Are links irrelevant now?

[diogenes]

After having one of my sites trashed by penguin, I rebuilt it on a new domain. Pretty much everything was the same except for the look of the site plus I decreased the keyword density and did a few other things to avoid future Penguin penalties.  I created a small number of directory links. My site is now maybe 6 months old, doesn't get much traffic, however I wa suprised to see that my main keyword " uncontested divorce lawyer" is now ranking number 1 in google in US ! This despite the EMD update. The domain name is www.uncontesteddivorce-lawyer.com .  Like I said I still don't get a lot of traffic on this site. I have another site which until recently was driving over 500 visitors a month, since November it has declined to 350 a month. This site is over 4 years old and was unaffected by all the updates, until recently. It too is an EMD but has more links. Not co complain but can anyone explain the #1 rating? Also it would appear that links are practically irrelevant. I have read and heard that practically no one is linking to content, instead they are sharing, liking, etc. Any comments

[MarkHodson]

Lots of questions here. I wouldn't assume that your #1 position is secure. So rather than ask why, I would be working to shore up its position by establishing more quality signals, such as earning some links from high-authority sites and setting up Google authorship on the site.

[masdigitalmedia]

Hi,

In terms of your no. 1 ranking...  If I am reading your note correctly, the URL contains the keyword and this carries significant value.  I would say that I am still seeing relevant value in external back links, depending on the quality of linking site, content, and anchored text links.  In your profession, you may see benefits of contributing to legal blogs, which would establish you as an authority in this area.  Best of luck.