Can you compete without buying links?

[Back In Black]

I've been trying to debate this with myself for a while. Can you compete for the top poker-related keyphrases without buying links?

While researching many of the "best" keywords in the online poker industry, it seems to me that most of the top competitors are link buyers. This doesn't seem to be a taboo practice in this industry either. Sites like pokerlistings flaunt paid for links all over the web. Our dear own PAP forums has the "Buy & Sell Advertising" section, which might as well read "Buy & Sell Links That Pass PR."

The debate about buying links is red hot across the SEO industry, but not a whisper about using "nofollow" in ours.

I am at a crossroads, because I am at a point where most of the sites I need to leapfrog in the SERPs buy links like there is no tomorrow.

So what do you think? Is it possible to be a major player in this industry without buying links? Is there any way to wear a pure white hat and be at the top of the game?

[kdollar]

I think you definitely can be a player without buying links but it depends on how good your content is. If you have great content then you will get links without having to buy them.

If you don't have unique content or dominate a niche then you will end up having to buy links.

[LadyHoldem]

Yep, I believe you can. I think that should be your goal either way in fact. I was pretty stubborn about not buying links, and eventually became more of a seller than a buyer, but... I think in hindsite buying would have worked out a heckuva lot faster.

On the other hand though... I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote for the links i have, so that didn't really hurt my site to much.

[TheShortStack]

I'm still new to this and been wondering about paid links for a while now.

Are they really worth that much more that general link exchages? I mean, I know that you'll be more noticeable on a particular site and therefore possibly gain some clickthroughs as a result ... and I guess the pages will be of a higher PR value than just a normal "links exchange" page which will help with SE Rankings, but are those advantages on their own worth the high price that some sites charge?

[kaus]

Sure you can. There are quite a few people at PAP that don't buy links and do phenomonal in the SE's and in some cases better than most sites.

I am not one of those people but I also dont buy a hell of a lot either...its not neccessary.

[J S]

Yes, if your quality is top notch, unique and interesting then you will naturally get links. Give some links and you'll get some links. With that said, yes if you are smart about your link purchases and do it right then I'm sure that they can be beneficial to your rankings.

Good old fashioned content that answers the questions that people are searching for, combined with quality site optimization is what I would focus my time and resources on though.

And a tip is that one or two good links within your own content out to related content is a SEO boost for you as well. Google seems to like sites that share the information... so if you're writing an article on some piece of content and you research the web and see other good content on similar / related themes then it will benefit you to link to that piece of content directly... plus the other webmaster might see the link and be inclined to stick a link up to you somewhere.