Every industry on the planet has its’ own set of frequently asked questions and SEO is no different. Some of those questions can be tough to answer…some might be super basic…just depends. In our little microcosmic world of link building, the most common question asked of me is:

“How many links do I need?”

Now, as simple and straightforward as that may sound, it’s pretty much the equivalent of asking me, “Where did we come from?” because to be perfectly honest with you, nobody really knows. Some people may think they know, but they don’t know exactly. The bottom line is there are too many ingredients in the casserole that is SEO to know for certain. It’s like asking exactly how many granules of salt you need to make it taste “just right.” You just eyeball it, right? Add some and if it needs more…add more. We all do it that way. And we should.

So how do I answer this all-too-common inquiry? My answer is always the same: MORE. More, more, more.

It’s not that I’m looking to push sales here, either. Seriously. If you’re asking that question to begin with it’s because you want higher rankings. And the way to higher rankings is through more inbound links. (I didn’t make the rules here, folks, I just play by ’em…it is what it is.)

Obviously, there is much, much more that goes into a highly successful SEO effort than just links, but once you’ve done all the “other stuff”….links are what you’re left with. Really, if you’re confident that your code is in order, your architecture & navigation pristine, and you’re loaded with enough great content to rival the Library of Congress; the only option you have is to get more links.

How many? Only YOU can know the answer to that, young grasshopper.

As I mentioned before, if you ask me…I’ll always say you need more. But how many more is unanswerable. My suggestion would be to keep acquiring them until you’re where you want to be. Eyeball it, you with me?

There’s no secret recipe, no brilliant mathematical equation, and no higher-power that can give you the answer. You just have to believe that more links will work…because they normally do.

We can all agree that the past year of link building, well SEO in general, has been quite the hot topic. Damn near ‘everyone’ participated in link building in some form or fashion. If you read someone that says they have never participated in link building, you can bet most of your money that they’re not telling you the whole truth. It was just part of the landscape and you had to do it to compete. A good analogy is like trying to compete in a marathon but not working out, you can still participate but you probably won’t finish.

All this rambling leads me to my point. Since the ‘so called’ hammer was thrown down, a lot of people have either turned their heads towards link building or have continued on as under the table as possible. Those that have turned their heads have found it impossible to compete, once again. Why? It’s because linking is still alive and well. The truth of the matter is it will always be alive and well unless the engines change the way they rank websites, a point that I’ve said over and over. Sure, they can try and slap people’s wrists, but if you knock 10 down, there’s 10 more waiting to take their place.

A great example of how well the text linking business still works, I bring to you exhibit A. If you look at the page source, you’ll find that it is nothing more than a frameset page with absolutely zero content. Only a title and meta description. It is currently ranked #1 for the term “Text Link Ads“, which is pretty competitive. I first thought our pals over at TLA were back on track but then realized it was just an affiliate page. Either way, I was thrilled to see what I was looking at. That gives even more proof that you can rank a page with nothing but a pure linking campaign. All you have to do is look at the back links listed and you’ll find their text links. It’s a beautiful thing.

If you have become a non-believer, what more proof do you need that we can help!