rfgdxm1 - 4:00 am on Nov 1, 2003 (gmt 0)

>This just isn't factual.

Yes, it is. I've consistently found that when dealing with search terms that are not particularly competitive, the combination of solid PR of the page + high KWD is generally sufficient. How can you say it isn't a "major factor" if this fairly consistently works for me? NO, high KWD won't get you very far with highly competitive search terms. For those you likely will need links from other sites with the search term in the anchor text. However, most search terms people are using aren't highly competitive.

>two months ago a site took the 1st position on a "to die for" single keyword. It was nothing more than an auto generated page repeating the KW in different size fonts with a couple of outbound links with the KW in the anchor text. I would guess that the kw density ran over 70%.

>A couple of days later the page was replaced with a more "traditional" page that probably has a KW density of about, oh, I dunno, 6-9%. The site hasn't budged.

>Links links links.

If this is a "to die for" single keyword, by definition it is highly competitive. This is a special case scenario. People search far more often for terms that aren't "to die for" single keywords.