The question is in the title. I'm doing backlinks from article directories such as EZA, articlebase, etc. / Hubpages and squiddo, InfoBarrel / a couple PRs, and a few sig links to boot. My sites aren't moving up as well anymore. I'm thinking that big G changed their algorithm a bit...
I haven't noticed that at all... I just moved a site from #257 to #13 in about a month by building some backlinks, so it seems to be working for me still. It really depends on the niche and how much competition you have. If your competition has a ton of backlinks, it's going to take some time to pass them.
So far the only unknown factor in google algo is the speed factor. Nobody really knows how important it is. That could be the reason holding back your website, instead of backlinks related issue.
I do not think backlinks has no value. All sites got increase PR everytime and i just do simple linkbuilding but never use ezineartilce or article database at all but i still rank for any G update.
Backlinks still have a lot of value and are very important in the SERPS. I think you are witnessing this because of the increasingly competitive internet community.
I don't thinks so... I eman, haven't noticed any changes, backlinks have the same power to mee. But I was thinkign about google speed factor...