I know generally it's not a good idea posting project urls, however this time I'll break the rule as I could really use some genuine ideas: I just can't explain my rankings.
So I created a small site, branded term, english language, I will use my British ranking data, you can use justproxy.co.uk to verify if you'd like. Site is 2 years old. My main keyword is Breast Actives, however my I describe the strangest phenomenon after the bullets. Site: http://buybreastactives.info
So the point is:
- I did a little keyword stuffing back in the days, but removed it, took a safe middle density (analyzed the first rankers keyword usage).
- I've been looking at competitors backlink profiles comparing them to mine. The growth rates are similar. I have a little lower Domain and Page authority than the first few sites, but not that lower.
- Backlink quantity is somewhat similar to first 20, yet still I am ranking somewhere way beyond 200. I am not expecting a first place with a "somewhat similar" profile, but my bet is I should be at least in top 50.
The only technique that worked was regular posting, I brought up the site into top 70, but as the site is really focused on a particular product, and the site's brewity suffered the price of posting semi-related articles, so I stopped. Rank out beyond 200.
Another intresting aspect I cannot get my head around is that for "breast actives reviews" I have a dedicated page buybreastactives.info/real-customer-reviews, with some keyword usage, and another page buybreastactives.info/worldwide is ranking for it (around 80-90), but it does not use this keyword at all.
So if you have some time to give it a glance I would be greatful for some thoughts.
EDIT: Before penguin around 2012 dec site was in top 10 for nearly all terms targetted, with the stuffed keywords.