Hi there, obviously relevant links from relevant and high-ranked websites are important for SEO. The question obviously is what relevancy is. I think relevancy is by definition function of the Internet user. If it's relevant for what we look for, we click. Of course this goes beyond the mere SEO viewpoint but I think it's crucial to remember this: context.

I like what Jeffrey Eisenberg recently wrote and I wrote about it here on Search Cowboys.

I quote: "Jeffrey advices to think of every hyperlink, whether it’s in the form of PPC ads, SERPS, navigation on websites, banners, etc. as a sales contract between you and your prospective customers".

Whenever a visitor clicks on a hyperlink, he/she is indeed asking a question related to your products and services and expects you to provide a relevant answer with all details.

What does this imply? You need to make efforts to plan relevant hyperlinks and create content that perfectly corresponds to that hyperlink so that online visitors do not feel that they have been let down. Relevance is the key to persuade a buyer into the buying mode.

All your search engine marketing and other online marketing efforts will go in vain if a prospective client finds you and it takes too many clicks with most questions unanswered on the landing page. You can never convert him.

What’s the use of paying for keywords in search engine advertising that are not proving beneficial when it comes to conversion?

Relevant [on theme], high Page Rank and thousands of them will always bring results.  Built naturally - articles, good directories, blog and forum posts with follow links, bookmarking.  Everything else, particularly paid links, in just a waste of time and money and sometimes potentially damaging.

John Courtney

Strategy Internet Marketing