by: Eric Odom

We all know full well that developing links that point to your website can be more vital than just about any other technique known to the world of search engine optimization. Think about it for a moment. We need something that can:

a) Make sure our visitors are finding what they needed

b) Help us obtain our traffic goals

What would that be? Quality Content of course!

Some statistics on surfing the internet show that in nine times out of ten, when you find something that catches your eye and you end up reading it, you will probably find it through a quality text link. Because of this, it may also be true that linking to such quality content will help your pages rank better as well. So far it seems as though it works both ways.

What about reciprocal links though?

We still have no solid evidence in either direction as to whether or not the major SE's are beginning to discredit or subtract "rank" if you will, when it comes to reciprocal links. So far, all tests are showing that there is no penalty involved. The site in question simply is not doing as well as it used to back before reciprocal links were not so exploited in the pagerank realm.

Tried, Tested, and True

The site tested had a monthly increase in reciprocal links of about 8% steady for thirteen months. Until the Jagger update, the site had ranked top three in Google for all ten targeted keyword combinations. However, now the site can be found on page five on a standard size page of Google search results.

Here is where it gets good. Another site that we were watching for the exact same keyword combinations jumped to #2 for all 10 keyword combinations being watched.

What is the difference between the two?

Site A: 432 backlinks in Google on all datacenters via the McDar Tool. 87 pages indexed. Older Site.

Site B: 112 backlinks in Google on all datacenters via the McDar Tool. 367 pages indexed. Younger Site.

According to our tests, content is not just a part of the calculation, it is a HUGE part of the calculation. With that being said, we have come to the conclusion that unique web content is not only vital, it is a required part of any successful website marketing plan.

All you need to do is build a website loaded with quality content. The links will eventually come, and so will the PageRank.