I'm not Patrick but I'll still reply since you posted it here on HN and I've used similar techniques to rank my software programs. 1) Exact Match Domain bonus:

I'm not Patrick but I'll still reply since you posted it here on HN and I've used similar techniques to rank my software programs. 1) Exact Match Domain bonus: When your domain is a non-hyphnenated .com, .net, and .org, Google gives it a bonus as the domain is often highly relevant to the given keyword. This is why you often see undeveloped domains sell for such high prices. 2) Targeted Anchor Text: Since his product is called "Appointment Reminder", people will use that phrase in the link. 3) Quality, relevant links: Checking out Open Site Explorer (http://www.opensiteexplorer.org http://www.opensiteexplorer.org), you can see that he has some quality and relevant links. 4) Modest search volume: According to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal), there are about 720 searches a month for the exact term "appointment reminder" and 6,600 searches using the phrase.