Bought links from sites with target keyword in their URL

[Jeepster]

One of my rivals in a competitive field (real estate) has done this deliberately and extensively -- it accounts for about 2/3 of his inbound links. Result: he's now #1.

How strong a ranking factor is keywords in source URL - ie, how easy is it to beat with other ranking factors?

[TakeshiYoung]

Having keywords in a page's URL improves its relevance for that specific topic, and getting links from topically related pages is ideal. However, in order to be a really good link the content on the page itself and the rest of the site must also be related to the topic as well.Then there are factors such as page authority, domain authority, and anchor text. So the URL of the page that the link is on is not itself a powerful ranking factor.