Height of keyword term in content

[loudog]

Not sure if I posted this to the correct category, please move if that is the case.

Back in the day when I first started learning about SEO, there seemed to be a lot of emphasis on page title as it related to the targeted key term. Not only in the meta area but in the H1, in the content and its' position on the page (higher the better).

I have a competitor who consistently outranks me for several community related key terms. The content on my community pages is much better than my competitors it's original, relevant, etc. In addition, I wrote it in keeping with every SEO rule I could think of.

My competitor's page is dull, boring and repeats the same content on every community page only changing the name of the area on each.

The only thing I can see were I am lacking is the height of the keyword term. My competitor has it at the very top of the page where I have it much lower.

Is this my problem? Should I follow suite?

Take a look and let me know what you think:

Target: Woodstock New York Real Estate

Mine: http://www.nutshellrealty.com/woodst...eal-estate.php

My Competitor's: http://www.westwoodrealty.com/Real_E...odstock/12498/

[Dallas Broker]

I don't think height of the keyword term has much influence on why your competitor is ranking better. i would recommend optimizing your homepage around keyword Woodstock New York Real Estate and maybe take out some of the extra content(phone numbers, links, etc) and balance your keyword weight, some say main keyword weight should range between 2-10%

[loudog]

Thanks, I will get right on it. It just seems odd to me, that their very poor attempt can out rank any effort I make.

Thanks again

[kid disco]

Your page may be superior, in terms of content... but it's not all about content.

[loudog]

What do you suggest CK?

[kid disco]

Links!

[loudog]

Yeah, I thought that too. I have been doing a fair amount of linking thinking my competitor isn't. Maybe I have to kick it up a notch.

Thank for the advice.

[kid disco]

Like I mentioned before, your page may be superior in content... and the two pages both have a minimal amount of links going to them (6-9)... the reason your competitor is beating you out seems to be because they have one leg up on you in terms of age>>trust>>authority. A few good links to your page should be all you need.

[loudog]

Thanks again, I am all over it!

[Halfdeck]

There are several reasons why someone might be outranking you (I'm greatly simplifying things so read with a grain of salt):

1) On-page factors (e.g. Keyword isn't in your title, words are not in the exact order in your title, or words are not at the beginning of title)

Other factors (keywords in H tags) and copy matters somewhat but the only two factors that greatly influence rankings are 1) keyword frequency (not density) and 2) keywords in TITLE

2) Off-page factors:

a) Your competitor is more "authoritative" (more juice going into the domain).

OR

b) Your competitor has more anchor text pointing at his URL.

You can outrank an authority domain with more anchor text, and you can outrank a site with more anchor text by having more authority.

Of course there are a bunch of other reasons as well.