Very nicely said smeagain! Links are absolutly vital for PR. I have a 6/10 site that I only submitted a few times but now has 167 backword links. Now the site is loaded with rich content but when it first started moving up the PR ladder it was a skeleton with cheap prices. The cheap deals brought links, the links brought PR.

Backwords links are not required to be indexed. Need proof? I have a site dedicated to travel stories that I do not spend any time on. I get a few link request here and there but never do them because of time constraints. Up until about a month ago the site had no backword links at all but I still get about 50 hits a day from Google. Content did it for me in this case. 50 a day is chump change but hey! The Adsense for that site picks up a few extra dollars (quid) with no extra work needed. Rich content and strategic optimisation can make all the difference in the world. Now if I could just find time to work on the PR I would have another high traffic site on my hands. Life goes on...

Eric