What I've learned from my years (well not that long you know) being a search engine optimizer, a quality content can never be beaten by a site full of inbound links. Why? Because when a site with quality content is optimized, though its competitors are way above it, can beat up even old domains! It can have high
PR even if it only has a few inbound links. The most important of all is the
"content" followed by the right keywords to target, then proper optimization!
