Do's vs. Don'ts - how important

[InfiniteDominion]

Hello everyone:

Here's something that has brothered me for quite some time with SE placement. I have a site online since 1999 which has excellent placement. Top 5 on msn, google, and yahoo under a highly sought after keyword. I have not updated the page in over a year. i believe it has alot of code that traditionally doesn't help it's placement but, like I said, great placement.

I have other site which almost an exact copy under a different name, same lousy code which has been online for almost 1 year, and placement is horrible under another prime keyword.

Is is safe to assume that because the first site has been online for so long, the link popularity is what is helping this unaltered site, while the new one is too new to matter much?

The whole SEO realm always boggles my mind. I have no idea if I really believe all the suggestions for placement when site one is where it is.

Do I alter site one's code to get it all validated or don't look a gift horse in the mouth and rework site two?

Any thoughts?

[MeanSEO]

Do I alter site one's code to get it all validated or don't look a gift horse in the mouth and rework site two?

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Maybe make a new page with clearer code with a new name but don't discard remove or change the old one as long as it is ranking.

[incrediblehelp]

I have other site which almost an exact copy under a different name, same lousy code which has been online for almost 1 year, and placement is horrible under another prime keyword.

Google wont rank both websites near each other if they have the exact same copy. Maybe post both websites so I can have a closer look?