When is link building an SEO priority? (vs. something else)

[HZseo]

I'm considering hiring an SEO vendor for link building, and assessing whether or not my website really needs link building, vs. another SEO priority (for instance, I KNOW there's an opportunity for local SEO). What factors should I look at to determine if link building is a high priority? Should I just compare the number links my site has with competitors, using a tool like Open Site Explorer?

[Boodreaux]

My company just put up a website recently and I put speed, content, design and architecture first.  But then when I did links this past month it gave rankings a huge boost.  I still need to do on page optimization but have decided to design great landing pages first, then a blog then onsite seo last. As a warning though I would choose industry links and some general high reputation links to start.  My website domain authority doubled last month and my page authority increased 33%.

I did the links myself.  I would also be very careful about others building links especially the kinds that are automated.

[imageworks-261290]

check out yext.com. Citations are more important for local factors than link building. Manual link building almost becomes too tough and time consuming unless you are running your own affiliate gateways or running your own website where top position in the SERPs means A LOT, and you don't have to spend a lot of time talking with clients, making business deals - you know the whole 9 yards for agency stuff

[EppieVojt]

Links are website fuel.  A fueled up Pinto can beat an unfueled Formula 1 car in a race, so from my perspective, link building is always an SEO priority.  You can rank a page with poor to mediocre on-page optimization if you have enough high quality links pointing to it.

Put your effort into acquiring links and make sure you have the on-page basics covered (keyword in title tag, meta description, h1 tag, page copy).

[HZseo]

Thanks to both of you, I appreciate your reply and that post was helpful. The website I'm talking about is very well optimized w/onpage content, conversion points, etc., and has a strong number of links compared to competition. Local SEO could really bring some strong results for them, so I might go that route.

[TakeshiYoung]

Local SEO involves link building too, so not sure what your question is there?

If you're looking to improve your SEO, you have to look at 2 things: your onsite optimization (is your site optimized for search engines?) and offsite factors (link building).  If your site is already good, you should focus on link building.  If your site could use some work, it could make sense to focus on that first before focusing on links.

Here is a good article on the topic:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whats-better-on-page-seo-or-link-building

[anthonydnelson]

I think link building can become a priority after these other important factors are in place.

Easily Crawlable

Good architecture and UX

Nice design

Great content

Acceptable conversion rate