Flash site ranking well for a competitive keyword

[SEO5Team]

Hello Mozzers,

Thought we'd get the group's opinion on this: This site (power lead generation) is ranking for the keyword "lead generation" on Google.ca at the 5th position organically . It's performing even better than some of the better optimized sites with more content related to this keyword. Any input would be appreciated.

Cheers,

SEO5..

[TakeshiYoung]

I would guess because it is on the .ca TLD. Google's international search engines favor sites that are on country specific TLDs. Also, the domain is a partial exact match, which still gives sites a small boost when it comes to ranking.

The interactive Flash site may also have positive user metrics (time on site, # of pages visited) which could also help boost its rankings.

[SEO5Team]

Thanks Takeshi, appreciate your input.

[Travis_Bailey]

I would side on the fact that it's a partial match domain which was created in 2006. As Takeshi stated, the .ca TLD is definitely helping as well. It appears that they have a lot of branded/partial match anchor text.

The site appears to be getting a lot of links from jobs.to and nowtoronto.com. There are a few more referring .ca TLDs. It doesn't appear they're really trying to link build, so much as posting on job boards. The links aren't terribly high quality, but the quite a few of the referring domains are.

I wouldn't count on this site to rank well in the long game.

[SEO5Team]

Thanks Travis,

It does seem like the .ca is playing a big part in their rankings. I agree, would be very surprised if the site keeps ranking in the long haul.

[Travis_Bailey]

Thanks for putting this one out there. This would probably make for a pretty interesting case study. You might as well track it.

They aren't doing anything that would help a flash site work with on-page. Though there is a title attribute for Power Lead Generation.

[BradyDCallahan]

The TLD element is definitely a strong point.

Something else to consider: have you investigated the website's backlink profile? Especially given the industry, I wouldn't doubt there was some manipulative link practices going on with the anchor text "lead generation" from spammy sites.

Just a thought.

[SEO5Team]

Thanks Brady, the backlink profile looks clean.