Absolutely it matters. If you want results without waiting until your kids have kids that is...

You just have to make sure you arent over optimized for backlinking...deoptimize your backlinking and you will be fine. Backlinks are THE thing that moves a site fast...

Don't go for tons of unnatural crappy backlinks. Focus on the quality not the quantity.

Hey Matt,

Firstly Google won't penalize your site for having too many backlinks they penalize sites for having too many low quality backlinks that are usually built built using automated software. If you are not using any software you'll never build too many backlinks.

Blog commenting isn't considered spam but automating it using software is.

Backlinking is still crucial to having SEO success. The easiest way to get backlinks is to have content that people want to link to because they think their audience will also find it useful. Use open site explorer to see were your competitors are getting backlinks from and see if you can get these link yourself.

Backlink is still one of the major factors which affects keyword ranking and it will be in near future as well. Anyway Google has redefined the quality of backlink with every algorithm update they have made. While low quality backlinks will harm your website ranking, on that other side quality links will always have its good benefits.

Yes, Backlinks still matters to rank your website for your desired keywords. However you need to be more careful while building any incoming links as there are 2 most dangerous Google animals are hungry to eat poor quality site.

As far as methods are concerned, I would suggest you to get links from relevant sites (sites that related to your niche)... as it brings lot of quality link juice and helps to build your brand. However it fully depends upon you what technique you use to get those links.... either it's blog commenting, forums links, guest posting and so on.

So to define high quality back links.. We are talking about... Articles, press releases, web 2.0 sites, social bookmarking, blog commenting and directory linking.. Can you think of any more high quality off site SEO techniques?

Is automated article submission with unique handwritten content a bad way to go? and can Google pick up on whether the site has been submitted by a human or a bot?

Hi,
Backlink are more important part of seo. Backlinks are inbound links and also they are permanent links.The quality back links are important to to get keyword rankings and pr. The quality back links are the links which are from high pr sites. 0 pr backlinks are not worth to the website. it may help in traffic.

[DELETED]

Backlinks are still most important to any website.

After many Google changes, the best way to survive long term online is to do the following:

1 - Make sure you're creating awesome content on your site (Google loves 600 words to 1000 words articles)

2 - Been indexed is not the same as been Google's love child (with promises of traffic)

To build links - stay away from all those link building promises. The following methods will do wonders for your site:

A; BLOG COMMENTING -USE scrapebox to find high quality blogs in your niche (if your blog is about food, look for blogs talking about food, dieting, health, you get the picture)

Personally, do the commenting yourself and leave relevant comments. Most site owners are happy you found them and if your comment is on point, the more chances of getting approved. I look for blogs with less than 20 comments and PR3 or higher. I leave my comments and just move to the next one. I leave several sentences dealing with the article. 80% of the time I use different names sometimes mixed-in with my keyword. 20% I use just my keyword depending on other comments on the site. This is highly effective when done right. I love sites that say you have to register to comment. Less competition. I do not pay attention to dofollow or nofollow bullshit! Both would help your site.

B: Article directories; Only submit to top directories and please stop wasting your time submitting crap to those auto approved directories. Google is not stupid and they know that junk attracts junk. One article per directory.

C; Bookmarking is still effective, but do it with numerous anchor texts. Stay away from all those junk bookmarking sites - they come and go like yo-yo ball! Stick with the top bookmarking sites.

D; Web 2.0 - still okay, but less effective due to tremendous spam generated. Blogger is actually a good site for links. Squidoo is also good. WordPress is okay and hubpages is okay too. Many more to find. Please do not think you can submit crap and then rank for long. Remember junk attracts junk. Submit clean readable article in each of them.

E; Forum links are now less effective due to huge spam ratio. Pick only very busy forums with a clean reputation. Stay within your niche regardless of page rank of the off niche forum sites.

F; video sharing site including YouTube. Most would allow you a link on the description or profile page.

Some other techniques can be found on this site. Just some words of advice:

Stay away from all those automated tools used for content. You might rank for a while but you would not last for long.

Spend most of your money on great content and not some gibberish nonsense pedaled by some.

Online ranking is a marathon not a sprint. Quality always gets you on top if consistently done.

You might find some websites using duplicate content to rank, do not try to copy them as Google has favorite sites within the same fraternity.

Try to include new article on your site daily and traffic would come eventually.

Goodluck,

This is the worst question I've probably ever seen on the Warrior Forum.

Yes, of course backlinks matter.

Just how the hell do you think Google decides how to rank a website in the SERP's? By using a "gut feeling about this page" algorithm? Or by a roll of a virtual dice?

Hello,

Link Building will always matter, links are what creates the "Web"! It's how you go about building your links, that matters the most. Use quality driven resources and don't follow what everyone else is doing. Think outside the box!


greg

Link building definitely matters!

But do focus on the quality of the backlinks and not the quantity. Reduce over-optimization!

Backlinks are still very important for increasing rankings. When combined with high quality content, they have the most value. It is necessary to have proper onsite SEO to achieve maximum results. Some types of backlinks have become less effective. Forum profile links are having a harder time ranking websites. However, article links and blog comment links are still performing well from what I have seen.

How does search engines identify your page or how will your site or pages become reputed without back links. Back links makes your page crawled frequently.

The way of back linking should be changed, the back links from relevant pages are always valued.

Yes,
Backlinks are priceless, grab them as much as you can but be careful with spammers.

Yes it definitely matters.......

It still works..but overdoing it can harm you..

It does matters if you want good ranking. You are good to go if you do it in a ethical way and you will be rewarded But always remember quality links is always ahead of quantity links and that's gonna help you sustain any google updates.

It matter more now then it ever did. Backlinks are integral to your website's success. The difference nowadays is that you need to be smarter about how you build them. Trust and Relevancy is a big factor for Google.

What's scrapebox?