google keyword placement

[ken_sheets]

Hello
I am analyzing competitors html to discover what does best for my most important keyword in google . Now I am not copying, just seeing what elements have the best effect, just as any good site owner would do.
My key word is "tiffany lamps" and while i can see perhaps why may of the top sites do well, the current number 2 position site, which has been there for quite a while is a mystery to me, They have a small link number, the page seems to be several layers away from the homepage. The site address is:
http://www.pe.net/~abilene/
Congrats to the site owner for a job well done, but does any one think they could give me their opinion as to how they did such an oustanding job at maintaining this rank?
Thanks in advance
Ken

[cbp]

Don't spend too much time analyzing the on-page stuff. That site is there because of the anchor text of incoming links.

CBP

[jestep]

I see what you mean. The only odd thing that I see is some hidden text in the left navigation bar. The site may have a bunch of low page rank links that have really good anchor text and that is what is ranking it si highly. Otherwise I cant see anything that would make the site rank well.

I was thinking cloaking at first, but usually the google discription will have words that aren't on the site or the cache will be different, and this isn't the case. The age would help it out some, but I would think it has to be anchor text links.

[cbp]

I just read this in Garrett's insider report. Matt Cutts (IMAG) said this:

thematic incoming links from authority sites carry more weight than on-page optimization

IMAG = important man at Google)

CBP

[ken_sheets]

I appreciate the help
Ken

[ken_sheets]

I even went as far as to contact the hosting service that they use and this site owner has not even bothered to purchase a domain name, they used the hosts free domain. arrgh, are these people magicians? I have checked the link popularity and they probably have 100 links that I can find and I have not noticed any of them that have any major siginificance. I did notice the hidden text, but that could not have that much of a factor. Any other thoughts.
Thanx
Ken]