Is your website still not listed in Google's top 10 results although your site is several months old? Your keywords might be the reason for the problem. If you target very competitive keywords, then it will take much longer until your website is listed in the top 10 rankings. If you want to get high rankings for competitive keywords, then you need very many good inbound links that contain your keyword in the anchor text. If you target keywords that consist of one or two words then you might want to reconsider them. One word keywords usually don't lead to sales because these keywords are too general. Keywords that consist of four words are much more likely to convert to sales than shorter keywords.
The use of inbound links is a factor, but what is more important is that the inbound links are coming from sites that are related to your specific field. For Example.... 1) you have a poker site with 100 links coming in from all different types of industries 2) you have a poker site with 50 links coming in from other poker related websites Which of the above 2 would you think will do your rankings more good ?? Quality should always come over quantity. But using your keywords in your links is a very important practise as mentioned by Marty. Alex
I understand the point your trying to make, but the operative keyword here is Your keywords must have relevance to your project and all inbound backlinks as @alex_d1 explained must come from relevant sources with similar keywords. My point to the tip was, of course use one word keywords, but also use phrases (2,3 or 4 words) you have to ask yourself what search term would I enter into a search engine to find a product, service or information on. Some phrases will work well for some products some wont and to stay clear of words like: who what where when which me he she it am is are we us were have has had there in on do you find get and or nor not if the for an of from by the to most all about be been with this PHP: These words are generally ignored by search engines.
if you are using the same keywords, the person who got more quality backlinks will rank higher. (both in PR and Quantity) but it also have many other factors to consider though. (domain age, content, meta tags, etc.)