I've been under the impression when Google lists several additional pages under a site in the search this means that the site is an authority site. Not just one or two links that look the same as a normal listing only indented, but a list of 4-5 links. when you search for "folsom auto mall" a PR 2 site with only a couple hundred links gets this style of listing. I've only seen this on large, High PR sites like dmoz etc.
Interesting ... .. can see its in yahoo directory but apart from that, its links looks pretty ordinary.
Its a scam. Wide boys who have a vested interested in creating an urban legend. I have gone on record saying its deliberate misrepresentation and verges on fraud.
That site is just a authority for that specific keyword search. If you look at the results, the other sites ranking for that term all have low pr, and many in the top 10 have a pr0. Low pr "authority" sites only happen for searches that either A) The competition is weak, or B) Very few people search for that keyword. Another example is a low pr3 authority site for best home theater systems and that keyword is only searched for about 30 and less times a day. So low pr "authority" sites is not something special.
And these low PR Authority sites get you steaming up the serp's and pass huge value........or does this not follow? Would it not be safe to say that the use of the word "authority" is inappropiate given the wider and more popular meaning associated with sites like Dmoz and Yahoo?
Well, good for them. this is really amazing i would like to get this kind of listings for one of my websites some day.
Its very much possible to gain authority with low PR It has been quiet a lot of time since the last PR Update The site might have gained the links recently The keyword might not be that great
Authority site has no relation to number of backlinks. Lets get that clear. Its the way their are linked by other authority site with that exact anchor text. "folsom auto mall" anchor text was used by authority sites to link to the site in question. Secondly, people often click through to this site whenever they used to search on google. CTR and authority links makes a site authority. It has no relation to PR or number of backlinks. some sites are manually added as authority. Like famous establishments, banks, organisations known for a keyword. I suspect in this case, its manually added. Since its a known organisation and there could be decent traffic for the keyword.
I dont think this is the final word on "site links". I have done it and I certainly have no links with targeted key words from any recognised Authority sites. I dont use site maps either could could these not play a part in deciding who does and who doesn't?
I am not sure. I picked it up a couple of months ago and wasnt sure what I was looking at, at the time. But they are all bare bones stuff and I only use the free directory lists to build back links. This is why I find it difficult to swallow all the clap trap about Authority Status. I have however done a fair amount of deep linking and suspect thats part of the problem.
One more reason the "Authority Site Myth" is starting to lose ground amongst intelligent webmasters. Who in their right mind thinks a PR2 website has some innate "authority"?
We have discussed many times about this issue. Personally for me they are only sitelinks, nothing more. Because I know my site can't be "authority" site. Definitely!
CTR was mentioned in one of the earlier posts. I can see where this might make a difference in this particular case. Being that this is a car dealer, and a very large one, they probably have a very large Radio, or TV budget, which creates branding. If enough people are searching for a particular term and the majority pick one SERP result, maybe that is enough for them to get the special listing.
It's a unique enough word, maybe you are getting an extreamly high percentage of the clicks when that term is searched and so you are considered the authority on that term. Of course this theory would require that there are enough people that know this term and are searching for it.