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Yes, I think 45 links from on-topic "authority" type sites was a good end-result for my client. Some of the sites secured are big names and I negotiated text links from them. The client moved up in the serps, had a ton of traffic that turned sales and brought lots of brand awareness to their products.

Yes, I had an idea about how many links I needed to get this client to move up for particular sets of keywords. Was I sure? No. Can anyone be sure? No. But looking at what the sites ahead of him had and who was linking to them...I got a general feel. GENERAL FEEL.

And before anyone else writes and asks where I got the "feel" from - I use various pieces of software, one being the Backlink Analyzer . The tool is down toward the bottom of the page. It let's you see who is linking to whom and information about those sites.