Why would Google favor one over the other?

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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  Michael Martinez: Whichever one has the better content (in the algorithms` determination) about the homes for sale (regardless of what they say about the communities).
  
  9h
• 
  Nikki Lee: Michael Martinez, let`s assume the quality of the content is the same on both sites. Which site would you prefer?
  
  3h
• 
  Michael Martinez: Nikki Lee I would probably want to look at both of them. Consumers rarely depend on only 1 Website for information when making big purchases.
  
  I don`t have an opinion on which domain would rank better. Domain names really don`t have that big an impact.
  
  Look at the success of domains like Zillow and Redfin in this marketspace.
  
  3h
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  Ash Nallawalla: We don`t believe in DA and it`s really not possible to say that backlinks from the same source to these sites confer the same "backlink strength". You are thinking at a domain level, while the value of direct links is greater at a page level. Internal linkages dilute that power differently if they only get a trickle from the home page.
  
  If you were to ask if a specific house listing on those two sites had direct links from the same external sites, then it`s more interesting. My guess is that the one that is just for LA will rank and the other will be ignored.
  
  8h
• 
  Nikki Lee: Ash Nallawalla, so do you prefer site A or B ?
  
  3h
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  Ash Nallawalla: Nikki Lee I`m not trying to be a smartass, but I cannot choose, as the two sites are not copies (of the LA-related articles), so the algo will pick the specific article that most satisfies the query. Sometimes, the backlinks won`t matter at all, as many such sites have few-to-no deep links.
  
  I don`t know the IA of both sites and the internal linking strategy of your examples. However, if I were put in this position, I`d want to know the target user, e.g. home buyers who want to know about the whole state, or people only interested in LA.
  
  As you would know, there are nation-wide listings sites that usually dominate the SERPs, so the long tail approach might be needed to sneak in one of your two sites in there.
  
  1h
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  Emad Gnawi: Site B, Local+specific content ranks first.. Google is going local focus
  
  7h
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  Mubarak Umar: Emad Gnawi is.gd/uff1pi
  
  T.MEJoin group chat on TelegramJoin group chat on Telegram
  
  6h
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  Josh Levenson: Are site A & B content about L.A. equivalent? Specificity tends to dominate in search. However I could see a scenario where rural areas would have wider reach as real estate isn`t as dense some place like California.
  
  4h
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  Nikki Lee: Josh Levenson, let`s assume the content about L.A. is equivalent on both sites. Which site do you prefer?
  
  3h