tedster - 12:40 am on Mar 25, 2011 (gmt 0)

I think Google moved on from depending on links quite a while ago. Some of the new signals they use may also correlate with links, but the final ranking scores go well beyond.

This doesn't mean links don't matter at all - they still do. But links are clearly a smaller share of the whole pie than they used be. In fact, I think some of the businesses who are heavily engaged in a kind of arms race around backlinks would be embarrassed if they saw how little effect their efforts are having today. But it's become almost a habit, like a ritual that they can't stop doing.