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

[FPD_NYC]

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

[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!

[EGOL]

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

[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.

[FPD_NYC]

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

[PatrickDelehanty]

^ Answer, in the simplest form.

[EGOL]

This domain could beat the Pope's.

[EGOL]

Google has been rewriting title tags for about two years.

[PatrickDelehanty]

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

[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.

[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/