I've been pondering this question for some time now, but how much does SEO really play a part in getting ranked on the first page of Google. For example say I was to build 20 links a day for 30 days on PR6 and above websites, but my on page SEO was terrible. How much would that play apart in getting my website ranked on the first page? Which would be weighted more heavily, on page SEO, or High PR backlinks?
SEO or PR.. i chose SEO search engine not only google. How much does SEO really play apart? 30% SEO 70% content. great content mean almost everything. does any threat discuss or make a poll about good content ?
If your backlinks to URL X are from pages that are relevant to URL X's topic and/or more importantly use the keyword phrases you are trying to rank for (and slight variations of those phrases) as the anchor text or link text for the hyperlink then you can likely get your page ranked well regardless of the page's content. I can make a page about elephants or even a blank page rank for "real estate" with enough backlinks from real estate related sites with "real estate" in the link text. But what good is that? Those people even if they click through are not going to convert. IMO well SEO'd sites typically (not always) provide a better user experience because the information architecture - things like navigation, how pages interlink, site structure, URL structure, etc. - are so much cleaner and better. People clicking through to a site that has not taken SEO into account frequently find unprofessional, unorganized sites in which case they will simply bounce back to Google and click on a different link. Building backlinks from relevant sites with the desired link text is FAR more difficult than doing on-page SEO. I always get the on-page SEO correct first because that is something that I have complete control over and it's a freebie. Getting good backlinks is often not in my control, especially natural backlinks, or costs me lots of time and/or money to get. It's a lot of work tracking down PR6 sites where I can strategically 'plant' a link back to my site. They are VERY few and far between. Usually you end up having to have a relationship with that site and convince them to toss you a one-way link because it's good for their visitors or pay for the link. And commenting on a blog post where the home page is PR6 is NOT getting you a PR6 link. The post itself usually has very little PR unless it is some kind of viral post that gets LOTs of backlinks to the post itself.
I think I'd agree with the above post - 25-30% should be about SEO. It's important BUT it's not the only thing or factor you should focus on. There are 2 types of SEO however - offpage and onpage SEO. And from what I've read and what I've seen with many different sites, offpage matters more! And this facet of search engine optimization is mainly about building quality backlinks from quality sites. thewanderingpen
I agree with Canonical too. For an example of the power of backlinks, do a google search for 'click here'. Adobe is #1 without including that keyword anywhere on their page. So you can get rankings for nearly any phrase with backlinks alone. On-page factors do play a part though. If your page is well optimized, you likely won't need as many links. Other search engines such as msn and yahoo may place even more emphasis on on-page factors.
Part of SEO is building backlinks. If you could build 20 PR6 or above backlinks a day on quality sites you would own the rankings, even with poor on page SEO. I still think the target site has to be relevant for what you are ranking for though.