Totally confused as to what these SERP results mean

[internetheaven]

You'll have to forgive my attempts at examplifying this to get the point across without breaking TOS.

I have a website:

www.nobluewidgets.co.uk

it's the name of the site and most people link to it using "no blue widgets" as the linking text. But:

for "blue widgets" I rank No.1
for "no blue widets" I rank No.3

The No. 1 ranking for "no blue widgets" is an inner page of a site talking about our "no blue widgets" site - that page has no external backlinks to it. The No. 2 ranking for "no blue widgets" isn't even in the top 30 for "blue widgets".

Is this an example of Over-Optimisation filtration? Is being "no blue widgets" in every sense stopping us from ranking for "no blue widgets"?

[tedster]

The first thing I can think of is that Page Rank gets transferred from internal links as well as external links - so no external backlinks alone isn't a big mystery. And sometimes, just one anchor text occurrence is all it takes to pop a URL to the top, if other strong factors are there.

[internetheaven]

if other strong factors are there.

But they can't be strong. The same website ranking for "no blue widgets" at No.2 disappears to almost No.50 for "blue widgets" whilst we rise to the top.

[tedster]

Yes, it might be an over-optimization filter - it can kick in for just one phrase. However, it does seem just a bit odd for a filter to hit the 3-word phrase and not the 2-word phrase that it contains.

Just an idea - if the full 3-word phrase is common anchor text but not just the 2-word phrase on its own, that might be a factor. How long have you been seeing this?

[internetheaven]

How long have you been seeing this?

Over a year. Figured it might just be an age thing initially but now I'm 2+ years old and the ones above me are 3-4. Surely having 100s of backlinks and the domain name as the anchor text should outway an extra year on inner pages on other sites with no external backlinks to that inner page?

How do you undo an over-optimization filter? Do I have to start linking to myself with the wrong anchor text?