My goal is a first/second google page listing under the competitive keyword phrase 'cell phones'.
I've developed a little over 300 backlinks over the last two months (not high pr sites, but about 150 unique ip blocks and websites that I have traded services for links with). I have the site basically well seo'd (though I'm not an expert).
The backlinks are not showing up as backlinks on the google toolbar yet, but I know these sites are indexed by google. I can look up a particular keyword I have in the description and these links have all been seen by google. The anchor link in all instances is either 'cell phones' or that plus an additional word (cheap, discount, etc).
Yet, my site does not rank in the top 1000 under a search for 'cell phones'.
But there are some sites that don't seem to be well seo'd that are showing up. For example, when you look up cell phones, the site listed in the 14 position is a site with little content, 18 backlinks, and a pr of 3. (the site is www.so-nine.org/cell ).
The number 2 position is taken by an amazon page, with no backlinks and pr of 0.
Given what I have read about how google figures rankings, how do these sites do so well?