First I agree with allfreechips, content is still king.
As for you saying that 7 of the 10 sites on page 1 for no deposit bonus don’t belong. From my datacenter searching on g.co.uk sites 1,2,8 are exact match searches. #3 is a massive site with tons of content and inbound links. A few others are also massive sites with tons of inbound links. Maybe 2-3 of those sites shouldn’t be there.
Also keep in mind that every site listed is over 6 years old which is a G factor that most people overlook. An older site will outrank a newly registered site almost every time. This is one reason we rarely buy new domains anymore. It’s easier and better to just pay a small premium for an aged one.
btw, I have nothing to do with any of the 10 sites on page 1 but I can see why most of them rank as they do.
I know it’s frustrating, we’ve all been there, you just need to find ways to work through the frustration and also realize that it’s no longer 2006 and we need to bust our asses in order to get decent rankings.