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Oh, and I do appreciate it!  I know that it will definitely help someone out there anyway!  I had a higher bounce rate and found out that speed was killing me so, once that was tweaked, our bounce rate continues to drop little by little!

Thanks again for your answer!

Egol, my bounce rate is very low so, I'm not worried at all about that but, I do miss out on even being 'seen' because backlinks are just not one of my strong suits.  I prefer to garner them organically and because my competitors don't mind going at that the organic way, I don't rank as high.  Once folks find my site, they do seem to stay!

Thanks, Gina!  I'm not always good with those catchy titles--perhaps I need to implement that more myself too (since it worked)!!  

That is great news, Takeshi, and I'm hopeful that my site will once again, rise to the top!  I'm biased, I know but, if I were moving to this area, I would want clear, concise, ACCURATE information on the area and not tidbits of 'junk' information that is on the sites that are ranking higher.  I feel for the consumer here more than myself.

I do hope so, Karl!  Thanks again for your input as well!

Thanks, Karl!  I do agree and that has been my philosophy for years--and for a good number of them, I WAS ranking higher than the spammy sites.  Now, it seems that the tables have turned and I really don't understand how that could happen with the recent updates.  Backlinks seems to be where I am behind in the 'race' to be #1 but, I refuse to pay someone to link to my site who sells Viagra!  It's just a bit frustrating when you've tried for years to stay on the straight and narrow!

I do watch my stats and understand the long term nature of this challenge; it just seems like I should be ranking considerably higher than I am--especially when I personally review the competitors' sites and know the difference in quality is not comparable.

I agree, Andy!  I just wish Google could go more in-depth and rank accordingly!  

Moosa - Those are the ONLY backlinks that I do have but, despite the fact that mine are far more quality AND related to the business (not pharmaceuticals or movies but, real estate related), I'm still not ranking as high as the sites with lower quality and more backlinks to non-related topics.

I know it's not a race--I was just trying to draw attention with the title!!  Thanks for your input!

Thanks, Takeshi!  And, yes, I'm referring to Penguin.  Content is not a problem and as I compare my content to those who are ranking higher because of their backlinks from non-related businesses (mostly spam sites), it is frustrating that the consumer is driven to their site with either minimal information or misinformation.

I see that this question hasn't been addressed in 2013 and while reviewing my SEOMoz stats, my competition continues to beat me up in the backlink department.  I'm wondering if anyone has advice as to how to build those backlinks without Penguin penalty.  I want to do it right and I think that's why I can't win this race against my competitors who I see have backlinks on all sorts of sites that are not related to our business.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Pinterest is ranking higher and higher in THE social media outlet on which to post links to our sites.  As JDP said, there's nothing stopping you from featuring photos from your website on your Pinterest page and get those same followers--the good news for you, if your content is good, you'll land the consumer.