Does the length of time the in bound link has been in place effect its value as determined by Google.

Yes, there is such a factor. Basically, the sooner you get good backlinks, the better for your rankings.

So does that mean that if a link has been on that page for 3 years it is going to have more "value" to google than if it is has been there 6 months?

Yes.

How long would you say it takes before Google start counting the value of some recent high power back links we recently acquired? Of course I would love to see it instantly but I know it takes some time, do you know about how long I should expect before I start to see an uptick?

In theory, once the backlink source page has been cached (or re-cached) since the time a backlink to your website was placed there - then Google should start to take the link into account.
i.e. backlinks on pages that google has not updated content for or for which google does not know about, do not count / assist you at all.

Maybe Linky has some additonal comments...

Cheers, Asiaplay

Please Note: You can auto check cache-date for several / a list of URLs at one time, by pasting them into SEO-spyglass or link-assistant and checking / updating cache-date data for those URLs (or manually one by one, using Google and checking cache date, if you prefer).

Yes, I realize that Google will see the link immediately, but in my experience, whenever I added links there was a small dip in our rankings while Google "analyzes" it and then it is a few months I see an uptick in our SERP. I am just impatient and hate paying for months before seeing results so I was trying to think to myself, ride it out 6 months. So I was hoping someone had a better idea on the length of time I should wait to start seeing results.

Does that make sense?

I hear you - what you are asking does make sense.


Actually that was the point, Google may not see the links very quickly or even at all - it depends very much when / if they are scanned / cached, where on a site they are located and the the calculations for ranking run (Note: it is still known that Google actually only caches / indexes a very small % of web content - placing a link does not equal at all, that it will be indexed and counted).
<--- but I think you know this part and have checked that all your links have been cached etc. etc.

I understand what you are saying, that the time delay between the links being placed and a rankings increasing, is just too long.
It seems you are very aware of how link building works and that a delay does / will exist for a period of time - however, I agree that a long, long delay for positive effects is not great.

Unfortunately, there is no easy blanket answer to your question... as you know, it is not just an ABC issue with your link building playing the sole effect for your ranking (i.e. as too many things effect rankings, including what else you do and what your competitors are doing etc. etc.).
Really someone will need to look at the details of where you have placed your links, website pages and competitors even possibly, to see perhaps why your links are providing a slow impact for you.

I suggest you raise a support ticket with Link-Assistant support and show them the details of what you have been doing for link building - when they see the details, they might be able to give you better advice, as to why... http://www.link-assistant.com/support/index.php

Unfortunatelty here in the forum it is just too public for you to post any details (as you can bet your competitors are here too), so I think help via link-assistant support would be more useful for you.

Cheers, Asiaplay

PS: this is a nice article on link building value - see http://www.seomoz.org/blog/10-illustrat ... n-of-links

So as a fair estimate, if after 4-6 months if I have not increased my rankings should I look for some internal site SEO issues?

Yes - backlinks will not add power overnight (so 4 months) is a fair enough measure... assuming as discussed above, that you know that all those backlinks you added hare all been cached / exist and can be seen (are not hidden and that there is no obvious reason that those links might be discounted e.g. due to pages the backlinks are on, being loaded with spam backlink posters).

However, what I would check next, is the competitors who are ranking above you, to see why they are still outranking you?
e.g.
a) how many backlinks they have in google (for the page which is ranking for the targeted keyword)
b) do they have some very powerful backlinks (e.g. from news sites, authority sites etc.)
c) is the over power of their site high (i.e. total number of external and internal links and number of pages cached) e.g. a massive site will outrank a very small one (as the number of backlinks going to many pages, gives them the juice / authority, that the smaller site does not have to more easily rank for keywords).

What well could be happening is that they are building backlinks as fast as you are building them (or getting backlinks at more authoritive sites, so they can rank with less, better backlinks) or even switching anchor text on some backlink surces they control to counteract your attack.
Remember, if you don't watch your competitors, then you can not count them out as the cause (or narrow down, why you are not moving up in the rankings as fast as you would expect).

Sometimes, what you may find is that perhaps you may never be able to beat some of those competitors, with the current level you are adding backlinks for some of the keywords.
I suggest you use seo-spyglass to check this and target the achievable keywords (e.g. if you see someone with 130,000 backlinks to a page or a handful of say very high juice top news site links, think if you realistically have the resources to compete with them or not?).

In regards to checking internal site SEO issues (onpage / site structure issues)... personally I would do that now anyway (web-site audior does a good job of checking site seo issues e.g. checking 404 errors, duplicate pages (titles, descriptions) etc., optimising a page for the keywords you are targeting etc.
I wouldn't wait 4 or 6 months to check onsite issues, as really if your site has major errors (or the page you are pointing backlinks to, is not optimised for those keywords and has though keywords appearing on the page etc.) - you are not going to rank well for them easily, with just backlinks (unless there are no competitors - which sounds like is very unlikely with the keywords you are targeting).
Remember, it is as you know, a team game for seo (onpage and offpage need to be in sync to achieve the results you want) - the easy fix (assuming programming code / closed site code access etc. does not stop you) is fixing the site issues.

If things still seem really strange, then check the outgoing links on your own site (e.g. comments to blog posts), to make sure your site has not been branded by the search engines as a spam source (I have seen this happen to people before and them essentially getting a penalty, due to bad neighbour-hoods sneaking content onto old forum or blog posts they have forgotton about).

I hope you can spot the reason's why some of your competitors are still out-ranking you by using seo-spyglass (and web-auditor, if you think your site might have issues) and get your own site up in the rankings.

Happy SEOing and cheers, Asiaplay

PS: Do send you project to link-assistant support for comments if you can't see why (they are helpful and a good source of neutral assistance / ideas)... tbh this is also a part of why I like this software, as link-assistant do not leave people using their software lost and are willing to help when they can and do ask via support