Anyone who’s been involved with SEO or link building for any period of time has heard the phrase, “quality over quantity.”  It is now well established that in order to be successful in your SEO efforts, you must focus on getting quality links first and the quantity of links second.  In most cases, getting a handful of very high quality links will be more effective than getting hundreds of low-quality, essentially worthless links.  This important rule will only continue to become more true as time goes on and the search engines’ algorithms get smarter and smarter.

I wanted, however, to bring up one small exception to this rule regarding the need to focus primarily on high-quality links alone.  If a website is currently one that you would classify as providing a low-quality link, has the potential to, or is likely to increase in popularity and authority in the future, I’d consider it a well-qualified candidate for a link.  All websites and blogs have to start somewhere.  And there is sure to be loads of new websites that will make some big waves in the future as they grow older and bigger.  That “low-quality” link today (a PR0 for example), may become a powerhouse one day (a PR6).

So, by building a relationship with such a website early on can end up paying big dividends when it “makes it big.”  Having said that, however, I wouldn’t plan on dedicating any certain level of energy into activing searching for such websites.  But rather, I’d simply integrate those efforts into your constant “sharpening of the saw” that you do to find new information in your niche.  By simply keeping an eye open for up and coming websites, you’ll be able to recognize opportunities when they cross your desk.

The mantra “Quality over Quantity” remains true and strong.  But don’t disregard all link opportunities just because they’re currently below a PR3.