Riddle me this. This site is ranked #1. 34 backlinks. How??

[SwitchBack]

Hello Everyone.

I'm hoping to pick a few brains and help me see the obvious that I am missing here.

I have chosen a large city different than my own for this analysis and wanted to see the patterns on rank success.
Of course I have read all the how-to stuff and add great content, etc etc.

but in real life examples? I can't figure out what is so unique about the site.

In this case?
Let's talk about this website:
crowntowing-repairDOTcommon
(btw I have changed the obvious url ending to keep it from creating a backlink)

^^ this site hits #1 when you type Portland Towing. but it has only 34 backlinks and 16 referring domains.
the backlinks don't even seem to be from relevant sites and 1/2 are anchor texts from themselves... referring domains? Yext and Yellowbook appear to be same high 77 authority, but nothing else outstanding.

500 word content? Nope not there.

So I can learn how the new Brainrank works, I'm wondering if you guys can point out what is so unique in this website as to push it to #1?

Again, not my website, not my location, but it's a great case study on why things work and why they don't.
This site is contradicting everything that I have read and am trying to implement.. so why is this website working so well for them? Portland has to be a pretty competitive market. What gives?

I'd love your input.
Thanks.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey @SwitchBack,

Are you talking about organic or local ranking? I did a search from Portland, OR (city-center) and they're 7th organic for this term and not in the 3-pack. Also, please let us know what area you're searching from.

 

[Yourname]

I see so many such websites. Some of them even directories with little to no stats, and little to no backlinks, hardly any quality content, badly designed website etc that rank #1. Gave up trying to understand what they do that got them rank #1.

 

[PaulSteinbrueck]

It's #9 in Google organic for me. I checked a few of their competitors that are just outside the top 10, and they only had 11, 34 and 9 referring domains. So, it seems like it's a pretty non-competitive keyword from an SEO/link building perspective.