Find out the BACK Links of your competitor. You may find that, in most cases, he has build his links through link exchanges, directory submissions etc. I alway try to get all the links that my competitor has got, by doing link exchange with the same sites ( I have an inventory of links that I can pass on), submit to the same directories, and since I also do some link building on my own, I usually end up with more back links. And it has been more than rewarding at times. EXAMPLE: While researching the backlinks of a competitor, I found that he was getting harvard.edu back links. I smiled when I saw how simple he got those links. Check my sig for the thread
This is an incredibly intelligent way of rising above the competition and a tactic we also use. However, search engine optimisation plays just as well as the links do too. .
I consider link building to be an integral part of SEO.. The keoword and on-page stuff are there by default
Links are the most important factor in search engine ranking. I'm guessing the .edu links are from kwikis. It's a well known spam method.
Yes,Back links are more imp for the seach engine ranking.By exchanging the link with similar sites will help in good back links
I would guess use a serveeice such as backlinkwatch.com. I have never tried this meyhod but i most definitely will.
I rely on google link:, yahoo siteexplorer and MSN. I find google better, coz I believe it gives the links that GOOGLE counts, even though the links are less than yahoo's. Another is technorati... even though it is mostly for blog links, but then what link have u got if u haven't got some blog links
BTDT. Thats a pretty old and extensive technique. The trick is in getting the most number of organic and related links nowadays and your OB links also count a lot. The concept of analysing competitor link's and then mailing those guys to give you a link back is soooo old school!
It may be old school, but it's still worth doing in my opinion. Organic links are the best kind, but it still helps to build a few yourself too IMO.
On-page factors are actually more important than off-page factors. The opposite seems true sometimes because the backlinks often push one site's rank above another that has similar on-page attributes.