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August 27, 2009
Readers Question - "how much emphasis is placed on back links."
Dear John,
QUESTION:
I would like to know the future of how much emphasis is placed on back links.
Warm regards,
C.B.
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ANSWER:
Thanks for your question.
To ask "how much emphasis is placed on back links" is to ask a question such as "what is the perfectly accurate and true keyword density for a page?"
Why are these questions impossible to address?
Hint: There is something important missing in the question.
If you want me to answer this on back links and be perfectly accurate, then I need to know the exact keyword phrase you are optimizing for, the industry as well and the page itself you are referring to.
Search engines grade on a curve. Each competitive landscape varies significantly. Once we understand it is now possible to measure all influences together accurately, it changes the way we have thought "traditionally" about ranking. It changes everything.
Sure linking is still important. But "how important" totally depends on the exact competitive landscape.
"SEO best practices" which are what most people focus on, are a set of guidelines to follow that will help you.
But if you want to be accurate about SEO then it becomes necessary to perform a very careful analysis (in a very specific methodology) so you can determine exactly what a page needs.
The good news is that it is now possible to optimize a page in the minimum number of moves, instead of wasting weeks and months of time tweaking code and guessing at it. You can learn these SEO methodologies at any any one of these authorized Search Engine Academies in locations across North America and Asia.
Posted by John at August 27, 2009 11:47 AM