Higher ranking when search terms are in quotes?

[stevelibby]

why are results different with searches using quotes wrapped around them. Quite a few of my searches for my site are with quotes are ranked higher than not having them, am i missing something here on seo?

[canadafred]

Read what each search engine has to say about "Advanced search" methods.

Usually a keyphrase in quotes return results for exactly that keyphrase with the key words in that exact order. Not using quotes mix and mashes the words in various orders; usually resulting in more web pages being offered in the SERPs.

Using quotation marks creates better search precision.

[stevelibby]

so lets say that "big widget" comes in at position 20 with quotes and position 40 without quotes, would that mean that i should try and remove the words big and widget from the page where they are not together to increase my web position?