplest form.

[FPD_NYC]

Agreed, so why is Google restructuring its title tag and prioritizing it above other LLC pages?

[FPD_NYC]

Of course - but why would Google pick this page above the page that is specifically targeting "LLC"? This page answers a specific question about LLCs and it's brand new. I'm sure 99% of the linkbuilding strategies Legalzoom has used to build links to LLC pages have gone to their primarly LLC service page. This one is only a couple months old and is outranking the main LLC service page.

[EGOL]

That page is nothing special.  It simply resides on a Gorilla domain.

[PatrickDelehanty]

^ Echoing EGOL, here.

You put the link in. Legal Zoom is a HUGE company that has great metrics. Anything that lives off the domain (legalzoom.com) is going to rank pretty well for industry topics. The site is respected and trusted, and search engines know the brand.

That's your answer. I would focus on making your site the best it possibly can be for your audience's intent and see what other opportunities you have.

I would focus on building your brand and engagement with your audience. Let Legal Zoom rank for what it is, that's just the name of the game.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

[FPD_NYC]

Ok I added it in, I hope I don't get in trouble!

[EGOL]

A person could spend hours in an attempt to "guess" at the reason a page is ranking above others.   Heck, if I could divine why my competitors are ranking well I would be beating them.

Right now, and even after study, if I was going to place my bet, the reason for their rankings is.....

" this particular domain is an extremely huge player in this industry "

And, once you know that, or if I point to some feature of the page that gives them an advantage, it still will not enable a lesser site to pull off the same ranking

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

It would honestly help a lot more if you linked the page you are talking about. It will help the community better help you!

Let us know - thanks!