How is it that I'm not #1 for this keyword?

On-page seo plays an important role in determining where your site ranks, no doubt. Furthermore, as you mentioned a combo of everything is best...thats a fact I will not contest. However, to express the importance of backlinks consider these examples:

1. Adobe ranks #1 for the word "click here" in Google. No where on their page is the word "click here". They rank #1 for this term, because many links to their site use the words "click here". Many people offering PDFs are undoubtedly using the phrase "click here to get Acrobat reader to view this PDF". They rank for this keyword out of over 1 billion results in Google.

2. In 2003, a group of people got together and all linked to the official white house page of George Bush and ranked him for "miserable failure" in Google on the first page. No where on the site or title were the words "miserable failure".

3. Youtube ranks #4 for the word "home" currently in google. Granted, the word does appear one time on the home page. However, the reason it ranks well for "Home" is because all of its internal pages linkback to the homepage using the word "Home".

 

WOW, I just got educated. Good to know these things. I guess subconsciously I always new these things, because anytime i do a link exchange, or submit mu site anywhere, I always use the anchor text "affordable graphic design" Not to mention I have quite a bit of onpage SEO going on, and I do rank number one for that term, which i believe is an amazing accomplishment.

I'd love to be just on the first page for "graphic design" but that's pretty much impossible i think.

Anyways, Thanks for the tips.

 

okay guyz, tons of interesting info... and good information, but. I know links are important, but they are hard to get! So my questions now concerning actual useful info on getting them...

1) Are reciprocal link exchanges any good? It's kind of being an ass to ask people hey, include my link in ur site... and don't offer anything in return. Little percentage will link back. This leads to another question:
2) How and whom to ask from link exchanges? Whom, I guess photography related blogs and sites, how is the biggest question, offer them recip? or just say, hey maybe your audience is interested in blalbalba (I receive allot of this, never answered a single one!)
3) How to talk with authority sites?

 

"Links isnt that important when you consider rankings. Whats more important is the content, theme & usage offered in the website. Getting proper meta-tags, that define your business accurately helps.

 

1) Reciprocal link exchanges can and do work, but they have limited potential when used as a sole SEO strategy. If you're offering a link in return that should be of value to the person your contacting if your site is high quality. This would be what you're offering in return. If people tell you reciprocal link exchanges are "dead", they are lying. I've tested this strategy primarily by itself and it does work. Keep in mind it's best to use other methods though as well such as article marketing, link baiting, etc.

2. Its a numbers game. You may contact 25 sites, but only hear back from one. To improve your odds, make sure to spend a bit of time browsing their site. Maybe offer them an SEO tip, or tell them why you like their site specifically and what makes it unique. After you've done that they might feel more obligated to link back to you sense your such a great guy and your email appears less like spam to the recipient. Also, to increase your odds, make sure you contact sites that offer link exchanges or have link exchange pages. These sites will be more likely to participate in a link exchange than a site that has no outbound links. Also, you can offer to write an article for a website in return for a link if you think they might be interested. Blog type sites might be willing to accept such an offer as they are always looking for new content. If you still need ideas click here for relevant, potential link exchange partners.

3. Authority sites probably won't link to you unless you have some extremely valuable link bait. As far as link exchanges occur, put yourself in the place of the owner. Lets say, hypothetically, you own a PR9 website with millions of visitors. Someone with a PR1 site contacts you and asks you for a link exchange. Would YOU want to link to that person? I highly doubt it.

Another tip: Make it easier for other people to contact you about link exchanges. For instance, create a page just for link exchanges, give people instructions on how to exchange links, and rank that page in google for "photography link exchange" or a similar term (this shouldnt be too difficult). Put your email address and contact info on there as well. That way you never have to contact another person again. Everyone will come to you.

 

I think it might be because your back link quality is not as good as other website has. You should try getting some more quality back links.