I’m struck by the wishy washy nature of these comments from Google about Google and their love of links. Empirically I’m convinced that links still rule in a lot of categories but it’s the link quality that is more in play in my opinion. Gone are of the days of buying PR5 links from Romanian commerce sites. I guess the takeaway is proceed with caution but get as many relevant links as possible.
Google: Try To Avoid Link Building Because It Can Do More Harm Than Good: