I compare two websites and try to understand why they are in TOP 20 search results

[rigaconnect]

When I do search in google.com (for USA) for "bookkeeping services" I have found 2 websites which I wanted to compare and understand why they are in good positions.

Here is first website - http://www.constantbookkeeping.com (TOP 20 position)
In SEO moz toolbar I can see that the website has at least 304 backlinks (actually much more). Domain authority is 33/100 (good result). But the home page has PR1, only 23 pages indexed and domain is relatively new (May, 2011).
I can make conclusion that TOP 20 position may be because of many backlinks.

Ok. But here is second website - http://www.ginasbookkeeping.com/ (TOP 10 position).
"Only" 76 backlinks (actually much more, but at least 4 times less than the first website). Domain authority is less - 20/100. PR2 and 20 pages indexed. Age May, 2005.
Do not understand high position of the second website. May be these 76 backlins are from authoritative websites?

It appears that most important thing is number of backlinks... And how about Content is king? In these samples content is not king? Only ~ 20 pages with content similar to many other websites... I am confused

Any suggestions (advice)?

[Steve_gts]

You are completely ignoring numerous other factors, how about their on page seo? plus remember that one good link can do more good than 1000 cheap spammy ones.

[GeraldNitram]

About those URLs, I mentioned this some place else before. I would most likely click a URL that has a name on it than just constantbookkeeping.com. Steve_gts has pointed out something good: the quality of the links pointing to the sites. Even if the latter had fewer links, it could be that most of those links are quality links as compared to the first one that could have spammy links. Another thing would be the content found on those sites.

[happy_man]

I would say that ginasbookkeeping has a lot MORE content than the first site - like two or three times as much, and it's not just 'filler' it is well written and descriptive.

The first site may have pictures of people in suits but is totally lacking in substance - i wouldn't want them to look after my books!

[mangomedia]

ya,first of all they strong in domain level,and second website content is good,doing some seo techniques ,

[goosemo]

yeah you need to not only look at backlinks, but content of the site, and the age of that second site definitely helps

[Cricket]

If you are serious about wanting advice, stop worrying about other sites and focus on improving the quality of your own site. Just my 2 cents...

[Turkey Property]

To me, the obvious thing that stands out is that you are basing your analysis on information from SEOmoz, and with respect to them you are not getting the full picture. For instance, for my own site SEOmoz only shows about 60% of the linking domains that Google Webmaster Tools reports. The significance of this is that much of their ranking is based on those links, so that if it is only seeing part of them itself, it cannot give you a full view.
Google could well have found far more than you or SEOmoz are aware of, and is basing their ranking accordingly. They do not use SEOmoz data, they have a far larger database of their own.

[seenBEST]

Believe it or not the number of backlinks is not most important. It's quality of backlinks combined with domain name and density.

[rcostica]

On-page optimization, quality (not quantity) of backlinks, domain age - all these things are important in trying to understand why one page ranks better than another. Just by looking at the PR2 for the second page vs PR1 for the first one states that it does have better backlinks pointing to it. From another perspective, the high number of backlinks for the first page combined with only PR1 leads me to the thought that those links were made in a spammy way and some of them may do more harm than good to the page itself.

[patco]

The best way to be on first page is some HIGH quality backlinks using your main keyword.. Once these URLS are visited and indexed by google, your main keyword will receive more weight and will be in a higher position in google

[Turkey Property]

Originally Posted by seenBEST

Believe it or not the number of backlinks is not most important.

I think this point was covered in the very first reply:

Originally Posted by Steve_gts

plus remember that one good link can do more good than 1000 cheap spammy ones.

[Lorel]

Age of the website is also another big factor in ranking. A younger website will have a problem outranking an equally optimized older website. Unique quality content will also encourage backlinks from others (which are worth a lot more than links you can generate yourself).