I'm trying to learn the ranking system. How many backlinks does it take to escalate up the rankings? Obviously, the higher rank a site is, the greater benefit it is to the site it is linking to (assuming content relevancy). So, what is the system? For example: Takes 10 Rank 1 backlinks to equal Rank 2 Takes 30 Rank 2 backlinks to equal Rank 3 etc... Or am I way off base and that it is more complicated than this? Thanks in advance.
A sites ranking in the serp's doesnt really affect how you will rank if they link to you. The two most important factors when it comes to incomming links is using your main keyword as the anchor text and getting links from relevent sites.
TorchedSEO - I was under the impression that the referring site's ranking had an impact. Komodo Tale - I have absolutely no idea how to use that utility.
Actually, while I agree that it is the best utility for predicting PageRank, it bores the heck out of me. I want all the links I can get but I will only chase ones that are relevant and topical. PageRank is a great predictor of general strength, all other things being equal. For example, when I research a keyword and in the top 5 and I see PR 5,5,2,5,4 then I want to know how that 2 got in there. Chances are that it is either better optimized on site than everything below, has more relevant content pages on the domain, or that the quality of the inbound links to that PR2 are more topical and relevant. Either way I see an opportunity. Now, in the same situation as above, if I start chasing links solely based on PR in order to get a PR6, I will probably not rank any better for that keyword unless I stumble on enough topical relevant links in the process. Outliers = Opportunities, but you need to understand why an unexpected result exists in order to capitalize.