Google Rank 3 with no backlinks for Term - Will backlinks make it placement 1?

I have a couple of nice keyword phrases I have ranked on the first page of Google for and get good traffic from. The thing is I have no backlinks with these terms.
"used computer games" would be one of the phrases.

If I get several backlinks for this term would that push the position to placement #1 as I currently hold #3 without them?

 

That's for sure!

If you hace a #3 position without them, when you get some you'll climb to #1 without a doubt!

 

I made a mistake when I started the site and did not put any effort into backlinks as I managed to get all of my products on Google Base. With almost 150,000 products traffic was great for a year and I spent my time on purchase fulfillment, customer service, and optimizing the site's pages.
After I got into a battle with Google they removed my products. ooops....

So I am now finding myself scrambling to push me up in the rankings.
I have some placements on page 4 and 5 for Major keywords and am hoping with some backlink gathering, further optimization, and networking I'll be able to place for these.

Until then it is Google and Yahoo advertising which takes a good chunk out of the profits.

Lesson learned I guess

 

Can you post further down the track when google picks up on the back links?

I'd be interested to see what affect it has, although i'm a believer in back links i know for a fact you can rank no.1 without them, so it would be interesting to see what happens. Cheers

 

Sure, I'll update the post.
Actually this is a good time for testing. The phrases seem to be holding solid moving up or down one placement on any given time.
So if I add one backlink, wait and see the effects, and then add another I should be able to get some idea on the effect. Of course the quality of the backlink will have to be noted.

 

I see you at position 6:

www.ebgames.com/
www.nextag.com/used-computer-game-software-the-sims-2/compare-html
www.nextag.com/Interplay/used-computer-game-software-the-sims-2/brand-html
videogames.barnesandnoble.com/
videogames.barnesandnoble.com/bestsellers.asp
www.homecomputergames.com/

Still very nice... gratz!

You are ranking well for "used computer games" because

1) many of your backlinks are for "computer games", "home computer games". or "homecomputergames.com" all of which will help you rank for any "computer games" related keyword phrases.
2) you have "Buy New Computer Games", "Used Computer Games" and "New & Used Video Games" in your <title>. 7/11 words in your <title> are "used", "computer", "games". Very dense...
3) you have "Buy New Computer Games - Buy Used Computer Games" in your <h1>. 5/8 words in your <h1> are "used", "computer", "games". Very dense...

Getting backlinks is about all you have left that you can do to push yourself up the SERPs. My guess is that it will take many... you have some stiff, big hitter kind of competition. But I would certainly give it a shot. Might be easier than you think. Certainly can't hurt.

 

Indeed I am up against some heavy hitters!
But I always enjoy a challenge.

I show position 4 now, guess it depends where you are.
I have been doing a lot of experimenting with keyword density to see the effects.

In my distorted mind it seemed I should do much of my initial experimenting before I got too serious.
Learn what moves the lesser phrases before I go full fledged into tackling "computer games" and "video games".

Though I see I have "used video games" on page 5 where it didn't exist a few days ago.
This is next on my list to try and push to the front.
I also see "used pc games" has moved up to page 2. This is a much more searched phrase than "used computer games".

I'll probably end up losing the "used computer games" placement as I strive for better phrases but I am thinking, if I can duplicate title, density, etc... in a new page before I change the current page I should be able to push the new page back to the front. So I will have a new page just for "used computer games" and the same procedure for the rest of the lesser phrases.

Does this sound logical?

 

Get the backlinks from related site as it will give more effect towards your serp ranking. Also, check the total outbound links on that particular page. Lesser is better. I think a couple of backlinks will push it to top 3 ranking soon.

 

YEs, that will be for sure, However, make sure that you are getting quality backlinks from authority. If you can get backlinks from the sites about your niche, that will be more great